"I survived the angel of death" - music and lyrics by a survivor of the Shoah

Review

For the second time this year, we invited guests to a concert reading entitled ‘I Survived the Angel of Death’. This time, to commemorate the pogrom night in November 1938, we were guests at the Landeskirchliche Gemeinschaft Leipzig (Leipzig Regional Church Community). The ‘+ Kreis’, a lovely group of young adults, gave us a warm welcome and took care of all the preparations and follow-up work for our evening.

Once again, we read from Eva Moses Kor's impressive book ‘I Survived the Angel of Death’. It is the deeply moving story of a pair of twins who were deported to Auschwitz and fell into the hands of Dr Josef Mengele, the notorious camp doctor.

Between readings, Talida Benndorf and Isa Kleinhempel, two talented and sensitive music students, played early music and Jewish folklore on various flutes and lute instruments. Torsten Kluge recited poems by children from the Theresienstadt ghetto and read psalms that reflected the misery of the Jewish people throughout the ages.

Despite the gravity of the subject matter, we ended the evening on a hopeful note with two cheerful klezmer pieces and the saying: Am Israel Chai! Translated, this means: Israel lives!!!

Kerstin Kluge