Anita Lasker-Wallfisch

Family Lasker was born into a German Jewish family in Breslau, Germany (present-day Wrocław, Poland). She has two sisters, Marianne and Renate. Her father Alfons was a lawyer and her mother a violinist. on separate prison trains, a far less squalid way to arrive than by cattle truck, and less dangerous, since there was no selection on arrival. as cello players were difficult to replace. On this note, she promotes the work for the New Kreisau, in Poland, as well as the work of the Freya von Moltke Foundation and the Kreisau Circles legacy. In 1996 she published her memoir Inherit the Truth.

Over the years, Lasker has told her life-story in numerous oral history interviews, for example in the Shoah Foundation's Visual History Archive (1998) and the online archive Forced Labor 1939–1945 (2006). She was interviewed by National Life Stories (C410/186) in 2000 for 'The Living Memory of the Jewish Community' collection held by the British Library.

In 2011, Lasker received an Honorary degree as Doctor of Divinity from Cambridge University.

Lasker was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2016 Birthday Honours for services to Holocaust Education.

In 2018, Lasker gave a commemorative speech in the Bundestag to mark the 73rd anniversary of the Liberation of Auschwitz.

In December 2019, Lasker was part of a 60 Minutes story about the music written and performed by prisoners in Auschwitz being preserved by Francesco Lotoro.

In December 2020, Lasker was awarded the Officer's Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany, which was conferred by the President, Frank-Walter Steinmeier. The COVID-19 pandemic delayed the presentation of the award until 20 May 2021, when Andreas Michaelis, the German Ambassador in London, presented it in a small informal event at his residence. Paraphrasing the presidential award, Michaelis commented: "To this day, you have helped keep the memory of the Holocaust alive for future generations. Germany is profoundly grateful to you for this."

In 2021 Peter Kuhfeld was commissioned by Charles, Prince of Wales to paint a portrait of Lasker as part of the project-exhibition Seven Portraits: Surviving the Holocaust; the portrait is part of the Royal Collection.

Lasker stars in the 2024 documentary film The Commandant's Shadow, together with Jurgen Höss, the son of Auschwitz concentration camp director Rudolf Höss. The film includes Lasker's meeting with Jurgen Höss, accompanied by Lasker's daughter Maya Lasker-Wallfisch and Höss's son Kai Höss, both of whom have major roles in the documentary.

On the occasion of her 100th birthday in July 2025, she was visited (without press) by King Charles III. On Holocaust Memorial Day in 2026 she joined other holocaust survivors and their families at Buckingham Palace where she re-met King Charles. The King was re-showing the portraits that he had commissioned in 2022 including her, Zigi Shipper and Helen Aronson.

Literature Maya Lasker-Wallfisch: Inherit the Truth 1939-1945: The Documented Experiences of a Survivor of Auschwitz and Belsen. London: Giles de la Mare, 1996. ISBN 978-1-9003-5701-2. Maya Lasker-Wallfisch with Taylor Downing: Briefe nach Breslau. Meine Geschichte über drei Generationen. Translated by Marieke Heimburger. Berlin: Insel, 2020. ISBN 978-3-458-17847-7. Kate Kennedy: Cello. A journey through silence to sound. Head of Zeus, London 2024, ISBN 978-1-80328-703-4.