12/02/22
In The News
The North Shore Weekend: Masha’s Mandolin
It could be said that musical talent helped the late Masha Pietkowski survive the Holocaust. She played the mandolin in an all-female orchestra at the Auschwitz concentration camp for nearly 18 months, beginning in 1943.
The facts are sobering. Audience members included SS personnel. And among each musician’s privileges was not having their head shaved. Masha’s gift also initiated a courtship with her future husband, Morris Rapoport. Both had been transported to a Displaced Persons Camp in Bergen-Belsen, Germany, where they met during a dance party.