(Reviewed by JD Jung)
“I am a musician, a musician who was imprisoned in a concentration camp, not a concentration camp inmate who also plays some music. The camps and the fear fundamentally changed my life, but it was shaped by music and music did its work well.”
Coco Schumann considered himself both a German and a Jew. Many in his family fought for Germany in previous wars and regarded themselves as patriots. Therefore it was hard to believe what was happening in 1935 and still what was to come. In referring to fellow Jews, “Their universal incomprehension stood beyond the naked threat to their lives: humiliated, loathed, imprisoned and maybe soon murdered by the same hand all of them had once believed in.”
Coco found inspiration and eventually solace and survival in swing and jazz. . He was nineteen years old when he was sent to the camp in Theresienstadt and eventually to Auschwitz-Birkenau. It was jazz that saved him.
Coco Schumann, who died in January of this year at age 93, wrote about his life and especially the influence of music on him in The Ghetto Swingers. It wasn’t published until 1997, and translated into English in 2016, as he found it difficult to relive his life in the concentration camps. He eventually came to the understanding that you can’t forget the horrors of your past, but you have to learn to integrate that period into your life.
In this touching yet heart-breaking autobiography, he talked about jazz and music not only in his own life, but in the midst of German politics and history. He also lamented certain changes in music throughout the decades. He valued music that conveys emotion. He found a home in jazz, “A home without nations, without inhuman value systems and without musical competition and short-lived attitudes.”
Yes, this recollection is often difficult to read due to the treatment, torture and murder of humans that he witnessed. He was also saddened by the current-day rise in anti-Semitism, racism and extremism. He articulated his feelings well and I am so grateful that he was able to go back into that dark place in his past. He answered a lot of questions that I had about that period in history.
There are many bright spots though, as he expressed a wonderful love of life and seem to have lived it to its fullest. The photographs included help the reader to understand him so much more.
Everyone should read this exceptional autobiography. His thoughts still apply today, as he tells us,
“I have learned that we must never allow ourselves to bend based others’ views. What matters is one’s own convictions and mutual respect, regardless of race, color, religion and political points of view.”
