Schumann's Träumerei for Josef Mengele. Conductors The first conductor, Zofia Czajkowska, a Polish music teacher, was active from April 1943 until she was replaced by Alma Rosé, an Austrian-Jewish violinist, in August that year. The daughter of Arnold Rosé, leader of the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, and niece of Gustav Mahler, Rosé had been the conductor of the Wiener Walzermädeln, a small orchestra in Vienna, and had arrived in Auschwitz from the Drancy internment camp in Paris. By January 1944, the orchestra had 47 members, including five singers. Rosé died suddenly on 5 April 1944, possibly from food poisoning, after having dinner with a kapo (an inmate with special privileges). The third conductor was Sonia Winogradowa, a Ukrainian pianist. For several reasons, including reduced rehearsal time and Winogradowa's lack of experience, the orchestra's performance declined. It stopped performing in October 1944. Move to Bergen-Belsen On 1 November 1944, the Jewish members of the women's orchestra were evacuated by cattle car to the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in Germany, where there was neither orchestra nor special privileges. Three members, Charlotte "Lola" Croner, Julie Stroumsa and Else, were murdered there. On 18 January 1945, non-Jewish women in the orchestra, including several Poles, were evacuated to Ravensbrück concentration camp. Fénelon was interviewed by the BBC on 15 April 1945, the day of Bergen-Belsen's liberation by British troops, and sang "La Marseillaise" and "God Save the King". Books The best known publication about the orchestra is Fania Fénelon's memoir, Playing for Time (1977), first published in Paris as Sursis pour l'orchestre (1976). The memoir and subsequent TV adaptation assumed an important place in Holocaust scholarship. This was a source of frustration to other survivors of the orchestra, who disagreed with Fénelon's representation of the orchestra, particularly her portrayal of Alma Rosé and several other musicians, and the diminishment by Fénelon of their bond and support for one another. Fénelon presents Rosé as a cruel disciplinarian and self-hating Jew who admired the Nazis and courted their favor. A biography, Alma Rosé: From Vienna to Auschwitz (2000), by Rosé family friend Richard Newman and Karen Kirtley, presents a different picture. List of members Listed alphabetically by birth name or by first name where no surname is known. Conductors Zofia Czajkowska, Polish music teacher, first conductor, conducted until August 1943. Alma Rosé, violin, Austrian, second conductor, died 5 April 1944. Sonia Winogradowa, copyist, piano, voice, Ukrainian, third conductor. Players