Future Memories: Lotoro's journey in search of music written in concentration camps continued in Germany and Poland

Francesco Lotoro con Christof Kulisiewicz e il manoscritto originale de Le Crucifié di Aleksander Kulisiewicz

Francesco Lotoro's journey in search of music composed in concentration camps and other places of civilian and military captivity around the world between 1933 and 1953 this time included stops in Germany and Poland. The project "Future Memories: Lotoro's Journey to Save the Lost Music," of which this journey is also part, is promoted by the Fondazione Istituto di Letteratura Musicale Concentrazionaria ETS and supported by the Claims Conference (New York), the Puglia Region, the Rothschild Foundation Hanadiv Europe (London), the Righteous Persons Foundation (Los Angeles), and the Fondation pour la Mémoire de la Shoah (Paris) . The journey was undertaken together with Grazia Tiritiello , vice president of the ILMC Foundation.

Francesco Lotoro all'aeroporto di Monaco di Baviera

First stop was at the Buchenwald Memorial Archives, where Dr. Lake Mackenzie , previously contacted, allowed us to scan numerous folders containing material on the musical activity in the Buchenwald camp up until April 1945. The musical diary of the Polish musician and writer Jan Pribula , deported there, needed to be scanned; since the diary was very voluminous, a scan would have taken up too much time, which is why Dr. Mackenzie decided to deliver a USB stick with Pribula's diary already scanned in high definition. The trip to Buchenwald ended with a visit to the camp and photographic documentation of the site.

In the photos: Lotoro at the Buchenwald camp and the Buchenwald Memorial; some historical scores from the camp.

The next day, Lotoro and Tiritiello reached Frankfurt by train and Krakow by plane. Christof Kulisiewicz was waiting for them in Krakow, ready to deliver the manuscript of the song "Le Crucifié," written in 1944 in Sachsenhausen by his father, Aleksander. "Le Crucifié" is the most important and valuable musical manuscript written in a concentration camp during World War II; it was written on two pieces of cardboard glued together.

In the photos: Francesco Lotoro with Christof Kulisiewicz and the manuscript of Le Crucifié written in 1944 in Sachsenhausen by Aleksander Tytus Kulisiewicz