Book description
At 108 years old, the pianist Alice Herz-Sommer is an eyewitness to
history. She has seen it all, surviving the Theresienstadt
concentration camp, attending Eichmann's trial in Jerusalem, and along
the way coming into contact with some of the most fascinating
historical figures of our time.
As a child in Prague, she spent weekends and holidays in the company of
Franz Kafka and Gustav Mahler, and Sigmund Freud and Rainer Maria Filke
were friendly with her mother. When Alice moved to Israel after the war,
Golda Meir attended her house concerts, as did Arthur Rubinstein,
Leonard Bernstein and Isaac Stern.
Despite her years of imprisonment, the murders of her mother,
husband and friends by the Nazis and, much later, the premature death
of her son, Alice has been victorious in her ability to live a life
without bitterness. A CENTURY OF WISDOM is lessons from a remarkable
and inspiring woman, and evidence of her lifelong determination - in
the face of some of the worst evils known to man - to find goodness in
life.
Caroline Stoessinger, a prominent pianist and artist-in-residence at
John Jay College of Criminal Justice, is the founder and director of The
Mozart Academy of New York, which provides high quality classical music
instruction at no cost to immigrant children who have limited access to
such opportunities. She is working on a documentary film about Alice
Herz-Sommer. Alice Herz-Sommer lives in London.