Esther Béjarano

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Esther Bejarano
Béjarano in 2018
Born	Esther Löwy (1924-12-15)15 December 1924 Saarlouis, Territory of the Saar Basin
Died	10 July 2021(2021-07-10) (aged 96) Hamburg, Germany
Occupations	Singer Accordion player Activist
Known for	Auschwitz women's orchestra
Awards	Carl von Ossietzky Medal Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany

Esther Béjarano (née Löwy; 15 December 1924 – 10 July 2021) was one of the last survivors of the Auschwitz concentration camp. She survived because she was a player in the Women's Orchestra of Auschwitz. She was active in various ways, including speeches and in music, in keeping the memory of the Holocaust alive.^[1] She was a regular speaker at the International Youth Meeting organised yearly at the Max Mannheimer Study Center in Dachau.^[2]

Biography

Born Esther Löwy, she was a daughter of Margarete (Heymann) and Rudolf Loewy,

On 20 April 1943, everyone in the camp was deported to the Auschwitz concentration camp. There she had to drag stones until she volunteered to play accordion in the newly formed Women's Orchestra of Auschwitz.^[5] Until then, she had only played the piano, never the accordion. Other players included Anita Lasker-Wallfisch. The orchestra had the task, among others, to play for the daily march of the work crews passing through the camp gate.^[5]

After the war, she immigrated to Palestine on 15 September 1945^[5] and in 1960 returned to Germany with her husband and two children.^[6] At the beginning of the 1980s, she created the musical group Coincidence, with her daughter Edna and her son Joram. They sang songs from the ghetto and in Hebrew as well as anti-fascist songs.^[5]

Béjarano lived in

Béjarano died in Hamburg on 10 July 2021, aged 96.[8]^[9][10] She was one of the last surviving orchestra members.^[1][11]

Awards and honours

Béjarano was awarded the

• Antonella Romeo, ed. (2013). Erinnerungen. Vom Mädchenorchester in Auschwitz zur Rap-Band gegen Rechts (in German). Hamburg: Laika-Verlag.
  ISBN 978-3-944233-04-8
  .
• Lieder für das Leben. Curio-Verlag, Hamburg 1995,
  ISBN 3-926534-84-2
  .
• Man nannte mich Krümel. Curio-Verlag, Hamburg 1989,
  ISBN 3-926534-82-6
  .

• Esther che suonava la fisarmonica nell’orchestra di Auschwitz, Regia di Elena Valsania, Felìz – Edizioni SEB27, DVD allegato al volume: Esther Béjarano, "La ragazza con la fisarmonica. Dall’orchestra di Auschwitz alla musica Rap", A cura di Antonella Romeo, Prefazione di Bruno Maida, Edizioni SEB27, 2013;
  ISBN 978-88-86618-94-6

Further reading

• Esther Béjarano and Birgit Gärtner, Wir leben trotzdem: Esther Béjarano – vom Mädchenorchester in Auschwitz zur Künstlerin für den Frieden ("We live, nevertheless: Esther Béjarano – from Girl Orchestra in Auschwitz to artist for peace"), Pahl-Rugenstein, Bonn (2005); 3rd edition, corrected and expanded (2007),
  ISBN 3-89144-353-6
  (in German)
• Esther Béjarano, "La ragazza con la fisarmonica. Dall’orchestra di Auschwitz alla musica Rap", A cura di Antonella Romeo, Prefazione di Bruno Maida, Allegato DVD "Esther che suonava la fisarmonica nell’orchestra di Auschwitz" (in Italian), Regia di Elena Valsania, Edizioni SEB27, 2013,
  ISBN 978-88-86618-94-6
• Thomas Gonschior,
  ISBN 978-3-944305-57-8
  .
• ISBN 978-3-940274-06-9
  .
• Yurtseven, Kutlu, Rosario Pennino, and Joram Bejarano. Esther Bejarano mit microphone mafia live in Kuba. (in German, illustrated, Verlag Wiljo Heinen, Berlin/Böklund 2017,
  ISBN 978-3-95514-910-9
  .

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Esther Béjarano.

• Esther Béjarano at
  IMDb
• Esther Béjarano discography at Discogs
• The Wooden Shoes (audio play, excerpts, in German), Radio Bremen, 24 January 2002 (in German)
• "Wir leben trotzdem: Esther Bejarano - vom Mädchenorchester in Auschwitz zur Künstlerin für den Frieden" [We live nevertheless]. unsere zeit - Zeitung der DKP (in German). dkp-online.de. 7 May 2004. Archived from the original on 15 December 2018. Retrieved 14 July 2021.