Holocaust Survivors and Remembrance Network
Dr.
Susan J. Eischeid,
Professor
of Oboe
Valdosta
State University
Department of Music
1500 North Patterson Street
Valdosta, GA 31698
USA
Concurrent with her
oboe activities, Dr. Eischeid has pursued an active
interest in promoting the fight against racism through
the medium of music. In 1987 she began presenting
recitals of Holocaust music and completed her doctoral
dissertation on the same subject in 1992. She has
received many grants supporting her work which include a
Hilb Foundation Grant and a competitive grant from the
New York based Littauer Foundation to present a series of
recitals in Europe, Eastern Europe and Greece, and to
further her research into Holocaust music. Annually since
2002 she has continued her research in multiple archives
in Poland, Germany, Austria, the United States, England
and the Czech Republic. To date she has interviewed over
35 survivors of the Holocaust and recorded their
stories. Dr. Eischeid has
presented lecture/recitals of Holocaust Music in cities
across the country including Norfolk, VA; Macon, GA;
Tulsa, OK; Indianapolis, IN; Baton Rouge, LA; Atlanta,
GA; Greensboro, NC, Harrisonburg, VA; San Francisco, CA;
Columbus, GA; and Cincinnati, OH. She co-authored the
liner notes for a CD of Holocaust string music released
by the Colorado Chamber Players in July of 1997
(Uplifting Discoveries of a Generation Lost,
CENTAUR #CRC 2342), published an article about
Holocaust survivor and Berlin Kulturbund Orchestra oboist
Kurt Michaelis in the International Double Reed
Society Journal, and is writing a book about SS
Officer Maria Mandl, who sponsored and formed the women's
orchestra at Auschwitz/Birkenau. Dr. Eischeid's first
compact disc (CD) of Holocaust music, Mystic Chords of
Genocide, was released by the ACA Digital label in May of
2001. In May of 2005 Dr. Eischeid participated in a
series of European events commemorating the 60th
anniversary of the end of World War II. These culminated
with a performance of Holocaust works in Passau, Germany,
attended by many U.S. veterans who liberated the camps of
that region in 1945. Also in 2005, Dr. Eischeid was named
winner of the Christopher Browning Fellowship by the
Holocaust Educational Foundation. Editor's
Note:
In response to our curiosity how Dr. Eischeid
got interested and involved with the music of
the Holocaust, please find below what she had to
say... I
was shocked at what I discovered and once I
began reading about the subject I could not
stop! This assignment sparked a life-long
interest in the Holocaust. It seemed to me such
an overwhelmingly important thing which had
ramifications for ALL people regardless of
religion, background, nationality, etc. How it
happened, why it happened, why it was
allowed to happen --it seemed to me that
we should all be shouting from the roof tops to
find answers to these questions. As
I continued into my profession as a performing
musician (oboist) I never lost my interest in
the subject. In later years, as I pursued my
doctorate, I sought a way to combine my two
seemingly unrelated interests --music and the
Holocaust. At
that time (mid 1980s) very little scholarship
had been done into music of the Holocaust
period. I was amazed at what I found --the
wealth and quality of material. One
thing led to another... I began arranging and
performing some of the music I discovered and
was overwhelmed by the audience response --the
immediate emotional connection to these
musicians who had had their voices silenced
prematurely. I
began to present lectures and recitals of the
topic, mostly to younger audiences, to try to
educate the next generation to the dangers
inherent in racism and also to give voice to
these musicians so their compositions and
experiences did not die. I began to research
other aspects of the subject, recorded a CD of
the music, and continue to present performances
across the USA. Last
year I performed some compositions in Germany as
part of the 60th Anniversary of the end of World
War II and this coming May I will be speaking on
the topic in the Czech Republic. And so it
continues... This
music always gives so much more back to me than
I can possibly give to it! .
In her own words:
Susan Eischeid
currently holds the position of Principal Oboe with the
Valdosta Symphony and also serves as Professor of Music
at Valdosta State University. Dr. Eischeid has performed
widely, both in North America and in Europe, and also
played for several years with the Mexico City
Philharmonic. She has appeared with the Cincinnati Ballet
Orchestra and the Richmond Symphony, and is currently a
member of the Eastern Philharmonic Orchestra. She
received her doctorate in oboe from the University of
Cincinnati and her Master of Music from the Philadelphia
University of the Arts. Major teachers include the late
Robert Bloom and Sara Lambert Bloom. Previous to her move
to Valdosta, Dr. Eischeid taught at Wright State
University and Antioch College and, in addition to her
responsibilities at Valdosta, currently serves on the
faculty of the summer Eastern Music Festival in North
Carolina.
I
came
by my interest in Holocaust music in a somewhat
round-about way... I was raised in a traditional
white-Anglo-Saxon-Protestant household and never
learned about the Holocaust in school until I
was 15 years old. (A fact I still find
appalling...) At that time, I was studying the
German language and the teacher assigned me a
report on the Warsaw Ghetto.
