Music

Simon James – "Lament"

Simon James (b. 1880), a German Jewish composer, pianist, and musicologist. He studied at the High School of Music in Berlin, and later in Munich where he defended his doctoral thesis on "The Compositional Works of Abbé Vogler" (1904). From 1907 to 1919, he taught at the Scharwenka-Klindworth Conservatory in Berlin. In 1933, he emigrated with his family to Amsterdam. However, this did not protect him from persecution. In 1941, he was arrested and placed in the Westerbork transit camp for Dutch Jews, and later transported to the Theresienstadt ghetto. On October 12, 1944, he was deported to Auschwitz, where he was murdered in the gas chamber after arrival selection.

Józef Kropiński – "Longing"

Józef Kropiński (b. 1913), a Polish musician, composer, conductor, teacher, and arranger. He graduated from a commercial high school in Bydgoszcz and the private Leon Jaworski Music School, then studied at the Bydgoszcz Conservatory of Music. He served in the military from 1937 to 1938, finishing as a second lieutenant in the reserves. In September 1939, he was captured by the Germans but escaped. In May 1940, he was arrested by the Gestapo and imprisoned, and in November 1941, he was deported to Auschwitz. He played in the men's camp orchestra, where he was appointed first violinist and was involved in copying music scores. He managed to illegally compose about 10 pieces. In March 1943, he was transferred to Buchenwald, where he continued to play in the camp orchestra and compose illegally. He was liberated in April 1945 by American troops and returned to Bydgoszcz in August of the same year. He never engaged in music again, working as an economist in Wrocław. He died in 1970.

Gideon Klein – "Lullaby"

Gideon Klein (b. 1909), a Czech Jewish composer and pianist. He studied at the Prague Conservatory of Music while completing high school. However, he had to interrupt his studies at Charles University due to the closure of higher education institutions by the Germans in the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia. In December 1941, he was deported to the Theresienstadt ghetto, where he continued his compositional activities illegally; occasionally, he also performed solo piano recitals. In October 1944, he was deported to Auschwitz, and then to the Fürstengrube subcamp, where he perished in January 1945.

Szymon Laks – String Quartet No. 3 on Polish Themes, 2nd part

Szymon Laks (b. 1901), a Polish Jewish composer, musician, and translator. He studied mathematics at the University of Vilnius and graduated from the Warsaw Conservatory of Music. In 1926, he moved to Paris, where he continued his music education and composed. In 1941, he was arrested by the German occupying authorities and in 1942 deported to Auschwitz, where he was a member, and later the conductor, of the men's camp orchestra. In the fall of 1944, he was transferred to Dachau, where he was liberated. After the war, he composed and wrote articles for the music press and books, including "Music of Another World." He died in 1983 in Paris.

Musicians:

Clarinet quartet: Grzegorz Tobis, Piotr Wybraniec, Waldemar Żarów, and Tomasz Żymła