It is still a bit of the memory of the Shoah that is fading away.
Esther Bejarano, one of the last survivors of the Auschwitz Women's Orchestra and "courageous personality" according to the German president, died on the night of Friday to Saturday at the age of 96, the director announced. from the Anne Frank Educational Center, on Twitter.
"She dedicated her life to music and to the fight against racism and anti-Semitism," wrote Meron Mendel, recalling that this German of Jewish faith, deported in 1943 to the Nazi extermination camp, had been killed saved because she was a musician and played the accordion at Auschwitz.
Esther Bejarano hat Auschwitz überlebt, weil sie im Lager-Orchester Akkordeon spielte.
Ihr Leben hat sie für Musik und für den Kamp gegen Rassismus und Antisemitismus gewidmet.
Heute Nacht ist sie im Alter von 97 Jahren gestorben.
Baruch Dayan ha'Emet.
pic.twitter.com/nBxzXkQVlE
- Dr. Meron Mendel (@MeronMendel) July 10, 2021
Born Esther Loewy, she died in Hamburg as a result of "a brief and serious illness," confirmed the Auschwitz-Committee of Germany, without providing further details.
"We are suffering a great loss with his death," wrote the President of the German Republic, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, in a message of condolence to his children.
"She will always remain in our hearts", he added, saluting the memory of a "courageous personality who was committed to the end in favor of those who were prosecuted by the Nazi regime".
"Important voice"
"An important voice in the fight against racism and anti-Semitism has died", also tweeted the German Foreign Minister, Heiko Maas, about this "formidable" personality, stressing that "his vitality and his incredible history Forced admiration.
Heute Nacht ist eine wichtige Stimme im Kampf gegen Rassismus und Antisemitismus von uns gegangen.
Die wundervolle Ester #Bejarano überzeugte mit ihrer Lebenskraft und unglaublichen Geschichte.
Ihre Stimme wird uns fehlen.
#WeRemember pic.twitter.com/Il2WVplt9d
- Heiko Maas 🇪🇺 (@HeikoMaas) July 10, 2021
For her part, the candidate of the Greens for the chancellery for the legislative elections of September 26, Annalena Baerbock, judged: "It is up to us to continue to remember and never to forget (...) what we have says people like Esther Bejarano ”.
Born in Sarrelouis, the latter had first been subjected to forced labor before being deported to Auschwitz in April 1943 and then being transferred in November of the same year to the Ravensbrück camp. *
Ihre Stimme hatte Gewicht und sie wird fehlen.
Es ist an uns, das Erlebte, das Erzählte von Menschen wie #EstherBejarano weiterzutragen, zu erinnern und für die Zukunft nie zu vergessen.
- Annalena Baerbock (@ABaerbock) July 10, 2021
Her parents and sister were murdered by the Nazis.
After the War, Esther Bejarano had moved to Palestine and lived for nearly 15 years in Israel, before returning to Germany where for years she had tirelessly told her story, especially in schools.
Very popular in his country
Very popular in her country, she also warned in recent years against the rise of the far right, especially since the entry into force of the AfD party in the chamber of deputies, the Bundestag, in 2017. “For those who have lived that (the deportation, editor's note), we cannot describe how serious it is, ”she insisted, denouncing in particular the xenophobic and anti-Muslim movement Pegida and the AfD.
Listened to figure, she wrote several autobiographical novels, devoted herself to song and to her activities within the International Committee of Auschwitz.
With her daughter and son, Esther Bejarano founded the group Coincidence in the early 1980s with ghetto songs and Jewish and anti-fascist songs.
She has also performed with a hip-hop group, Microphone Mafia, with whom she toured throughout Germany.
Born on December 15, 1924, Esther Bejarano was recruited in 1943 within the Auschwitz Women's Orchestra when she did not know how to play the accordion but only the piano.
With the other musicians, she was to play for the prisoners and for the deportees when the convoys were brought down.
She told Deutsche Welle in 2014: "You knew they were going to be gassed, and all you could do was stand there and play."
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The deportees on the selection ramp "waved to us.
They probably thought that where there is music, it can't be that bad.
This was the tactic of the Nazis.
They wanted all these people to go to their deaths without a fight, ”she also testified.
Along with cellist Anita Lasker-Wallfisch, 95, she was one of the very last known musicians of the Auschwitz Women's Orchestra still alive.
The latter, who lives in Great Britain, has also testified many times to younger generations of the suffering endured in the Nazi camp located in today's Poland.