Renowned pianist Alice Herz-Sommer, believed to be the oldest survivor of the Holocaust, has passed away at the grand old age of 110.
Born into a Jewish family in Prague in 1903, Alice married Leopold Sommer in 1931. She gave birth to son, Raphael, six years later.
In 1943 Alice was one of 150,000 people imprisoned in German concentration camp Theresienstadt. Her son was one of the few children to survive the concentration camp, but her husband Leopold died in Dachau in 1944, only weeks before the camp was liberated.
During her time in Theresienstadt, Alice played over 100 concerts for prisoners and guards.
Her grandson, Ariel Sommer, confirmed her death in London yesterday, saying: “Alice Sommer passed away peacefully this morning with her family by her bedside.
“Much has been written about her, but to those of us who knew her best, she was our dear ‘Gigi’.
“She loved us, laughed with us, and cherished music with us. She was an inspiration and our world will be significantly poorer without her by our side.”
A film about Herz-Sommers’ life, The Lady in Number 6, is among the nominees for the Best Documentary Short at the Academy Awards this Sunday night.
