Ashes to Light: A Holocaust Childhood to a Life in Music

by Nelly Ben-Or MBE

Overview

Born into a Jewish family in Lvov, Poland in the early-1930s, Nelly Ben-Or was to experience, at a very young age, the trauma of the Holocaust. This narrative of her life's jourbaney describes the survival of Nelly, her mother and her older sister. With help from family and friends, Nelly and her mother were smuggled out of the Ghetto in Lvov and escaped to Warsaw with false identity papers where they were under constant threat of discovery. Miraculously, they survived being taken on a train to Auschwitz, deported not, in fact, because they were Jews, but as citizens of Warsaw following the Warsaw Uprising against the Nazis.
After the end of the war, Nelly's musical talent was free to flourish, at first in Poland and then in the recently-created State of Israel, where Nelly completed her musical studies as a scholarship student at the Music Academy in Jerusalem. Following her move to England she carried out a full concert career and also discovered the Alexander Technique for piano playing, which had a profound influence on her. Today Nelly Ben-Or is internationally regarded as the leading exponent of the application of principles of the Alexander Technique - she teaches in the keyboard department of London's Guildhall School of Music and Drama, runs Alexander Technique masterclasses and regularly gives talks about her Holocaust experience.
This unique memoir is testimony to an extraordinary life and illustrates the strength of the human condition when faced with adversity.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781788313094
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date:	04/26/2018
Pages:	240
Product dimensions:	5.10(w) x 7.90(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

Nelly Ben-Or is a distinguished pianist and piano teacher. Born in Poland, she survived the Holocaust and now lives in London. She teaches in the keyboard department at London's Guildhall School of Music and Drama. She has broadcast frequent recitals for the BBC, performed at major concert venues in the UK and in many countries overseas. In 1963 she qualified as a teacher of the Alexander Technique - the first professional pianist to do so. She is now internationally-recognised as a leading exponent of the technique. She regularly gives masterclasses at music conservatoires, universities and at her own twice-yearly international courses in London. She regularly gives talks about her Holocaust experience, especially around Holocaust Memorial Day.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations ix

Preface xi

Acknowledgements xiii

Part I The War Years

1 1 September 1939 - Nazis Invade Poland 3

2 Beginnings of the Nightmare 11

3 In the Ghetto and Escape 19

4 Continual Hiding 26

5 Arrival in Warsaw 33

6 A Brief Haven of Peace 45

7 Trembacka Street, Warsaw 55

8 Warsaw Uprising 65

9 Pruszków - Semi-Freedom 73

10 The Last Winter of the War 81

11 The End of Nazi Occupation 88

12 Liberation - Beginnings of a New Life 91

Part II Poland 1945-50

13 Fulfilment Through Learning 97

14 New Influences - Literature 103

15 Jasia and Julian 112

Part III Israel 1950-60

16 To the Promised Land - Israel 117

17 Henrietta Michaelson and the Jerusalem Music Academy 127

18 The Mozart Competition and Public Concerts 135

19 Marriage to Gabriel Ben-Or 144

20 Death of Henrietta and Divorce from Gabi 151

Part IV England From 1960

21 London - the Alexander Technique 161

22 Shadows from the Past - Inner Illness 173

23 Marriage to Roger Clynes 179

24 Confronting the Past 190

25 Various Journeys 196

26 Reflections 209

Postscript 211

Appendix I Holocaust Memorial Day Notes from School Pupils 213

Appendix II Some Memorabilia from a Musical Career 217

Bibliography 222

Index 224

Editorial Reviews

"This is a deeply inspiring story, told with utmost honesty and simplicity. Caught up in the Holocaust, a young Jewish girl dreamed of becoming a concert pianist. The obstacles were unimaginable, but with courage and determination that is genuinely awe inspiring, she not only survived, but succeeded and made her dream into reality. Having related the extraordinary events of her life, Nelly Ben-Or expresses both her gratitude towards those who helped her and her desire to help young people today. She generously shares her knowledge, experience, and the underlying wellspring which is her passion for music".

Dr. Lillian Buss Pearson

"Nelly tells the story of how she was smuggled out of the ghetto and fled to Warsaw..."

Music Journal

An extraordinary biography of an extraordinary life ... the book is beautifully written, relating the various horrors and adventures clearly, simply, intelligently and with great compassion for all the actors in this terrible drama ... I thoroughly recommend this truly outstanding book of a truly uplifting life.” —Society of Teachers of the Alexander Technique

From the Publisher