While avoiding a description of the action, I feel that certain background information is pertinent. During World War II there were musicians in Hitler's death camps who were kept alive in order to perform. These included unknown musicians as well as famous personalities such as Gustav Mahler's niece Alma Rosé, who conducted the women's orchestra in Auschwitz. Some specific details of that camp relate to Through Roses.
My interest in this subject is not political but rather socio-philosophical. The foundation of all spirituality and elevated humanity in music lies, for me, in the tradition of great German music; Bach, Beethoven, Mozart, etc. The grotesque paradox of playing that music in those camps is an unfathomable act of a supposedly civilized and cultured people. I have no explanation. Yet I felt compelled to raise these issues.
Marc Neikrug