To be a Jewish composer or musician under the Third Reich’s reign of terror meant your next note could be your last. At first their works were banned and labeled degenerate, their contributions to the musical canon erased from public display. Later, as the murderous frenzy of the Holocaust exploded in the ghettos and concentration camps, composers and musicians imprisoned there refused to be stilled. On scraps of paper they penciled their inspirations and played their songs, praying that even if they died, their music would survive. Miraculously, it has.

Mat Edelson, Producer and Host of Their Music Survives, is a former reporter and producer for NPR’s Morning Edition. His past Holocaust-related projects include reporting on the Nuremberg Prosecutors, and the establishment of the American Red Cross’ Holocaust Victims Tracing Center. A National Magazine Award finalist for Public Service Reporting, Edelson also hosted the Johns Hopkins Radio Health Newsfeed, a daily CBS Radio medical program. He is the author of five books published by Penguin Random House, with additional works included in Houghton-Mifflin’s Best American Sportswriting, and the Museum of Radio and Television.