Pale face, gaunt body, withered fingers, the man staggered through the ruins amidst the sound of shells. He looked as if he could collapse at any moment and never get up again, having lost so much: career, family, everything. He witnessed his parents and siblings being sent onto the death train, watched the Nazis choose people from labor camps to kill for fun, and even almost died from disease due to lack of medical treatment.
Yet he continued to struggle to live, scavenging for food in the rubble, cupping water from dirty streams; no matter how weak his body became, his eyes always bore a thirst for life.
So, when he met that German officer among the ruins, even though his heart was cold, he sat at the piano as instructed and began to play with his stiff fingers. He loved music so much that even while in hiding, he often played imaginary piano keys. If he were to die, dying in front of what he loved would be a kind of happiness.
