This evening begins Yom HaShoah -- Holocaust Martyrs' and Heroes' Remembrance Day -- which is set aside to bear witness to the six million Jews who were murdered in the Holocaust.
In remembrance, Opera Chic has just read an excellent essay on composer Lukas Foss that was adapted from the liner notes of a 2005 self-titled CD from Milken Archive on Naxos American Classics, which includes Foss' Song of Anguish, Elegy for Anne Frank, Lammdeni, and Adon Olam.
Born in Berlin, escaping to Paris in 1933, and then relocating to the USA in 1937, he served loads of scrumptious positions throughout his life, including appointed professor of music at the University of California/LA, conductor of the Jerusalem Symphony, and Music Director of the Milwaukee Symphony. Through his career, Foss always carried his Jewish and American identities as the highest distinction.
Most haunting of his work is his 1989 Elegy for Anne Frank, commissioned to recognize the 60th anniversary of Anne Frank's birth, which is discussed at length in the article linked above.