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Saved from scraps, music of the camps

Story includes audio links.

Scribbled in notebooks, diaries and even on pieces of lavatory paper, they provide a remarkable history of the music played and sung by the victims of the Holocaust.

Scores for thousands of waltzes, tangos, operas and folk songs will soon be made available to the public, thanks to the dedication of Francesco Lotoro, a professional pianist who for 16 years has been scouring Europe's capitals to amass his collection.

Mr Lotoro, 42, stumbled across his first piece of Holocaust music on a trip to Prague in 1991.

"I was interested and decided to bring some back with me," he said."In the end, I had to buy a new suitcase because I found 300 works."

Much of the music is sad and plaintive. The lyrics of one song by Josef Kropinski read:"In Buchenwald, the birch trees rustle sadly, as my heart sways languishing in woe."
Read entire article at Telegraph