Playing for Time was based on Fénelon's experience as a female prisoner in the Auschwitz concentration camp, where she and a group of classical musicians were spared in return for performing music for their captors.

Fania Fénelon, a French Jewish singer-pianist, is sent with other prisoners to the Auschwitz concentration camp in a crowded train during World War II.

Playing for the Nazis, however, robs the women of much of their dignity and most of them are often questioning whether remaining alive was worth the abuse they constantly suffer.

[1] The producer Linda Yellen was determined to cast Redgrave in the lead role at a time when the actress was facing protests from Jewish organizations for her criticism of Zionism and her pro-Palestinian position.

There were further complications when Fénelon herself appeared on CBS's 60 Minutes arguing against Redgrave's casting and suggested Jane Fonda or Liza Minnelli as a replacement.

Since its publication and tremendous commercial success, Fénelon's testimony has been accepted as truth and widely dispersed in a plethora of academic, popular, and musical resources.