What do you think?
Inherit the Truth: The Cellist of Auschwitz
**THE INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER**
Told in her own words, this is the incredible true story of one young woman’s survival of Auschwitz and Belsen because she happened to play the cello.
Although my head was shaved and I had a number on my arm, I had not lost my identity totally. I may no longer have had a name, but I was identifiable … I was 'the cellist'.
When eighteen-year-old Anita arrived at Auschwitz, she found herself plucked from the Nazi death machine by a twist of fate: she played the cello, and the camp orchestra needed a cellist. Now the last living survivor of the Auschwitz Women’s Orchestra, this is her story told in her own words.
Like so many German Jewish schoolgirls, Anita had been busy with her studies and ambitions when her everyday life began to turn by degrees into one of unimaginable horror. School was cancelled, her parents were summoned for deportation, and when she and her sister, Renate, attempted to escape to France, they were arrested and imprisoned. Through her sharp-etched memories, alongside family letters, photos, and other historical documents, Inherit the Truth leads us into one of humanity’s darkest chapters, where we are forced to confront the fragility of the line between civilisation and barbarity.
Marking the eightieth anniversary of her arrival in the UK after her release from Belsen concentration camp, Anita Lasker-Wallfisch's account of her and her sister’s survival of both Auschwitz and Belsen is a testament to their remarkable courage, resilience, ingenuity and luck.
This edition includes a new foreword from Philippe Sands, author of 38 Londres Street: On Impunity, Pinochet in England, and a Nazi in Patagonia.
Told in her own words, this is the incredible true story of one young woman’s survival of Auschwitz and Belsen because she happened to play the cello.
Although my head was shaved and I had a number on my arm, I had not lost my identity totally. I may no longer have had a name, but I was identifiable … I was 'the cellist'.
When eighteen-year-old Anita arrived at Auschwitz, she found herself plucked from the Nazi death machine by a twist of fate: she played the cello, and the camp orchestra needed a cellist. Now the last living survivor of the Auschwitz Women’s Orchestra, this is her story told in her own words.
Like so many German Jewish schoolgirls, Anita had been busy with her studies and ambitions when her everyday life began to turn by degrees into one of unimaginable horror. School was cancelled, her parents were summoned for deportation, and when she and her sister, Renate, attempted to escape to France, they were arrested and imprisoned. Through her sharp-etched memories, alongside family letters, photos, and other historical documents, Inherit the Truth leads us into one of humanity’s darkest chapters, where we are forced to confront the fragility of the line between civilisation and barbarity.
Marking the eightieth anniversary of her arrival in the UK after her release from Belsen concentration camp, Anita Lasker-Wallfisch's account of her and her sister’s survival of both Auschwitz and Belsen is a testament to their remarkable courage, resilience, ingenuity and luck.
This edition includes a new foreword from Philippe Sands, author of 38 Londres Street: On Impunity, Pinochet in England, and a Nazi in Patagonia.
272 pages, Paperback
Published August 25, 2026
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
Read
May 7, 2026Anita Lasker wrote about her horrible experiences her and her sister Ronate endured during the Holocaust. She wrote it for her children to "Inherit the Trith," her truth, so others can learn from the past. Music saved her in many ways. Because she played the cello she ended up being a member of the Women's Orchestra of Auschwitz, playing for prisnors as they left camp to go to various jobs and when they returned back to camp.
Anita writes about her experiences, some are still clear as day as if it just happened recently and other memories are a little bit more distant. She also shares letters written between family members. She writes a little bit about after they are liberated, but I was hoping for more information. She mentions her children but doesn't say how she met her husband and where they lived/where her children grew up, and how they took the news when they were old enough to understand what their mother and her sisters, parents and other family members went through during the Holocaust.
July 2025, she celebrated her 100th birthday! An amazing woman!
A must-have for all libaries!
Never forget!
Never again!
#InheritTheTruth #AnitaLaskerWallfisch #SchoolLibrary #SchoolLibrarians #PublicLibraries #PublicLibrarians #ReadABook #ReadThisBook #Books #Read #YALit #YABooks #YARead #BookLit #AdultBooks #Edelweiss #Goodreads #AdultBooksForTeens #Memoir #HolocaustSurvivor #NeverForget #NeverAgain
Anita writes about her experiences, some are still clear as day as if it just happened recently and other memories are a little bit more distant. She also shares letters written between family members. She writes a little bit about after they are liberated, but I was hoping for more information. She mentions her children but doesn't say how she met her husband and where they lived/where her children grew up, and how they took the news when they were old enough to understand what their mother and her sisters, parents and other family members went through during the Holocaust.
July 2025, she celebrated her 100th birthday! An amazing woman!
A must-have for all libaries!
Never forget!
Never again!
#InheritTheTruth #AnitaLaskerWallfisch #SchoolLibrary #SchoolLibrarians #PublicLibraries #PublicLibrarians #ReadABook #ReadThisBook #Books #Read #YALit #YABooks #YARead #BookLit #AdultBooks #Edelweiss #Goodreads #AdultBooksForTeens #Memoir #HolocaustSurvivor #NeverForget #NeverAgain
Review of advance copy received from Publisher
Inherit the Truth is a memoir of the Shoah which feels like an unfolding eyewitness account, underpinned by family letters. Its terse, unsentimental style reflects the restrained, highly intelligent personality of Anita Lasker-Wallach, who has often given live testimony on television. Lasker- Wallach makes it plain throughout her text, that her aim is to describe what she saw and experienced. Therefore, she does not go into huge detail about the horrors of Auschwitz for example. You can read that in books, is her viewpoint.
First published in 1996, this is a new edition published by Faber, with a foreword by Philippe Sands, who meets the author in 2026. A timely reissue with the current alarming rise in antisemitism.
The book opens with the life of an assimilated Jewish family in Germany before the Nazi era. A musical family who encouraged Lasker-Wallach to learn the cello, a lifelong passion and it turned out, a lifesaving decision. There were three sisters. But Marianne, the eldest, escaped to England. Second sister, Renata and the younger Anita stayed with their parents and grandparents. “Life was pretty good,” writes Lasker Wallach, “and it seemed inconceivable that it should not go on like that forever.” She was 8 years old. The year was 1933.
What follows is an account of being forced to grow up in Nazi Germany, as parents and grandparents were deported and murdered, leaving the two girls alone to fend for themselves amidst the horrors of the Shoah. Throughout the years before incarceration, the letters between the family and Marianne in England keep coming and are so real and alive that at times there is even humour. These are young people and their voices shine through, amidst the desperate and ultimately hopeless attempts to escape the country and survive.
Anita and Renata are eventually arrested, incarcerated in Breslau prison for over a year and then deported to Auschwitz. Anita is eighteen years old and it is 1943. Stripped, tattooed and shaved, she tells someone she plays the cello. This is the turning point. She is recruited into the camp orchestra and with her sister they survive Auschwitz and then Belsen.
What makes this such a standout Holocaust memoir are the letters between the sisters which give us a sense of everyday life both during the Nazi era and after liberation. They underpin the matter-of-fact tone in which Lasker-Wallach gives her testimony.
After liberation, she writes to Marianne, “We eat in the army canteen. The food is much too good. In brief we are rejoicing in our new life. I really mean that.”
Bitterness, anger and at times the obsession with revenge, simmer just beneath the surface, but this is a testimony which gives us a unique view of the Nazi era and the Shoah.
First published in 1996, this is a new edition published by Faber, with a foreword by Philippe Sands, who meets the author in 2026. A timely reissue with the current alarming rise in antisemitism.
The book opens with the life of an assimilated Jewish family in Germany before the Nazi era. A musical family who encouraged Lasker-Wallach to learn the cello, a lifelong passion and it turned out, a lifesaving decision. There were three sisters. But Marianne, the eldest, escaped to England. Second sister, Renata and the younger Anita stayed with their parents and grandparents. “Life was pretty good,” writes Lasker Wallach, “and it seemed inconceivable that it should not go on like that forever.” She was 8 years old. The year was 1933.
What follows is an account of being forced to grow up in Nazi Germany, as parents and grandparents were deported and murdered, leaving the two girls alone to fend for themselves amidst the horrors of the Shoah. Throughout the years before incarceration, the letters between the family and Marianne in England keep coming and are so real and alive that at times there is even humour. These are young people and their voices shine through, amidst the desperate and ultimately hopeless attempts to escape the country and survive.
Anita and Renata are eventually arrested, incarcerated in Breslau prison for over a year and then deported to Auschwitz. Anita is eighteen years old and it is 1943. Stripped, tattooed and shaved, she tells someone she plays the cello. This is the turning point. She is recruited into the camp orchestra and with her sister they survive Auschwitz and then Belsen.
What makes this such a standout Holocaust memoir are the letters between the sisters which give us a sense of everyday life both during the Nazi era and after liberation. They underpin the matter-of-fact tone in which Lasker-Wallach gives her testimony.
After liberation, she writes to Marianne, “We eat in the army canteen. The food is much too good. In brief we are rejoicing in our new life. I really mean that.”
Bitterness, anger and at times the obsession with revenge, simmer just beneath the surface, but this is a testimony which gives us a unique view of the Nazi era and the Shoah.
Review of advance copy received from Publisher
I actually received access to an ARC audio copy of this book from LibroFM. (Goodreads doesn't offer the option of LibroFM as the source of an ARC. Probably don't want readers to know about LibroFM!) I do not rush to read more holocaust literature because it can be overwhelming. However, Anita Lasker-Wallfisch does a great job of telling her unique, personal story--which is horrifying--in a way that doesn't dwell extensively on the horrors, just on her experiences as a cellist in Auschwitz. The horrors are all there, but the focus of the camera lens is on this young girl surviving and overcoming the loss of family and friends to go on to live a rich, artistic life. I am glad I read it and would recommend it highly.
Review of advance copy
As an autobiography the start was fairly heavy going due to the glossary and appendices references - however very useful, but a lot to peace together.
Once they were moved to Auschwitz, the story flowed better - perhaps, unfortunately due to familiarity of the horrific stories told. Even though familiar, I will never tire of these stories as I try to make sense of the human race - the monstrosities, the kindness in dark times, and everything in between.
The Cellist of Auschwitz is another fascinating story of the desperate actions of people and ultimately a story of survival.
Once they were moved to Auschwitz, the story flowed better - perhaps, unfortunately due to familiarity of the horrific stories told. Even though familiar, I will never tire of these stories as I try to make sense of the human race - the monstrosities, the kindness in dark times, and everything in between.
The Cellist of Auschwitz is another fascinating story of the desperate actions of people and ultimately a story of survival.
Review of advance copy
An eye- opening insight into life as a Jewish girl during World War 2. The book was devastating but also extremely educational. It is so interesting to look at this personal account into life during the war. I particularly liked the letters by Anita and her sister, Renate, to family members as it really solidified that this was people’s lives and the war was something that actually happened. This is an amazing book for people who want to educate themselves more about the war and remember the suffering so many had to go through.
May 18, 2026
Wow, what an amazing, devastating, and fascinating story of survival. Also amazing that the author is still alive at 100 years old. I did takeoff one star because this was an ARC for me and a couple chapters ended mid sentence. I could tell the editing is not quite finished yet. But I bet if I reread it upon publication date, it will be five stars. Thank you LIBRO FM for the ARC!
Review of advance copy
A book narrating the events in the authors life before, during and immediately after her incarceration in Belsen prison camp.It provides a compelling rebuttal of those holocaust deniers, The inclusion of much correspondence, probably necessary after such a period of elapsed time, gives the book an intensely personal feel from a person who survived unimaginable horrors
Review of advance copy received from Edelweiss+
Beautifully crafted and profoundly moving. I’m always surprised by how WWII stories can still find new ways to break my heart, and this one absolutely did. Highly recommended.
The music is a delightful bonus!
The music is a delightful bonus!
Read
June 5, 2026A different look at the holocaust.
May 25, 2026
Very emotional book but was a very good read
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews