Wigmore Hall concert brings together Jewish and German students

Hadas Kalderon, whose grandfather was the Yiddish poet Abraham Sutzkever, the first Jewish voice to give testimony at Nuremberg, also spoke.

Hadas Kalderon and Antony Lishak Photos taken by Adam Soller Photography©[Missing Credit]

Antony Lishak, founder and chief educational consultant at Learning From the Righteous, who organised the event together with AJR, said: “As the end of the era of lived experience approaches, the obligation to remember falls on young shoulders.”

The pupils sang Eli Eli in English, Hebrew and German, written by Hannah Szenes, the resistance fighter who was murdered by the Nazis. The German verse was written by choir conductor Sabrina Bettin – head of music at the German School – who also did the choral arrangement. “Many people have told me it was at that point in the concert they cried,” Lishak said afterwards.

The Voices of Justice at Wigmore Hall Photos taken by Adam Soller Photography©[Missing Credit]

The choir closed the concert with Won’t Be Silent, by Wolf Durmashkin, who had been the conductor of the Vilna Symphony Orchestra. Under German occupation, he set up an orchestra and a 100-voice Hebrew choir in the Vilna Ghetto, before being deported and murdered at Klooga concentration camp. The song was a variation on Durmashkin’s composition Stay Silent – which was a way of showing resistance to the Nazis – and written while he was in captivity. The song’s name was changed to turn it into a rallying cry against remaining indifferent in the face of injustice.

The Voices of Justice Photos taken by Adam Soller Photography©[Missing Credit]

Speaking to the JC ahead of the concert, Lishak said of the schools’ collaboration: “This would have been inconceivable, even in the ‘70s. But with a bit of effort, time and the courage to listen to each other, recognising the common humanity, we realise there’s more in common than sets us apart.”

Benji Rosenberg, a teacher and informal educator at JCoSS, echoed Lishak, saying: “A few generations ago, this would have been perpetrators against survivors; generations later, we’re all coming together.”

Susanne More, a history teacher at the German School, told the JC: “We have a shared history, and no matter how difficult it is, there’s got to be communication – when we meet each other is when things become more normal.

“If I have a legacy at the school, it’s to ensure that as a German school, we address our huge responsibility to show Holocaust remembrance and deal with history responsibly to look towards a more tolerant future”.

Tim Franks and pupils from JCoSS and The German School London Photos taken by Adam Soller Photography©[Missing Credit]

The student narrators, from Years 11 and 12, said that they felt a sense of responsibility to become the next generation of Holocaust educators as the number of survivors diminishes over the years.

Sadie Fishman, from JCoSS, said: “I think we’re quite lucky to have Holocaust survivors still alive because our children won’t hear from them. It’s important that we keep telling the story.” Her peer, Nathaniel Allshever, said that reading out Holocaust survivor testimony felt “quite surreal”. 

Narrator Daniel Nienaber Brichs, from the German School, described the testimonies as “very powerful and moving”, adding: “It’s very important to teach the younger generations, to teach them just like we were taught, because, even if we have the education all our lives, it doesn’t help if we then die and the younger children don’t remember.”

His classmate and fellow narrator Isabella Ramakrishnan was well aware that the testimonies didn’t paint the full picture, saying: “There were many Holocaust survivors who never shared their experience, and understandably so.”

The Voices of Justice of Learning at Wigmore Hall Photos taken by Adam Soller Photography©[Missing Credit]

There was a poignancy to performing at the world-class concert venue, where, after the war, the AJR staged concerts to raise money for Jewish refugees. “There are layers of naches here,” said Lishak. “[Wigmore Hall’s] Sunday afternoon concerts started because they were aware that Jews couldn’t come on a Saturday. They have a great connection to the Jewish community. It’s not just a venue, it’s the venue.”

A group of survivors from Jewish Care was in the audience. “We have to do everything we can for our survivors while they’re still here,” Lishak said, adding that for both performers and the audience, being at the concert was “a collective act of witness”.