Lamento (lament) – Piccolo | Flute | Alto | Bass

“The Gypsy fears two things; the mulo or ghost of the dead returning to haunt them and being a social outcast from their clan.”

An eyewitness account written by Sara Norberg-Prytyk, a Polish-Jewish survivor of Auschwitz tells the story of her life in the concentration camps during World War II. Mengele walked in with a little 4-year-old Gypsy boy – beautiful and dressed in a gorgeous white uniform. Mengele had him dance the Kozak and sing a song. Sara and the rest stood at attention while the little boy showed off. Mengele then fed him a box of chocolates. They left. Marusia, a friend of Sara’s stated – “I am sure that Mengele will kill him soon.”

There was a family camp near Auschwitz on field “C”. There were 25,000 Gypsies in that camp. The Gypsies were permitted to think they would live throughout the war. The liquidation took place one October evening. One could hear the murmur of the engines. They were all taken to the gas chambers.

The next day Mengele paraded around the camp without the Gypsy boy. The men told her that at the last minute, Mengele had pushed him into the gas chamber with his own hands.

This lament mourns the spirit of the little Gypsy boy.