Further Resources

About The Last Musician of Auschwitz

• Review in the Guardian
• Analysis and background information on the “Music and the Holocaust” teaching platform by ORT

About Music in Auschwitz

• Series of articles about music from the camps on the “Music and the Holocaust” teaching platform by ORT
• Book by Anne Sebba: The Women’s Orchestra of Auschwitz

About the Holocaust and Auschwitz

If your students are just beginning their study of the Holocaust, we suggest looking at the following pre-teaching resources:

Holocaust Encyclopedia from the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (USHMM)

• Introduction to the Holocaust
• Introduction to Judaism
• Article on Auschwitz
• Article on Forced Labor

Yad Vashem Teaching Materials

• What is the Holocaust? Interactive Timeline
• Learning about Auschwitz-Birkenau
• The Auschwitz Album (photos from this unique archival research are shown in the documentary)

If you are interested in doing further research into specific topics mentioned in The Last Musician of Auschwitz, we suggest the following resources:

About Anita Lasker-Wallfisch

• Her autobiography: Inherit the Truth: A Memoir of Survival and the Holocaust
• A digitized collection of autobiographical writings and translated letters in the archival collections held at the Center for Jewish History.
• A photo of her as a 13-year-old with a cello.

About Josef Mengele and Medical Experiments

• USHMM’s Holocaust Encyclopedia: Article on Mengele
• USHMM’s Holocaust Encyclopedia: Article on Nazi Medical Experiments
• USHMM’s Holocaust Encyclopedia: Media Essay on Nazi Medical Experiments
• Essay about Teaching Medical Experiments by the American Medical Association’s Journal of Ethics

About Ilse Weber

• Dancing on a Powder Keg (a printed collection of her letters and poems)
• Digitized archival sources about the translation of Weber’s Jewish Fairytales into English from the archival collections held at the Center for Jewish History
• Article about Ilse Weber on the “Music and the Holocaust” teaching platform by ORT

About Theresienstadt

• The Leo Baeck Institute’s Virtual Exhibit: Last Stop Before the Last Stop
• Theresienstadt Lesson Plans by the Leo Baeck Institute
• USHMM’s Holocaust Encyclopedia: Article on Theresienstadt
• USHMM’s Holocaust Encyclopedia: Article on Cultural Life in Theresienstadt
• Catalog about an exhibit with children’s drawings from Theresienstadt from the archival collections held at the Center for Jewish History

About the fate of the Romani people during the Holocaust

• Teaching resources about the Roma (Gypsies) from pre-war Europe until 1945 (including questions for students) by the USHMM
• Encyclopedia of the Nazi Genocide of the Sinti and Roma in Europe by the Universities of Berlin and Heidelberg
• Lesson Plans about the Romani Holocaust (these lesson plans were developed for British students)

About Yiddish

• Brochure “Basic Facts about Yiddish” by the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research
• Resources for Teachers by the Yiddish Book Center
• Learning the Yiddish Alphabet by the Yiddish Book Center
• Free online course by the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research

Digitized archival resources from the Center for Jewish History about Auschwitz

• Report about Auschwitz written in 1944 by the Executive Office of the US President War Refugee Board
• Postcards with photos of Auschwitz
• More postcards with photos of Auschwitz
• Photos of Auschwitz (includes sensitive materials)

For definitions of Holocaust terms, you can visit the USHMM Glossary or the Museum of Jewish Heritage Curriculum Glossary. All the specific terms mentioned in the lesson plans are explained at the end of each lesson plan.

You can also explore further resources about the Holocaust and Antisemitism on the Center for Jewish History website.