The Lost Music of Auschwitz

Documentary1 x 80'

The Lost Music of Auschwitz tells the remarkable story of British composer Leo Geyer’s 8-year long mission to piece together a treasure-trove of forgotten fragments of music manuscripts found in the archives of the Auschwitz-Birkenau museum.

Now, he and his orchestra will finally play the music he has painstakingly uncovered, exactly as it would have sounded at Auschwitz, in some cases for the first time in 80 years.

Auschwitz-Birkenau was the largest death camp the world has ever seen. Around 1.1 million people perished there, most of them Jewish. But the camp was also home to at least 6 orchestras, formed of prisoners and commissioned by the SS. Many of the manuscripts they left behind are almost too faint to read, while others are damaged beyond recognition, so interpreting them takes extensive musical detective work.

He discovers many examples of musicians rebelling, with secret performances, and weaving forbidden melodies into concerts.

Leo’s orchestra perform music by Chopin and Mozart, as well as pieces composed by the prisoners while at Auschwitz, and one of Leo own compositions.

This musical journey is interwoven with powerful interviews with some of the last remaining survivors, as well as previously un-broadcast interviews and written testimony.

Director Tom Cook
Executive Producer Dan Kendall
Production Executive Anna Cowdry
Editor Emily West
Line Producer Clare Beasley
Production Secretary Steve Bushell
Assistant Producer Lucy Lipscombe
Producer Justine Ostrowska