On January 27, 1945, Russian troops liberated Auschwitz-Birkenau, the largest Nazi death camp in Germany. Seventy years later that date is now recognized as International Holocaust Remembrance Day. Next Monday, on the eve of the commemorative day, Vashon Chamber Music and Havurat Ee Shalom will jointly present a concert dedicated to three Czechoslovakian composers who lost their lives at Auschwitz.

During the first part of the program, the ensemble will play a string quartet and two string trios by Pavel Haas, Hans Krasa and Giddeon Klein, the three composers who were all interned at Theresienstadt, a Czechoslovakian concentration camp also known as Terezin, before being deported to Auschwitz.

Unlike most of the camps, Terezin fostered a creative culture, with Klein organizing much of the artistic life in the camp. He also composed music for string quartet, a string trio and piano sonata and helped coax a depressed Haas into continuing to write music, resulting in at least eight compositions by Haas. Krasa wrote numerous chamber pieces and reworked his children’s opera “Brundibar,” which was performed 55 times in Terezin. Only a few compositions by each composer made it out of the camp.

“Most people didn’t know about the music, as the composers were murdered, and much of their music was wiped out, too,” said Rowena Hammill, artistic director of Vashon Chamber Music. “It is important to remember them and their music.”

The second half of the program will feature the Russian composer Dmitri Shostakovich’s 10th String Quartet, which he dedicated to his close friend and fellow composer Moishe Weinberg. Weinberg escaped Nazi Germany in 1939 and fled to Russia, eventually settling in Tashkent, where he met Shostakovich.

The concert will conclude with a selection from Weinberg’s war quartet that he composed in response to Shostakovich’s 10th String Quartet.

“Weinberg’s quartet is beautiful and apt for the ceremony,” Hammill said, adding that Havurat Ee Shalom is 100 years old, all wood, “and a beautiful place to hear chamber music in an intimate, serene space.”

Hammill, who plays cello, will be joined at the concert by Trio Pardalote members Victoria Parker (violin) and Heather Bentley (viola) plus other string players from the Seattle Symphony and Pacific Northwest Ballet Orchestra — Artur Girsky (violin), Natasha Bazhanov (violin) and Douglas Davis (cello).

Hammill said that while she is not Jewish, she has incredible sympathy for what happened to the Jews in World War II.

“I am horrified when others say that the Holocaust didn’t happen,” Hammill said. “It is important to remember this event, and music is a great way to make the history become real and alive.”

The commemorative event will begin at 7:30 p.m. on Monday at Havurat Ee Shalom, 15401 Westside Hwy. Hammill will discuss the composers before the concert.

Admission is by donation, with a suggested price of $20 for general audience and $10 for students and seniors.