Alice Herz-Sommer. A rare figure in the human story
Photo: AP
Tamar Ish Shalom
Photo: Inbal Marmari
For Alice Herz-Sommer, life was beautiful
Op-ed: The world's oldest Holocaust survivor did not let the great tragedy in her life define her. She recreated herself, within and through music.
During my stay in London, I was asked more than once what was the most interesting interview I had conducted. Was it with Richard Gere, Cate Blanchett, Will Smith, or perhaps the press conference with Ahmandinejad?
I always gave the same unequivocal answer: The most interesting, significant and emotionally moving interview was held in North London in a modest one-room apartment, with a woman more than 100 years old.
The definition "the world's oldest Holocaust survivor" extremely minimizes Sommer's image. Primarily, she was the most optimistic person I had ever met in my life, with a rare joy of life. Alice Sommer lost nearly her entire family in the Holocaust, but for a single moment she did not stop believing in life, people and music, which was her entire world. Every few minutes she would repeat the same sentence: "Life is beautiful, beautiful is life."
I met Alice Herz-Sommer in London five years ago, when I interviewed her for an report on Holocaust Remembrance Day. She was 105 years old at the time and was wearing blue All Stars shoes. It was clear that it was about to be an unusual interview.
Farewell
Michal Margalit
Surviving through music and optimism: Alice Herz-Sommer, a pianist forced to play concerts for Nazis and subject of an Oscar nominated short subject documentary, dies at the age 110.
"Even in the Holocaust, Alice, in the camp?"
"Yes, certainly, even in the camp!" she replied decisively.
"If you could have talked to God while you were in the camp, what would you have said to him?"
"God, is that you? I love you!"
Music, she said, was the way of speaking to God.
It was impossible to leave a conversation with her as the same person. Her soft eyes captured her interlocutor with great love. This is not a cliché. Sommer had a solid philosophical stand which asserted that beauty and comfort can be found anywhere, anytime. I don't know if she is right about it, if we can all reach such a level of compassion, or if it was her unusual image.
Sommer should not be remembered as the oldest Holocaust survivor who ever lived, but as a rare figure in the human story. She did not let the great tragedy in her life define her. She recreated herself, within and through music. It was a privilege knowing her.
Tamar Ish Shalom is Channel 10's evening news anchor.
