University Of Michigan Ensemble 'Gives A Voice' To Nazi Prisoners Through Unearthed Music

While conducting research deep in the archives at the Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial and Museum in Poland last summer, Patricia Hall, a music theory professor at the University of Michigan, discovered something unexpected. Professor Hall unearthed manuscripts of music arranged and performed by prisoners in the Nazi death camps. A buoyant foxtrot titled "The Most Beautiful Time Of Life" stood out to Hall, and has now been recorded by Michigan's Contemporary Directions Ensemble. The ironically optimistic titles of the compositions amidst their tragic context surprised Hall. "I just couldn't imagine what titles like that were doing in a death camp," Hall says.