1. Alice Herz-Sommer, was a Czech-born Israeli classical pianist, music teacher, and supercentenarian who survived Theresienstadt concentration camp.
21 Facts About Alice Herz-Sommer
1. 2.
Alice Herz-Sommer lived for 40 years in Israel, before emigrating to London in 1986, where she resided until her death, and at the age of 110 was the world's oldest known Holocaust survivor until Yisrael Kristal was recognized as such.
3.
Alice Herz-Sommer's father was a merchant and her mother was highly educated and moved in circles of well-known writers.
4.
Alice Herz-Sommer had two sisters, including a twin sister, Mariana, and two brothers.
5.
Alice Herz-Sommer's parents ran a cultural salon where Herz, as a child, met writers including Franz Kafka and Franz Werfel, composers including Gustav Mahler, philosophers, and intellectuals such as Sigmund Freud.
6.
Alice Herz-Sommer used to come to our house, sit and talk with my mother, mainly about his writing.
7.
Alice Herz-Sommer did not talk a lot, but rather loved quiet and nature.
8.
Alice Herz-Sommer went on to study under the Czech pianist Vaclav Stepan and at the German Academy of Music in Prague, where she was the youngest pupil.
9.
Alice Herz-Sommer began giving concerts and making a name for herself across Europe until the Nazis took over Prague, as they did not allow Jews to perform in public, join music competitions or teach non-Jewish pupils.
10.
Alice Herz-Sommer was billeted with her son during their time at the camp; he was one of only a few children to survive Theresienstadt.
11.
Alice Herz-Sommer's husband died of typhus in Dachau, six weeks before the camp was liberated.
12.
In London Alice Herz-Sommer lived close to her family in a one-room flat in Belsize Park, visited almost daily by her closest friends, her grandson Ariel Sommer, and daughter-in-law Genevieve Sommer.
13.
Alice Herz-Sommer practised playing the piano three hours a day until the end of her life.
14.
Alice Herz-Sommer stated that optimism was the key to her life:.
15.
Alice Herz-Sommer was survived by his wife and two sons.
16.
Alice Herz-Sommer died in hospital in London on 23 February 2014, aged 110, after being admitted two days previously.
17.
Alice Herz-Sommer's death was confirmed by her grandson, Ariel Sommer.
18.
Alice Herz-Sommer is buried at the St Pancras and Islington Cemetery in East Finchley, north London.
19.
The BBC TV documentary Alice Herz-Sommer Sommer Herz at 106: Everything Is a Present, written and produced by Christopher Nupen, was first broadcast on BBC Four.
20.
Alice Herz-Sommer was featured on BBC Radio 4's Woman's Hour in 2004 and in The Times, and The Guardian.
21.
Alice Herz-Sommer was one of two subjects featured in the film Refuge in Music.