A whisper from the death pits: Salomea's letter of revenge reveals unknown Holocaust history

A whisper from the death pits: Salomea's letter of revenge reveals unknown Holocaust history

The executioner behind the violin Richard Rokita was a prominent German officer at the Tarnopol camp and earlier at Janowska. He had two hobbies – one as a mass murderer, the other as a violinist and musician who organized an orchestra from Jewish prisoners. The orchestra accompanied many of Tarnopol's Jews to execution sites while playing the "Death Tango." Rokita insisted on this. Sometimes he would point his pistol at someone and kill them si…