The Power of Music

 We are very fortunate in the community in which we live to have many gifted people, and none more so than pianist Duane Hanks.  Recently, he performed at Carnegie Hall in New York City, and on November 5, 2023 he was the solo artist for the Glenn Mccaslin Guest Artist Series in Pratt, Kansas, which my husband and I had the privilege to attend.  It was no wonder that he had received a 1st prize rating in the 2023 New York Golden Classical Music Awards International Competition and was given the honor of closing the concert.

Those of you who follow my blog may remember the blog "Have We Forgotten History?" which can be found at https://www.blogger.con/blog/post/edit/6321257453868183589/1104479535986519588 . In that blog I suggested reading Herman Wouk's The Winds of War and War and Remembrance as a way to learn the history of WW II from a well researched novel, especially as a way for young people and those who are unlikely to study academic books about WW II.  I have been studying that war, and I decided to take my own advice and read Wouk's books myself.  Perhaps that is why I was so very moved by Chopin's Nocturne in C# Minor as it was performed by Duane Hanks so beautifully.

Before he began playing, he shared two stories.  First was the story of Natalia Karp, who at the age of 18 made her debut with the Berlin Philharmonic, although by 1943 she was living in the Krakow-Plaszow concentration camp as a Jewish prisoner.  Knowing of her talent, Commandant Goth ordered her to play for him on his birthday.  She played Chopin's Nocturne in C-sharp minor.  Goth was a cruel and evil man, charged with killing more than 10,000 people, primarily Jews, during the Holocaust, but  he was so impressed with her performance that he spared her life, as well as the life of her sister.  Ultimately they were sent to Auschwitz, where both were fortunate to have survived.  As Duane Hanks played Chopin's Nocturne with such beauty and emotion, I could not help imagining the emotions of Natalia Karp as she played for Commandant Goth in the concentration camp.  

 The second story Duane Hanks shared was of Wladyslaw Szpilman, also a Polish Jew, who had studied in Germany but had returned to Poland after Hitler was appointed Chancellor of Germany in 1933.  In Poland, Szpilman joined the Polish Radio, performing classical and jazz music.  He was a celebrity and a featured soloist at Polskie Radio prior to its bombing by Germany in September of 1939.  Like all Jews in Warsaw, he and his family were forced to move into the Warsaw Ghetto.  When his family was deported in 1942 to Treblinka, an extermination camp in Poland, a Jewish Policeman assisting with the deportations yanked him from the transport train.  None of his family survived, 

He managed to survive by hiding in Warsaw, helped by friends from the Polish Radio and fellow musicians.  About 30 non-Jewish Poles were involved in helping him during the war.  However, it was a German officer, Captain Wilm Hosenfeld who may have played a particularly important role, beginning in August of 1944, when Hosenfeld discovered his hiding place and did not turn him in but rather brought him supplies on several occasions.

I have tried to better understand the situation of Israel-Palestine relations, including my research about WW II and the horrific treatment of the Jews, who believe the Hebrew Bible states that Palestine has been promised to them by God, and the Palestinian Arabs who believe they had the most recent control of the land and it should stay in their possession.  These two groups have at least tried to work things out to some extent, but Hamas, which was founded in 1987, their full name being the Islamic Resistance Movement, defeated Fatah, the Palestinian party that still controls the Palestian Authority based in the West Bank, the 2nd Palestinian Territory, while Hamas and its military organization covers the Gaza Strip and claims full authority, with the goal of excluding Israel.  That does not even take into account the strategic location at the crossroads of Asia, Europe and Africa, which involves other nations.

These were the thoughts that brought tears to my eyes as Duane Hanks played Chopin.  I thought of  Herman Wouk's books and the history I have studied, recalling the struggles of the Jews trying to escape Hitler and dreaming of a safe place to live after the war ended.  There were tears in my eyes for Israel and for those in Palestine.  I thought of the boy in my high school English class decades ago, so excited about spending the summer in Israel.

I have no answer, only tears.  But do those demonstrators, waving flags and protesting really have any understanding of all of the things that brought tears to my eyes.  Instead of marching and waving flags, perhaps we should go to the library and study the history and complexity of this tragic situation.  The world needs wisdom, compassion, and less greed.  Perhaps listening to Chopin's Nocturne in C-sharp minor might help all of us pause for reflection, and a deeper understanding of the situation.