REMEMBERING

 January the 27th was International Holocaust Remembrance Day - - commerating the 80th year of the liberation of Auschwitz - Birkenau. 

I've been wanting to write about some very special holocaust survivors that I knew long ago. Perhaps this is an appropriate time.

I've had the privilege of studying piano and composition with some of the most extraordinary teachers in Southern California. Geza Wolf was one of them.

I began piano lessons with him when I was fifteen and studied for nearly three years. My only regret is that I was older and more mature, but my time with him was extremely rewarding.

At that time, Geza Wolf and his wife Elizabeth were residing in Riverside. They were native Hungarians. Wolf had been a composer, conductor, and concert pianist in Europe. He was also the conductor of the Belgrade Opera Orchestra in Yugoslavia.

This is the Belgrade National Theater where he used to conduct

Both Wolf and his wife, Hungarian Jews, were survivors of the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in Northern Germany (where Anne Frank died).

Wolf was a suberb pianist and had an astounding knowledge of music. He was also a quiet, soft spoken man, very humble. When I paid my monthly fee for my lessons, he was always reluctant to take the check - almost as he didn't deserve it.

It was very obvious that he and his wife were pround Americans and extremely greatful to be in this country.

He composed some sort of memorial music (I can't remember exactly what) that was presented to (then) President Nixon. He kept an award and handwritten letter from Nixon near his piano.

I knew that Wolf and his wife were survivors of the concentration camp Bergen-Belsen and was extremely interested about their tragic plight. Wolf never spoke about it, of course, and I politely never asked.

Bit by bit, I learned a few things from other sources. He was arrested by the Nazis while he was conducting a concert in Belgrade. In Bergen-Belsen he suffered horrifying torture - - including being hung upside down and severely beaten.

At the time that I knew him, I assumed that he and his wife were married when they were in Bergen-Belsen. It is only recently that I found the concentration camp records of Geza Wolf, but there is no listing of Elizabeth. I now think that Elizabeth was listed by her maiden name (which I don't know) and they were probably married after the 1945 liberation.

Curiously, Wolf was arrested again after the liberation, but I don't know why or where. This imprisonment seemed to be of a short duration.

I happened to see some of Wolf's old music manuscripts, signed in his hand. His real name was Geza Wolfenstein.

I also happened to see the tatooed numbers on his arm. Tangible proof of the holocaust.

At the time I was studying with Wolf, I had little confidence in my pianistic abilities and had trouble performing in public. Elizabeth Wolf had lended me some of her self-help books about aquiring confidence. She had needed them to help cope after the traumas of surviving the war.

One thing I distinctly remember is that Geza and his wife spoke a beautiful, refined Hungarian dialect - - not often heard. It was lovely to hear.

Musically speaking, I was already studying and performing advanced pieces at age fifteen. Compositions by Franz Liszt, Chopin, Beethoven, and rare things by the Russian composer Anton Rubinstein.

Geza Wolf performed very frequently in Palm Springs and became friends with many celebrities. He kept these friendships very low key and seldom spoke of them.

I knew that he had a very close relationship with the Gabors, particularly ZsaZsa (whose real name was Sari). The Gabors were an affluent family from Budapest, where they owned a jewelry store. They fled to America when they lost all their possessions during the Nazi invasion.

ZsaZsa was a very flamboyant character, but personally she was an astute businesswoman and had more compassion than she ever showed publicly.

I wish I knew more about Geza Wolf and his tragic and turbulent past. He was a great teacher. The time I spent with him was always fascinating and rewarding.

If there is a happy ending, it's so fortunate that he and his wife survived the holocaust and made it safely to America.

I recently discovered where they are now buried - - and was pleased that they both had long lives. Geza lived to be 89. His wife Elizabeth was 90.

They had no children nor any relatives that I know of.

Geza and Elizabeth are interred at Olivewood Cemetery in Riverside. Geza's birth year is 1910. On the Bergen-Belsen records, he's listed as being born in 1913 but this could be an error.

 

The following photos are graphic and disturbing. They were all taken at Bergen Belsen during liberation in 1945.

I want everyone to see the raw,  unspeakable horrors of the holocaust.

Nobody should ever forget.

Thousands of bodies at Bergen-Belsen that had to be burned

Where the prisoners slept

A child walking past corpses

Thank you for reading this.

Jon  ❤️