Alice Herz-Sommer

For the pacifist who immolated herself, see Alice Herz.

Alice Herz-Sommer, also known as Alice Sommer-Hertz and Alice Sommer, (born 26 November 1903) is a Czech pianist, music teacher and survivor of the Theresienstadt concentration camp. Herz-Sommer has lived in North London, United Kingdom since 1986, and is the world’s oldest known Holocaust survivor.

Alice was born in Prague, Austria-Hungary, along with her twin sister Mariana. She married musician Leopold Sommer in 1931 and had a son, Raphael (1937-2001). After the invasion of Czechoslovakia, most of her family and friends emigrated to Palestine via Romania, including Max Brod and brother-in-law Felix Weltsch, but Herz-Sommer stayed in Prague. In 1942, her ill mother Sophie was killed. A year later, Herz-Sommer, her husband and son were sent to the Theresienstadt concentration camp. Herz-Sommer played at music concerts in the camp along with other musicians. Leopold was later sent to Auschwitz and though he survived the camp, died at Dachau in 1944. After the Soviet liberation of Theresienstadt in 1945, Herz-Sommer returned to Prague and in March 1949 emigrated to Israel to be reunited with her family. She lived in Israel and worked as a music teacher in Jerusalem until emigrating to London, United Kingdom with her son, an accomplished cellist, in 1986.

Herz-Sommer swam daily until the age of 97. At 104, Herz-Sommer published a bestselling book A Garden of Eden in Hell recalling the events of the concentration camps. In 2010, a television programme was aired on BBC4 to recognise her life story. Herz-Sommer attributes her longevity to her optimism.

Further reading

• Muller, Melissa and Piechocki , Reinhard (2007) A Garden of Eden in Hell: The Life of Alice Herz-Sommer. Macmillan; illustrated edition ISBN 978-0-230-52802-4

External links

• "Life is beautiful" Guardian article 13 December 2006
• "I look at the good". Haaretz article 21 January 2010
• "I played Chopin as they sent my family to their deaths" Jewish Chronicle article
• "A Life in the Day: Alice Herz-Sommer" The Sunday Times 27 January 2008
• Interview with Tony Robbins 2011

Programmes and film

• "Alice Sommer Herz at 106: Everything Is a Present" BBC documentary Made by Christopher Nupen
• "Surviving the Holocaust BBC Radio 4 Woman's Hour programme. 27 Jan 2006
• YouTube film "Alice Dancing Under the Gallows". (12 minutes)
• 13 June 2010 Guardian video (3 mins) "Holocaust survivor Alice Herz Sommer playing piano"
• Film - We want the light, featuring Sommer Hertz by Christopher Nupen.
• Alice Herz-Sommer tells her life story at Web of Stories (video)