The Last Musician Of Auschwitz + Q&A

The Last Musician of Auschwitz tells the extraordinary story of cellist Anita Lasker-Wallfisch, along with other victims of the camp - Jews, Poles and Roma - who played and created music amidst the terrors of the Holocaust. Together they show how, amid the most brutal and dehumanising situations, music could be a lifeline, a way to give testimony and even a means of resistance.

An interview with the 99-year-old Lasker-Wallfisch, the only living survivor to have played in one of the camp orchestras, frames the documentary. It explores how the SS used and abused music at the Nazis’ largest concentration and extermination camp – demanding prisoner orchestras put on concerts for their entertainment as well as play marches to accompany slave labour groups leaving and returning each day.

The Last Musician of Auschwitz also highlights the stories of three other musicians from all over Europe: singer songwriter Ilse Weber and classical composers, Szymon Laks and Adam Kopyciński. Though all are now dead their words and music live on, showcased here in a series of powerful new performances by international musicians, including cellist Raphael Wallfisch, son of Anita Lasker-Wallfisch.

The screening will be followed by a live onstage Q&A with director Toby Trackman.