 He was sent to Theresienstadt concentration camp at the age of 13, where he was chosen to perform in Viktor Ullmann's opera "The Emperor of Atlantis, or The Disobedience of Death".The opera was rehearsed in 1944 at Theresienstadt, but was not performed before the camp was closed.After guards determined the political subtext of the play, he and the other members of the orchestra were disbanded and sent to Auschwitz.