HERZBERGER, Magda

HERZBERGER, Magda. (Cluj, Transylvania (Romania), 1926- ). Herzberger survived the horrible Nazi concentration camps of Auschwitz and Bergen-Belsen during WORLD WAR II. At Auschwitz because she was young and strong, she was responsible for dragging corpses from the gas chambers to the crematoria and to dig pits for those not cremated. She was sent to Bergen-Belsen for extermination, but was rescued by the British.

Herzberger became one of this nation's respected poets and the recipient of a two thousand dollar grant from the American Poets Fellowship Society. Published in national anthologies and journals, Herzberger wrote Songs of Life, Will You Still Love Me? and The Waltz of the Shadows.

On Sunday, October 27, 1991, the FIRST CONGREGATIONAL UNITED CHURCH OF CHRIST choir, directed by Ruth Lyon, performed They Died in Vain, a requiem written by Herzberger to commemorate those who died during World War II at the hands of the Nazis. Herzberger stated the requiem was a funeral march for genocide victims who had been given no funeral.

Interview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ri7gxSy7A44

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Source:

Jerde, Lynn. "Christians, Jews Mourn Together for Nazi Victims," Telegraph Herald, April 25, 1997, p. 3A. Online: https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=aEyKTaVlRPYC&dat=19970425&printsec=frontpage&hl=en