La Chaconne d'Auschwitz plot
Forty women in Auschwitz escaped death by playing in an orchestra designed to entertain the Nazis and calm the prisoners on their way to the gas chambers. The Auschwitz Orchestra was conducted by Alma Rosé, a niece of the famous Gustav Mahler. In this documentary, director Michel Daeron reunites twelve of these women, fifty years after they survived Poland's most infamous camp. The French Violette talks about the privileges they had as orchestra members, such as more food and showering daily instead of monthly. The Greek Yvette tells how she saw her parents marching away while she played the piano. To conclude, two former orchestra members, Helena and Zocha, return to the place where they were supposed to play, while children were ripped from their mothers' arms and many met certain death.