For the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, Music of Remembrance (MOR) is performing a free concert at Benaroya Hall, which will feature the Northwest Boychoir and Seattle Girls Choir. "Art from Ashes" will highlight music composed by victims of the Holocaust and newly commissioned pieces, spotlighting the unwavering commitment to create during the darkest days in history.

Millions of Jews, as well as Queers, Roma, and disabled people, were sent to Auschwitz, the largest Nazi death camp, which was liberated by the Soviet Red Army on January 27, 1945. MOR is a nonprofit classic chamber music organization in Seattle, focused on human rights and social justice, that finds and performs music composed by Holocaust victims, in addition to commissioning and premiering new works.

"This annual 'Art from Ashes' concert is part of our ongoing commitment to honoring the resilience of all people excluded or persecuted for their faith, ethnicity, gender, or sexuality," Mina Miller, artistic director, told the SGN.

The Jan. 27 concert will include music by Austro-Czech composer and pianist Erwin Schulhoff, whose pieces were banned during the early days of the Nazi regime, as well as works by Viktor Ullmann and David Beigelman. "Art from Ashes" will also feature cabaret-style songs originally written and performed by prisoners in the Terezin concentration camp, located in the Czech Republic.

Songs from the Vilna Ghetto in Lithuania will also be performed, as well as new arrangements based on performances by the Men's Auschwitz Orchestra, which was forced to play the top songs of the day for SS officers and their families.

Queer impact
Miller said the Nazis murdered thousands of LGBTQ+ people by enforcing the infamous anti-Gay Paragraph 175 legislation.

"One of Music of Remembrance's proudest moments was commissioning and premiering Jake Heggie's 'For Look or a Touch,' the first major opera to cast light on that shameful [anti-LGBTQ+] history," Miller said. "This concert concludes with Heggie's 'Farewell, Auschwitz,' a stirring anthem to the power of resistance."

In the early 1900s, Berlin had over a hundred Queer bars, cafés, clubs, and organizations. But as the Nazis rose to power, LGBTQ+ people were forced back into the shadows, as they contradicted the party's goal of an "Aryan" race, according to the National Center for Lesbian Rights' post "The Significance of the Pink Triangle."

"Throughout the Holocaust, it's estimated that upwards of 15,000 Gay men were sent to concentration camps. Inside the camps, they were forced to wear a pink inverted triangle on their uniforms—clearly marking them as LGBTQ," the post states.

All Queers were impacted, but Gay men were especially targeted since at the time, more men were in positions of power. Queer concentration camp victims would receive crueler treatment, and according to the Center, 60% of Gay men sent to these camps did not survive.

"Art from Ashes" will take place on January 27, beginning at 5:30 p.m, at the Illsley Ball Nordstrom Recital Hall. For more information on tickets visit https://musicofremembrance.org/show-details/afa2025.