Miklós Lorsi was a Jewish Hungarian violinist who was killed during the Holocaust

The Holocaust

The Holocaust , also known as the Shoah , was the genocide of approximately six million European Jews and millions of others during World War II, a programme of systematic state-sponsored murder by Nazi...

. The manner of his death, and allusion to his art as a violinist formed the line "already taut, a string about to snap" in the last poem of Miklós Radnóti

Miklós Radnóti

Miklós Radnóti, birth name Miklós Glatter was a Hungarian poet who died in The Holocaust.-Personality and early life:...

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During October 1944 Lorsi was part of a 3,200 person death march

Death march

A death march is a forced march of prisoners of war or other captives or deportees. Those marching must walk over long distances for an extremely long period of time and are not supplied with food or water...

. At one point during the march the SS

Schutzstaffel

The Schutzstaffel |Sig runes]]) was a major paramilitary organization under Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party. Built upon the Nazi ideology, the SS under Heinrich Himmler's command was responsible for many of the crimes against humanity during World War II...

 ordered everyone to lie down and then began shooting randomly. Lorsi was shot, and when they were ordered to continue marching, Lorsi was bleeding and having difficulty walking. While he was being helped along by his friend Miklós Radnóti

Miklós Radnóti

Miklós Radnóti, birth name Miklós Glatter was a Hungarian poet who died in The Holocaust.-Personality and early life:...

, an SS officer shot Lorsi in the back of the neck, killing him. The poem touches on the violinists art and compares his death to the death of his violin. Radnóti himself was killed shortly afterwards.