Most of us are familiar with what happened in the World War II. They teach us about it in school, and there are hundreds of documentaries and articles about it. However, we can only imagine the suffering and the anguish of the ones that experienced it. I had the luck to cross paths with an exceptional history teacher that elevated learning to another level. Thanks to her, we got to actually meet a survivor from a concentration camp, and her words have profoundly touched me until today.
When I was in the ninth grade, my teacher created a complementary project focusing solely on the second world war. I was very interested in the theme, so I signed up. In fact, the project was specifically about something I had never heard of before, The Woman’s Orchestra of Auschwitz. We were taught that Auschwitz, the largest concentration and death camp created by the Nazis, used to have an orchestra, which consisted of mostly young females that had prior experience in the music field. They would rehearse for up to ten hours a day, play daily for prisoners and guards, and hold concerts for the SS members.
Esther Béjarano was born in 1924 and died recently in 2021, aged 96. When she was 19 years old, she was sent to Auschwitz because of her Jewish roots after two years in a work camp. After a long and inhumane trip on a cattle train, she reached Auschwitz and was received with hostility. The Nazis assigned her a very physical job transporting big rocks in the camp, which she claims would have likely been her end if there wasn’t for an intervention. Esther used to sing songs for older prisoners in exchange for some food. This ended up being her salvation because they referred her to the conductor of the orchestra. She played the piano, however, there were no pianos in the camp. Therefore, it was suggested she should play the accordion and, even though, she did not know how to do that, she pretended and ended up miraculously being admitted. The conditions inside the camp were slightly better for the members of the group, and the job was less demanding physically. The young women managed to survive this way, constantly adapting. Actually, she even had to switch from the accordion to the flute due to the entrance of a more experienced accordionist in the orchestra. In addition, she survived a kind of typhus because of the request of a SS member that allowed her to be treated in a Christian infirmary. Before the end of the war, she had the opportunity to be transferred to a camp with better conditions, since her grandmother had Aryan blood. Faced with this opportunity, she hesitated as she would have to leave her friends behind, still in the end, after consulting them, they all agreed it was for the best. Esther was able to survive in the new camp, which was situated in Ravensbrück, benefiting from better conditions until the end of the war.
Following the end of the war, the brave woman immigrated to Palestine, where she married and had two children. Eventually, she ended up returning to Germany, where she created a musical group with her daughter and her son. They performed songs from the ghetto and in Hebrew, as well as anti-fascist songs. Esther Béjerano became someone devoted to alerting people to the danger of extreme regimes, fascism, racism, and intolerance. She had a very active role in society, sharing her story throughout the world. Luckily, I had the opportunity to experience that in person.
In February 2020, Esther, with 95 years old, visited Lisbon. My teacher found a way of taking us from Porto to the German School where she would present herself, even though it was a long trip. When she appeared on stage we all felt astonished. Someone that had experienced one of the most violent situations ever registered and survived was in front of us and we here all looking up to her.
She started by reading a letter explaining how she survived the holocaust. It felt unreal! That women, with such an advanced age, were there reviving her traumas to make sure they would not be recreated ever again. Then, after answering some questions from the audience, she sang, along with a group called “microphone mafia”, songs that were striking during her life. She even sang the song that so many years ago she had played on the accordion, which allowed her to enter the orchestra. The bravery of the survivor made us admire her immensely, still the most impressive part was yet to come.
We had crafted a paper accordion with drawings of the most important episodes of her life. When we approached her and explained our gift, her eyes turned extremely shiny and intense. That’s when she requested something from us. Repetitively, Esther Bejeráno said, “Don’t forget, please don’t forget”. We all felt emotional. That women had faced atrocities and still found the strength to get their life together and live. There she was, dedicating her energy to alert us that we cannot allow this to happen again, seeming terrified of that idea after everything they had to go through.
At that moment, we all understood it was our obligation towards all the people that suffered from the holocaust to fight against another war like that.
Nowadays, unfortunately, human beings are still capable of inflicting so much pain on their specimen. I really lament Esther died, observing the extreme regimes increasing their popularity around the world. Hearing her appeals and looking into her eyes made me feel like all of us should advocate against intolerance and wars. We have to remember the suffering brought by the extreme regimes and fight against them. It’s our duty, and I hope this article reminded you of that!
