0:00:34 > 0:00:41MUSIC: "Introitus from the Requiem" by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
0:01:07 > 0:01:17# Requiem aeternam
0:01:17 > 0:01:23# Requiem aeternam
0:01:29 > 0:01:36# Requiem aeternam
0:01:36 > 0:01:41# Dona eis, Domine
0:01:43 > 0:01:48# Et lux perpetua
0:01:48 > 0:01:53# Et lux perpetua
0:01:53 > 0:01:56# Luceat
0:01:58 > 0:02:06# Luceat eis. #
0:02:15 > 0:02:23# Te decet hymnus, Deus
0:02:23 > 0:02:26# In Sion
0:02:30 > 0:02:37# Et tibi reddetur votum
0:02:37 > 0:02:42# In Jerusalem
0:02:42 > 0:02:46# Exhaudi
0:02:44 > 0:02:46Exhaudi
0:02:46 > 0:02:50# Exhaudi
0:02:47 > 0:02:50Exhaudi
0:02:48 > 0:02:50Exhaudi
0:02:50 > 0:02:57# Orationem meam
0:02:57 > 0:03:00# Ad te
0:02:59 > 0:03:00Ad te
0:03:00 > 0:03:03# Ad te
0:03:02 > 0:03:03Ad te
0:03:03 > 0:03:12# Omnis caro veniet. #
0:03:22 > 0:03:30# Requiem
0:03:30 > 0:03:37# Aeternam
0:03:42 > 0:03:47# Dona eis
0:03:47 > 0:03:51# Domine
0:03:51 > 0:03:58# Requiem aeternam
0:03:58 > 0:04:03- # Requiem- Aeternam Dona eis, Domine
0:04:03 > 0:04:07# Dona eis, Domine
0:04:07 > 0:04:13# Et lux perpetua
0:04:09 > 0:04:13Et lux perpetua
0:04:13 > 0:04:19# Et lux perpetua
0:04:15 > 0:04:19Et lux perpetua
0:04:19 > 0:04:23# Luceat eis
0:04:25 > 0:04:33# Et lux perpetua
0:04:33 > 0:04:48# Luceat eis. #
0:05:55 > 0:06:00I couldn't speak for 30 years about these things.
0:06:00 > 0:06:05I wanted to repress... what I had to endure.
0:06:05 > 0:06:09It was so awful, I just couldn't talk about it.
0:06:14 > 0:06:17If I remember...
0:06:17 > 0:06:20I remember always only music.
0:06:20 > 0:06:24Everything that was bad and...
0:06:26 > 0:06:29I thought we couldn't survive,
0:06:29 > 0:06:32but with music it was easier.
0:06:35 > 0:06:39They took me to the orchestra.
0:06:39 > 0:06:44All the others went to the crematorium, to be burnt there.
0:06:49 > 0:06:51They killed my family.
0:06:51 > 0:06:56They killed all my relatives - aunts and cousins and everything.
0:06:56 > 0:06:58Everybody.
0:06:58 > 0:07:02Little by little we'd know that everybody was killed,
0:07:02 > 0:07:06was asphyxiated, gassed, and everything.
0:07:06 > 0:07:10How can you conceive that in this century?
0:07:11 > 0:07:15Is it possible to conceive this thing?
0:07:19 > 0:07:26MUSIC: "Waltz no 2 in C sharp minor" by Frederick Chopin
0:07:29 > 0:07:34I think music is something that you can have in your head,
0:07:34 > 0:07:39which is completely divorced from what is actually happening outside.
0:07:45 > 0:07:48You could retreat on an island...
0:07:50 > 0:07:54..just to get away from what is happening.
0:07:54 > 0:07:57It can act as an escape mechanism.
0:07:59 > 0:08:03It is a sort of spiritual escape, for a few minutes,
0:08:03 > 0:08:06out of the camp.
0:08:18 > 0:08:26MUSIC: "Mazurka in C sharp minor" by Frederick Chopin
0:10:40 > 0:10:45MUSIC: "Waltz in A minor" by Frederick Chopin
0:14:27 > 0:14:30I was with my mother.
0:14:31 > 0:14:36We were in one wagon, at least 100 people.
0:14:36 > 0:14:42We just could sit. No water, nothing to eat.
0:14:42 > 0:14:46And it lasted maybe three days, till we arrived.
0:14:48 > 0:14:52It was written "Arbeit macht frei" -
0:14:52 > 0:14:55Working makes you free.
0:14:55 > 0:15:00And in front of us stand Mengele.
0:15:01 > 0:15:05And he made to the right and to the left...
0:15:05 > 0:15:11To the right went the younger people, to the left old people and children.
0:15:11 > 0:15:14And my mother he said to the left,
0:15:14 > 0:15:19and she opened her...mouth and said in German,
0:15:19 > 0:15:24"I'm still young, I can work. And this is my daughter."
0:15:24 > 0:15:27And Mengele said, "OK, go."
0:15:27 > 0:15:32It's unbelievable what few words saved her life.
0:15:33 > 0:15:38Noise. A great deal of noise and dogs barking.
0:15:38 > 0:15:42That is the sort of thing I remember.
0:15:42 > 0:15:46And people walking about in black capes. Those were the guards.
0:15:46 > 0:15:51Rumours went about about gas chambers,
0:15:51 > 0:15:56but we tried to not believe it, because it seemed too outrageous.
0:15:56 > 0:16:00They were choosing us. They were dividing us.
0:16:00 > 0:16:03My mother was in another group.
0:16:05 > 0:16:09And...they took my father...
0:16:09 > 0:16:12in a truck.
0:16:12 > 0:16:15We never had time to say goodbye.
0:16:15 > 0:16:18We didn't even know where he was going.
0:16:18 > 0:16:24The gas crematoriums were just near the camp.
0:16:24 > 0:16:28Was just near. Just...opposite this house.
0:16:28 > 0:16:33The other guys were a long time dead.
0:16:33 > 0:16:39They told us, "You see these flames? These are your parents."
0:16:40 > 0:16:46There were flames, you know. And it was our parents, that.
0:16:46 > 0:16:51Everybody. All the transports - they were burning them.
0:17:25 > 0:17:271940
0:17:28 > 0:17:291940
0:17:31 > 0:17:321940
0:17:33 > 0:17:351940
0:17:36 > 0:17:381940
0:17:39 > 0:17:401940
0:17:41 > 0:17:431940
0:17:43 > 0:17:45On my birthday
0:17:53 > 0:17:55On my birthday
0:18:03 > 0:18:06The Germans walked in
0:18:14 > 0:18:17Walked into Holland
0:18:19 > 0:18:22Germans invaded Hungary
0:18:31 > 0:18:33I was in second grade
0:18:45 > 0:18:47I had a teacher
0:18:48 > 0:18:51I had a teacher
0:18:51 > 0:18:53A very tall man
0:18:53 > 0:18:58His hair was completely plastered smooth
0:18:59 > 0:19:02A very tall man
0:19:04 > 0:19:07His hair was completely plastered smooth
0:19:09 > 0:19:11A very tall man
0:19:11 > 0:19:14He said, "Black crows..."
0:19:15 > 0:19:19"Black crows," he said "Black crows invaded our country"
0:19:22 > 0:19:24He said, "Black crows..."
0:19:26 > 0:19:29"..invaded our country many years ago"
0:19:29 > 0:19:33And then pointed right at me Pointed right at me
0:19:45 > 0:19:47No more school
0:19:49 > 0:19:53No more school
0:19:51 > 0:19:53No more school
0:19:55 > 0:19:57No more school
0:19:57 > 0:20:00You must go away
0:20:02 > 0:20:04You must go away
0:20:09 > 0:20:11You must go away
0:20:16 > 0:20:19And she said, "Quick, go!"
0:20:23 > 0:20:26And she said, "Quick!"
0:20:27 > 0:20:31And she said, "Quick!" And she said, "Quick, go!"
0:20:31 > 0:20:32"Quick, go!"
0:20:33 > 0:20:35And he said, "Don't breathe!"
0:20:39 > 0:20:42And he said, "Don't breathe!"
0:20:42 > 0:20:45And he said, "Don't" He said, "Don't breathe!"
0:20:45 > 0:20:47And he said, "Don't breathe!"
0:20:51 > 0:20:53And he said, "Don't breathe!"
0:20:54 > 0:20:58And he said, "Don't" He said, "Don't breathe!"
0:21:11 > 0:21:14Into those cattle wagons
0:21:17 > 0:21:19For four days and four nights
0:21:28 > 0:21:31For four days and four nights
0:21:32 > 0:21:37And then we went through these strange sounding names
0:21:43 > 0:21:45Strange sounding
0:21:50 > 0:21:54And then we went through these strange sounding names
0:22:03 > 0:22:05Polish
0:22:12 > 0:22:14Polish names
0:22:14 > 0:22:16Lots of cattle wagons there
0:22:24 > 0:22:26Lots of cattle wagons
0:22:40 > 0:22:43Lots of cattle wagons there
0:22:43 > 0:22:45They were loaded with people
0:23:02 > 0:23:05They were loaded with people
0:23:06 > 0:23:08They shaved us
0:23:13 > 0:23:16They shaved us
0:23:33 > 0:23:36They tattooed a number on our arm
0:23:51 > 0:23:54They tattooed a number on our arm
0:23:54 > 0:23:57Flames going up in the sky
0:23:57 > 0:23:59Flames
0:24:00 > 0:24:05Going up in the sky It was smoking
0:24:07 > 0:24:11It was smoking Flames going up in the sky
0:24:12 > 0:24:14Flames
0:24:14 > 0:24:16Going up in the sky
0:24:16 > 0:24:19It was smoking It was smoking
0:24:22 > 0:24:26Going up in the sky It was smoking It was smoking
0:25:29 > 0:25:35You have your head shaved and a number tattooed on your arm. This is all done by prisoners.
0:25:35 > 0:25:40They wanted to know what's going on outside, what you did before.
0:25:40 > 0:25:45I don't know what made me say, "I used to play the cello."
0:25:45 > 0:25:50So this lady walked in and she said, "You play the cello? Fantastic.
0:25:50 > 0:25:54"We have an orchestra here and we have no cello in it."
0:25:54 > 0:25:58Orchestra in Auschwitz? It somehow didn't...
0:25:58 > 0:26:02didn't fit with what I was expecting to happen in Auschwitz.
0:26:04 > 0:26:07Well, they put me in a group.
0:26:07 > 0:26:11I don't know how somebody saw me...
0:26:11 > 0:26:16Everything is like a miracle, I don't know. A musician was there.
0:26:16 > 0:26:22He remembered me from one day before that I was an accordion player.
0:26:22 > 0:26:27And he went to the SS and he took me out of the group.
0:26:27 > 0:26:32I learnt after, that the group was...
0:26:33 > 0:26:36..to go for experiments.
0:26:36 > 0:26:42It must have been three or four weeks afterwards that we arrived.
0:26:42 > 0:26:46And I was so hungry. But so hungry.
0:26:46 > 0:26:50I went to the first lady, called Blokova,
0:26:50 > 0:26:55and I said, "If I sing something, would you give me a piece of bread?"
0:26:55 > 0:27:00She said, "Yes. If you sing, you can have a piece of bread."
0:27:06 > 0:27:11I said in Hungarian, "And now I will sing for you Madame Butterfly."
0:27:19 > 0:27:24So everybody was listening and crying.
0:27:24 > 0:27:27And all of a sudden I hear a voice,
0:27:27 > 0:27:29"Who was singing?"
0:27:29 > 0:27:32And this was Irma Grese,
0:27:32 > 0:27:35a terrible woman.
0:27:35 > 0:27:40And she said to me, "OK, I take you to the orchestra."
0:27:40 > 0:27:44So I said, "I'm not going without my mother."
0:27:44 > 0:27:48I don't know how I dared to respond like this.
0:27:48 > 0:27:54And she said, "OK, you come now with me and your mother I will bring tomorrow."
0:27:54 > 0:27:57And she brought her the next day.
0:27:57 > 0:28:00And so, this was my lucky day.
0:32:58 > 0:33:02You'd walk out of this quite insignificant gate.
0:33:02 > 0:33:05That's where we sat.
0:33:05 > 0:33:10The first piece I played with them was "Marche Militaire" by Schubert.
0:33:10 > 0:33:14That was our raison d'etre - to play marches.
0:33:14 > 0:33:21There was music at the gate for people to march out and for the people to march back in.
0:33:21 > 0:33:23Sounds crazy, but there it is.
0:43:09 > 0:43:12New trains came,
0:43:12 > 0:43:15and usually from Hungary,
0:43:15 > 0:43:18then I had to sing at the...
0:43:18 > 0:43:22inside the camp, but very close to them.
0:43:22 > 0:43:27And then usually I had to sing very lively, very...
0:43:29 > 0:43:34..I don't remember what kind of songs, but very lively ones.
0:43:34 > 0:43:36So they should think,
0:43:36 > 0:43:40"Oh, it's not so bad. Look how people sing and...music."
0:43:40 > 0:43:43But it was terrible.
0:43:43 > 0:43:50You have seen... maybe walk in...500 people.
0:43:51 > 0:43:54And nobody came back.
0:43:57 > 0:44:01I only asked myself, how could I do it?
0:44:01 > 0:44:06Singing and knowing they are going to die in half an hour.
0:44:08 > 0:44:11That was it.
0:44:22 > 0:44:25We were playing.
0:44:25 > 0:44:28Suddenly we see trucks.
0:44:28 > 0:44:33And the trucks were full of young girls
0:44:33 > 0:44:35who were naked.
0:44:35 > 0:44:39Two of my cousins were there.
0:44:39 > 0:44:41Young girls.
0:44:41 > 0:44:44And they were crying, shouting...
0:44:44 > 0:44:48It was, when I remember this...
0:44:48 > 0:44:52I can never forget this scene. Never. Never.
0:44:52 > 0:44:55They knew they were going to the crematorium.
0:44:57 > 0:45:00Always I hear them cry...
0:45:00 > 0:45:03and yelling and shouting.
0:45:06 > 0:45:09And we're playing music.
0:45:10 > 0:45:14That moment you say, "What are we doing?
0:45:14 > 0:45:16"Why are we playing music now?
0:45:16 > 0:45:21"All these people are going to the crematorium and they know they are."
0:45:21 > 0:45:24A lot of trucks.
0:45:24 > 0:45:28A lot. One after the other.
0:45:28 > 0:45:32Always I am thinking about this thing. I will never forget.
0:50:18 > 0:50:21One night,
0:50:21 > 0:50:24maybe it was two o'clock,
0:50:24 > 0:50:28a German came and said, "Eva und Lili, aufstehen!" -
0:50:28 > 0:50:31get up and come.
0:50:31 > 0:50:34Lili was from the opera in Prague.
0:50:34 > 0:50:37I really was scared.
0:50:40 > 0:50:44We went, and there was a very big party.
0:50:44 > 0:50:47Some were close to our camp.
0:50:47 > 0:50:53And there was Eichmann - the famous Eichmann - and there was Mengele.
0:50:53 > 0:50:57They were drunk.
0:50:57 > 0:51:02We sang together # Niemand liebt dich so wie ich. #
0:51:02 > 0:51:08We were scared. Really scared. We were happy when we came back.
0:51:08 > 0:51:13One day Mengele came in and wanted to hear the Traumerei by Schumann.
0:51:13 > 0:51:17And that was on my list of things to play.
0:51:17 > 0:51:22So my claim to fame is I played the Traumerei to Dr Mengele.
0:51:22 > 0:51:27And you know Mengele was the guy who did the experiments on twins.
0:51:27 > 0:51:30He experimented on people.
0:51:30 > 0:51:32He was a complete enigma.
0:51:32 > 0:51:38Mengele obviously liked classical music. How did he know about the Traumerei?
0:51:38 > 0:51:41What was he dreaming about?
0:51:41 > 0:51:46The officers would come - some officers -
0:51:46 > 0:51:50and they ordered to play music for them.
0:51:50 > 0:51:53They were almost crying.
0:51:56 > 0:51:59The Germans, you know. The SS.
0:52:00 > 0:52:03It was ridiculous. They were crying there...
0:52:03 > 0:52:06outside they could kill you.
0:52:06 > 0:52:11They could come with a dog and they could kill you.
0:52:11 > 0:52:14Can you imagine the irony of all this?
0:52:14 > 0:52:17Many times I was asking myself,
0:52:17 > 0:52:20"Are we for real, here?"
0:58:33 > 0:58:40I know people often talk about it as a terrible thing, to play music -
0:58:40 > 0:58:42how could you play?
0:58:42 > 0:58:47You know, in situations like that, you don't ask what can you do.
0:58:47 > 0:58:52You are in a camp and people give you an instrument to play.
0:58:52 > 0:58:56And I think it is very... I don't know what the expression is,
0:58:56 > 0:59:01sort of idealistic to think that anybody in their right minds
0:59:01 > 0:59:05would have said, "No, I'm sorry. I won't play here."
0:59:05 > 0:59:09Ultimately, everybody wants to survive.
0:59:09 > 0:59:15I sang because I had to... I didn't sing because I wanted.
0:59:15 > 0:59:20They forced me to sing, even if I wouldn't have wanted it.
0:59:20 > 0:59:26We didn't have too much time to think about the moral aspect of playing music in a camp.
0:59:26 > 0:59:28I don't think it was immoral.
0:59:28 > 0:59:33The immorality was with the Germans, not with us.
1:00:44 > 1:00:47They reduced us to nobodies.
1:00:47 > 1:00:50Creatures.
1:00:52 > 1:00:55We were living in an abyss of...
1:00:56 > 1:00:59..unspeakable terror.
1:00:59 > 1:01:03And we were trying to play music well.
1:01:03 > 1:01:08It seems crazy now, but it somehow can lift you out of the...shit.
1:01:09 > 1:01:12That's what it was.
1:27:29 > 1:27:33Subtitles by Isabel Plaza BBC Broadcast - 2005
1:27:33 > 1:27:38E-mail us at subtitling@bbc.co.uk