Alma Rose: Vienna to Auschwitz [Hardcover]

"Alma Rosé: Vienna to Auschwitz" is a poignant and beautifully related account of one the most extraordinary women who ever lived. Alma Rosé, the daughter of the most renowned violinist of Vienna who was concertmaster of the Vienna Philharmonic and the first violinist of perhaps the finest string quartet in the world, was also the niece of Gustav Mahler. She became a fine violinist and musician in her own right, taking musical Vienna by storm, and creating a famous and successful women's orchestra which toured throughout Europe. Soon after the Nazi takeover in Austria, the Jewish family left for England where Alma continued to give concerts, playing even in her father's illustrious quartet. But she also took the risk of concertizing in Holland. She was trapped by the sudden Nazi blitzkrieg and takeover of Holland, tried to escape, was betrayed and caught by the Nazis, and sent to Auschwitz-Birkenwald. It was at Auschwitz that Alma's extraordinary life takes on new dimensions: within the death camp, she creates and directs a women's orchestra composed not only of traditional symphonic instruments, but also of guitars, mandolins, accordions, and recorders, playing arrangements made and copied by women inmates of Auschwitz. Because of Alma's work at Auschwitz, hundreds of women were saved from the Nazi gas chambers; in fact, many survivors contributed to the book through interviews with the author. This story has been told before, but never as well as Richard Newman and Karen Kirtley relates it. Mr. Newman took twenty-two years of painstaking work of research and interviewing before completing the book. In the Editor's Note, Ms. Kirtley points out Mr. Newman's "phenomenal achievement" of talking with "more than one hundred people able to provide firsthand information about Alma Rosé." The book is carefully researched with abundant documentation, a massive bibliography, and appendices which contain lists of every woman who played in the Auschwitz-Birkenau orchestra, a background of the Mahler-Rosé family, a list of every interview that was conducted, and a "camp glossary" of terms used at Auschwitz-Birkenau. The authors delve deeply into Vienna's history, culture, and society, which produced the strong anti-Semitic feelings, and, ultimately, the welcoming of Nazi troops into the city. A short review, of course, cannot do justice to the scope and dimension of this marvelous book; it is a work that every student of music and European history should read. However, the book will also appeal to readers without a background in modern European history, for the book is written clearly and with firm structure and form. Richard Newman and Karen Kirley have provided the reader with a remarkable book about an exceptional woman --- a poignant reminder of the anguish and tragedy of Nazi Germany and Austria, but also about the courage and humanity that existed in some people. This is an extraordinary book.

My review is best expressed in a letter to the authors. While the letter speaks little of the content of the story, it does the reflections of the reader:

I have just finished your book, Alma Rosé, Vienna to Auschwitz and felt compelled to write a word of thanks for such an excellent book. I have lived in Vienna for 23 years and in our early years I walked by the Rosé house in the Pyrkergasse each day, taking our oldest to the Volkschule. Of course, at that time, I had no idea the importance of number 23. Through your book and others of Viennese history I have gained a profound sense of history that a midwest American, growing up in the suburbs, rarely has a chance to learn.

We have since moved from the 19th district, but each time I am in the city the enormity of life that has gone on before me deeply tugs at my soul. The stones I walk on have carried the lives of so many, each woven into a history of joy and often of utter loss and evil.

I believe your book was one of those that has allowed me to enter into a life past. Through it I have gained new perspective that the joy and beauty I now enjoy is not without the marring of tragedy and sorrow of many who were innocent. I was also able with my family to visit Auschwitz this summer. The visit has left a lasting impact on our minds and it certainly allowed me to have even deeper sense of personal presence as I read your book. The immensity of the tragedy leaves one lost for thoughts and words. The life of Alma Rosé puts a reality to that part of history that seems unbelievable, yet was played out in the very places I have lived and walked.

I visited the Rosé grave in Grinzing last week and noted that Alma's name is inscribed on the headstone (unfortunately, the date is 4/4/44 and not 5/4/44). In honor of her courage and for the lives she most certainly helped spare, I left a memorial candle on her grave. I did not seem fitting to leave the grave without some acknowledgement and sign of respect of her family's life.

Again, thank you for the fine research and excellent presentation of her life. The book must also be considered a memorial not just to one life, but to many who's stories will never be told.

Richard Newman has spent many years working on this book and it paid off, there can't be a biography on hardly anyone that is better researched. And he has written it in a way that doesn't judge the person, he relates the facts but doesn't try any psychological insight. He leaves this up to the reader. A beautiful, compelling book on a woman that used a difficult position to save as many lives as possible. If ever anyone deserved a monument, it is Alma Rosé. Richard Newman`s book lays the foundation. I will publish the German version in Fall 2002.

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