LOST MUSIC OF THE HOLOCAUST PRESERVED BY ITALIAN MUSICIAN FRANCESCO LOTORO

Maestro Francesco Lotoro and Ambassador Armando Varricchio

Many books have been written and movies made about the Holocaust itself, but perhaps less is known about the music. So an event was held at the Embassy of Italy on January 29, 2018, to introduce Francesco Lotoro, who has made it his life’s work to find the music written in the concentration camps. His small apartment in Barletta, Puglia, holds the world’s largest collection of this “lost music of the Holocaust.” Italy, in July 2000, was the first country to designate by law that January 27 would be International Holocaust Remembrance Day. Other countries, and the United Nations, followed suit not long after.

This event with Francesco Lotoro, sponsored by the Italian Cultural Institute, was part of the commemoration of that day. In his welcoming remarks, Ambassador Armando Varricchio noted that similar events were being held in other major U.S. cities. He told the audience that on the 80th anniversary of Mussolini’s racial laws, Italian President Sergio Mattarella announced that he is honoring Auschwitz survivor Liliana Segre by naming her a “Senator for Life.”

No doubt it was an emotional experience for many in the audience to hear Maestro Lotoro playing on the piano the songs of the inmates who were in Auschwitz, Buchenwald and other World War II concentration camps—songs which the prisoners themselves called “songs at the gates of hell.” The most prolific composer in the camps was an opera singer from Czechoslovakia who wrote hundreds of pieces of music while he was imprisoned, but never wrote even a single note of music afterwards. Maestro Lotoro, working with the composer’s son, was able to find some pieces of that music which he played for the audience. Lithuanian, French and Polish inmates in the camps were among the composers whose musical works have survived.

In some camps, musicians were allowed to perform for the enjoyment of the camp commandants, but the political prisoners, especially, had to hide their compositions and so they used newspaper scraps and toilet paper. Maestro Lotoro, the son of a tailor, had a passion for the piano at a young age. He first became interested in this music while studying at the Franz Liszt Academy in Budapest. While studying the great composers of Central Europe, he noticed that the biographies of many of them ended abruptly in 1944, and he resolved to find out why.

The audience was shown a short video of Maestro Lotoro’s work, which will be broadcast as a longer film in Italy, entitled “Lost Musik.” Dr. Bret Werb of the U.S. Holocaust Museum in Washington, D.C., offered details about some of the composers as Maestro Lotoro played examples of their music. As curator of the museum’s music and sound collection, he said that the museum has put a lot of the information online for scholars and members of the public. Dr. Kenneth Stow, an American who is professor emeritus of Jewish history at the University of Haifa, gave the audience some background about the musicians in the camps.

And he said he had talked to Jewish survivors in Italy who told him about being hidden by families in false closets during the war, at great risk to themselves. Others gave their jewels and valuables to shopkeepers for safekeeping, and when the war ended, every stone was returned to them. He said he was told that in the town of Togliacozzo Alto in Abruzzo, a Jewish family was hidden by the Catholic parish priest. It turns out that everyone in the town knew this secret, but no one betrayed them. In fact, details of this story about the Abruzzese priest, Don Gaetano Tantalo, have gradually become known. Many details have been published by the Yad Vashem Museum, the World Holocaust Remembrance Center in Israel, in its featured stories on the Righteous Among the Nations.

The following are some of the known details: A small piece of paper with handwritten numbers displayed in the Yad Vashem Museum of Holocaust History tells the extraordinary story of the celebration of Passover at the home of this Italian priest during the German occupation of Italy in 1944. It is the page on which Don Tantalo did his calculation to determine the exact date of Passover. Don Tantalo of Tagliacozzo Alto, Italy, not only hid seven members of the Orvieto and Pacifici families, but went out of his way to enable them to perform the Jewish rituals. Don Gaetano Tantalo, born in 1905, in Villavallelonga, L’Aquila province, met the members of the Orvieto and Pacifici families, in Magliano dei Marsi (L’Aquila) in August 1940.

They were at a summer resort where the families usually vacationed, and they developed friendly relations with the local inhabitants, including the local priest. The latter introduced them to his friend, Don Gaetano Tantalo, the priest in the Church of St. Pietro in Tagliacozzo Alto. They met him again in the summer of 1941, and in 1942. Enrico Orvieto and Tantalo became friends. Life changed after the Italian surrender on September 8, 1943, and the Orvieto-Pacifici families escaped to Magliano dei Marsi. When they did not feel safe there any longer, they moved to a neighboring village, Poggio Filippo. This was just 12 hours before the German troops entered the area, establishing their headquarters at the former house of the two Jewish families in Magliano de Marsi.

Thus, it also seemed risky to remain in Poggio Filippo. Enrico therefore decided to seek the help of his friend, Don Tantalo in Tagliacozzo Alto. He offered to shelter the Orvieto-Pacifici families at the parish house, despite the danger. Don Tantalo introduced them to his neighbors as relatives. During the nine months they were harbored in the church Don Tantalo exhibited genuine friendship. As a devout Catholic, he was also sensitive to their religious requirements. He supplied them with Bibles; greeted them with “Shabbat Shalom” every Friday evening; and helped them determine the dates of the Jewish holidays, especially Passover, according to the Jewish calendar. For the Seder, he supplied them with brand new dishes and helped organize all the necessary ingredients.

A small piece of baked matzah (unleavened bread) from that auspicious Passover remained hidden among his belongings. In July 1944, the Orvieto-Pacifici families left the Church of St. Pietro, in Tagliacozzo Alto, and returned to Rome. They remained in close contacts with their rescuer. When Father Tantalo suffered from lung disease, The Orvieto family helped him get the best medical care. He died in 1947.