Trumpeter in Auschwitz

Trumpeter at Auschwitz is a story of survival. A story of clinging to the smallest glimmer of beauty in an otherwise completely dark world. A story about one of the blackest pages in our world history. A story that shows how important it is that we keep telling it. That we keep remembering. That we never forget.

Lex van Weren was born in 1920 and grew up in Amsterdam. He taught himself to play the trumpet. When during the Second World War the whole Van Weren family was rounded up and deported to Auschwitz extermination camp, it was the trumpet that saved his life. The only one of the family, as a member of the camp orchestra, he manages to survive the terrible time in the camp as prisoner 16848. In 1980, after years of silence, writer Dick Walda persuaded him to tell his story. That shocking and emotional account is the heart of this intimate production.

Actors Thomas Cammaert and Soy Kroon, directed by Eddy Habbema, tell and perform the extraordinary and moving story of Lex van Weren, the trumpeter in Auschwitz. Dick Walda's book is adapted into theater text by Allard Blom.

Trumpeter in Auschwitz premiered on April 4, 2022 in the presence of H.R.H. Princess Margriet and Prof. Mr. Pieter van Vollenhoven. The performance received rave reviews from both press and audience. On the occasion of 80 years of remembrance and liberation, Soy Kroon and Thomas Cammaert can be seen one more time in this acclaimed performance.