Piano concert to honor survivors

In commemoration of Yom HaShoah, or Holocaust Memorial Day, the Polish Studies Center and Congregation Beth Shalom in Bloomington will play host to a Holocaust memorial concert to raise money for the Children of the Holocaust in Poland.

The event, which will take place at 5 p.m. Sunday in the Neal-Marshall Black Culture Center, came from a cry for help from the Children of the Holocaust, an association of Holocaust survivors who, at the outbreak of World War II, were 13 years old or younger.

The surviving members of the Children of the Holocaust are now in their 70s, struggling to continue to provide aid to the Righteous Gentiles, a group of non-Jews who risked their own lives to save those of Jews during World War II, according to a press release for the concert.

Musicology professor and concert organizer Halina Goldberg said the musical legacy of Polish composer and Holocaust survivor Wladyslaw Szpilman, whose life was chronicled in the recent Academy Award-winning film “The Pianist,” will be honored.

“Szpilman was a musician at the core of his heart,” Goldberg said. “It’s what saved him from all the disaster happening during the Holocaust. So we want to give attention to his legacy through this concert, because his power to communicate through music touches so many different people.”

Goldberg said one time while visiting Warsaw, Poland, she made the connection between Szpilman’s story and Holocaust victims when reading an article about the Children of the Holocaust organization, which is based in Poland.

“I wanted to think of a way to bring together the power of music and memory while helping to raise money for the older survivors in Europe living under destitute conditions,” she said.

Goldberg said she hopes the concert will bring the Polish and Jewish communities of Bloomington together and aid in helping to find common ground for the community. She wants to bring together people who experienced the horrors of World War II.

Though the concert is free, Goldberg said guests are encouraged to make donations to support the cause.

“We’re doing it for free because we believe in the overall purpose,” she said.

Goldberg invited piano music professor Edward Auer to play select piano pieces for the concert. Auer said he was glad to participate.

“It is so important to remember this part of history,” he said. “We have to remember the artistic struggles of Szpilman because of battles that were fought for art’s sake and partly won.”

He also said it was imperative to acknowledge the way in which music lends aid to the power of memory, particularly for members of the Children of the Holocaust and Righteous Gentiles who are still alive to share experiences.

“It’s a splendid thing because there are people who could use our help now, those who put their lives in danger by helping Jews,” Auer said. “Students and other people in the community need to see that compassionate gestures like this concert really bring people together for the sake of memory.”

Junghwa Moon Auer, Edward Auer’s wife, is playing select Szpilman pieces for the concert. She said she was touched by how Spzilman was able to survive the Holocaust atrocities with his musical talents still intact.

“For me as a musician, that is so powerful,” she said, “But even more important was through Szpilman’s struggles, I could understand other people’s struggles – what it must feel like to go through such disaster and have the strength to overcome it.”