Alexander Schirmann

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Alexander Schirmann (born in Sus Schermann ; born February 13, 1876 in Zitomir , Russian Empire , today Ukraine ; died around December 3, 1942 in Auschwitz concentration camp ) was a Russian - German composer , conductor and film composer for German and Danish silent films .

Live and act

Little is known about Schirmann's origins and artistic career, including when he came to Germany from Tsarist Russia and where he received his training. At the beginning of the 20th century he had already made a name for himself as Kapellmeister in Berlin and had begun to compose. In 1913 he joined (initially Danish) film and worked for the country's leading company, Nordisk Film , as a conductor and presumably also as a composer for Denmark's first monumental cinema production, Atlantis . At first, Schirmann continued to work for the Danish silent film and among other things wrote the notes for the filmic-pacifist warning Die Waffen Nieder! . The song from the dancing gate , published in Germany in 1915 , was used the following year in the extremely successful Danish psilander drama The dancing gate .

Since the middle of the First World War, Schirmann composed mostly for German film productions and often worked there as Kapellmeister or in the compilation of pieces of music. Schirmann's contributions to the German cinematography of the Weimar Republic accompanied multiple high-quality productions, including Ernst Lubitsch's Madame Dubarry , FW Murnau's The Burning Acker , Lupu Pick's Shards and Urban Gad's two Christian Wahnschaffe films, Weltbrand and The Escape from the Golden Dungeon . With the end of the silent film era, Schirmann ended his screen activities. What he did afterwards is currently unknown. The seizure of power by the National Socialists forced the Jew Schirmann to flee Germany. The musician settled in the Netherlands , where he lived under his maiden name Sus Schermann at Heemraadstraat 44 in The Hague . In 1942, Schirmann / Schermann (presumably via the intermediate station Westerbork ) was deported by the German occupiers to the Auschwitz extermination camp and murdered there at the end of the year.

Filmography

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Sus Schermann on joodsmonument.nl

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Schirmann, Alexander
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Schermann, Sus (maiden name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German composer, conductor and film composer
DATE OF BIRTH February 13, 1876
PLACE OF BIRTH Zitomir , Russian Empire , today Ukraine
DATE OF DEATH around December 3, 1942
Place of death Auschwitz concentration camp