Introduction
“I have learned the lesson that he who is first to write his memories, can rewrite history. After he does, others have to react and deny it from a worst position. 1 ”Arie OlewskiSon of Rachela Zelmanowicz Olewski, survivor of the Auschwitz-Birkenau women’s orchestra
“To my dismay, my worst fears have come true and Fania Fénelon’s book on the women’s orchestra in Auschwitz has become the material which is used by people who are interested in this particular subject. 2I just hope that it is not too late to do anything about destroying her completely misleading account of what really happened. 3 ”Anita Lasker-WallfischSurvivor, Auschwitz-Birkenau women’s orchestra
In 1976 a female survivor of the Holocaust, Fania Fénelon, published a memoir of the time she spent in the women’s orchestra at Auschwitz-Birkenau. Titled Sursis pour l’Orchestre, and later in English Playing for Time, Fénelon’s book became an overnight success. In 1979 the memoir was adapted as a CBS television movie with a screenplay by noted American playwright Arthur Miller and has further inspired multiple and ongoing stage, musical and theatrical productions. Through these varied incarnations and multiple printings in many languages, Playing for Time has reached an international audience of millions. Now, some 40 years later, it is time to re-evaluate the impact and legacy of Fénelon’s memoir.
For many people, Playing for Time was and is their first introduction to both the Holocaust and to the topic of music in the Holocaust. It is cited in multiple sources as an accurate portrayal of this orchestra and of musical activities in the camps. Both the book and the movie hold a prominent place in Holocaust libraries, Holocaust museum bookstores, and other memorial site or commemorative bookstores which feature Holocaust writing and scholarship. Lesson plans for younger students have been built around the memoir and continue to be utilized and distributed via the internet. As an active performer and lecturer on Holocaust music since 1987, the author notes that Fania Fénelon is always the first person audiences recognize or about whom they ask questions.
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At the time of writing Playing for Time is listed as a resource for further study, or used as a primary source of information about music in the camps and the women’s orchestra, on the websites of many respected Holocaust institutions including Yad Vashem, the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research, and the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (USHMM).
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After publication, Playing for Time was featured in the popular market as a Book of the Month selection and continues to sell thousands of copies on book retail sites such as Amazon.com.
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New incarnations of, or inspired by, the book continue to find an audience, including stage productions of Playing for Time in Israel in 2014 and England in 2015. It is difficult to imagine another Holocaust memoir which has been so popular in the commercial market for such a sustained period of time, and equally utilized and cited in the scholarly arena.
Sadly, and devastatingly, the Playing for Time phenomenon has overshadowed and tainted the lives of the other survivors of the women’s orchestra. Since its publication their lives have been spent valiantly fighting to rebut this book and its impact. Their efforts can be described as nothing less than heroic.
From its first inception Playing for Time misrepresented and disparaged several women in the orchestra, most egregiously the conductor Alma Rosé and musician Claire Monis. Equally wounding was Fénelon’s portrayal of the women as a squabbling mass of petty individuals and her cruel treatment of prisoners of other nationalities—particularly the Polish women. Her memoir does not accurately represent the closeness that many members felt for one another and the true support system they provided each other emotionally. Those bonds are still evident among survivors. As the first book published about the orchestra, Playing for Time established—for better or worse—the foundation of historical memory on the subject. Other survivors of the orchestra who rebutted the account as embellished and largely false were never able to overcome the initial impact of Fénelon’s work. As a result, Playing for Time has largely entered into the always tenuous annals of historical memory as truth.
Notes
1.
Arie Olewski, e-mail message to author, May 24, 2014.
2.
Anita Lasker-Wallfisch, e-mail message to Mrs. Brantz, September 5, 1992, Personal collection Anita Lasker-Wallfisch (ALW).
3.
Anita Lasker-Wallfisch, e-mail message to author, April 16, 2014.
4.
Over 100 public lectures and recitals presented on the topic “Music in the Holocaust,” in multiple venues nationally and internationally, 1987–present. Dr. Susan Eischeid.
5.
Gila Flam, “Heartstrings: Music of the Holocaust,” Yad Vashem, date accessed February 1, 2015, http://www.yadvashem.org/yv/en/…/music_and_Holocaust.asp; “Music and the Holocaust,” Yivo Institute for Jewish Research, date accessed February 1, 2015, http://www.yivoencyclopedia.org/article.aspx/…/Music_and_the_Holocaust; “Music in the Ghettos and Camps,” date accessed February 1, 2015, http://www.ushmm.org.
6.
http://www.amazon.com, Playing for Time, Review Section, Accessed December 1, 2014.