Eric Mandell

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Memorial plaque for Erich Mendel next to the New Synagogue in Bochum
Mandell's signature

Eric Mandell (born February 14, 1902 in Gronau (Westphalia) as Erich Mendel ; † February 6, 1988 in Philadelphia ) was a German-American cantor, choirmaster, singer ( baritone ) and collector of synagogue music. He was the last Chasan of the Bochum Jewish Community before the Shoah .

Life

Erich Mendel was a son of the married couple Karoline and Julius Mendel. Julius Mendel worked as a businessman; his ancestors came from the Münsterland , while Karoline Mendel's ancestors lived in the area between Hamm and Lippstadt . In 1911 the Mendel family moved to Herne , where Erich Mendel came into contact with liberal Judaism , while the Orthodox tradition still prevailed in the rural surroundings of his hometown . Karoline Mendel sang in the synagogue choir in Herne; the synagogue there also had an organ suitable for concerts. Erich Mendel's teacher in the elementary school, Jacob Emanuel, was also cantor in the community. Influenced by these childhood and youth impressions, Erich Mendel began his training as a teacher and cantor at the Marks Haindorf Foundation in Münster in 1916 . He completed the three years prescribed for elementary school students in the preparatory institute and the specialist course, which lasted six semesters. He then continued his education with Magnus Davidsohn in Berlin and Emanuel Kirschner in Munich . In 1922 he was appointed cantor by the Jewish community in Bochum; later he also became a teacher at the local Jewish elementary school, which he eventually took over. He played concerts with the children's choir that he built up in school; In addition, this choir contributed to the organization of services in the Bochum synagogue .

Mendel studied singing from 1927 to 1933, even though he had been working for a long time, until he graduated as a state-certified singing teacher and also worked as a concert singer, but had to give up this career after the Nazis came to power . Instead, he developed into a collector of synagogue music and a musicologist. From 1933 to 1939 he compiled several hundred volumes of sheet music and a large special library. He has written articles for specialist journals on the history of synagogue music and music education.

The Bochum synagogue was destroyed during the November pogroms in 1938 . Erich Mendel was arrested the next day and sent to Sachsenhausen concentration camp , where he was held until December 1938. He was then released from custody and ordered to emigrate as soon as possible. Mendel was able to transfer his collection to Holland and in July 1939 emigrated to England, where he was initially accepted into the Kitchener Camp for displaced persons and again worked as a cantor and teacher for prospective cantors. He later found a livelihood as a piano tuner . In England he also met Martha Wolff. The couple married in 1940 and moved to the United States in June 1941.

There Erich Mendel changed his name to Eric Mandell and began again to build up a collection. After meeting Rabbi Simon Greenberg from the Jewish Theological Seminary of America , he became the choir director of the Har Zion Synagogue in Philadelphia, which prompted him to become active as a composer. He worked at the synagogue from 1941 to 1966. Martha Mandell became the community librarian.

From 1941 or 1942 Eric Mandell was also a lecturer in synagogue music at Gratz College in Philadelphia, where he taught until 1956. He also taught at Temple University and the Jewish Theological Seminary of America. Mandell became known in the USA as a composer, teacher and publicist and built up a new collection on the subject of Jewish music. This was housed in the Jewish Museum in New York from 1949 to 1951 and is now located in Philadelphia as the Eric Mandell Collection. With over 15,000 pieces, it is one of the largest collections of synagogue music in the world. Shortly after his retirement on May 24, 1970, Mandell left it to the music library of Gratz College. However, he was unable to save the collection left behind in Holland.

Mandell was buried in Roosevelt Memorial Park.

Honors

Mandell received the Kavod Award in 1966 and an honorary doctorate from Gratz College in 1981.

The Erich-Mendel-Platz in Bochum was named after the cantor.

Keller's Mandell biography

Manfred Keller planned to write a small brochure for Mandell's 100th birthday. While he was working on this booklet, he received a visit from a nephew Mandell, who gave him two suitcases with materials about his uncle and also gave him a lot of information about his life in Germany. For Mandell's time in the USA, Keller was able to fall back on discussions with Ronna Honigman that she had with Mandell from 1980 to 1982 and that had been documented. The biography was published in 2006 by Klartext Verlag in Essen.

Recordings / sound carriers

  • Adon Olam [Lord of the World]. Synagogue music. Ensemble mendel's daughters. Evangelical City Academy Bochum, 2004.
  • Kol We Kelim [voice and instruments]. Ensemble mendel's daughters. 2008.

literature

  • Manfred Keller, Ronna Honigman: Erich Mendel - Eric Mandell. Two lives for the music of the synagogue . Klartext, Essen 2006, ISBN 3-89861-154-X .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ History of the Bochum Synagogue on bochum.de
  2. ↑ a b c d e f David Lee Preston, Eric Mandell, 85, Cantor And Jewish Musicologist , on articles.philly.com
  3. ↑ a b c Manfred Keller, Erich Mendel / Eric Mandell: Joy in the music of the synagogue on mendelstoechter.de
  4. ↑ life data on gelsenzentrum.de
  5. ↑ Michael Rosenkranz, Erich Mendel. One cantor, two lives , in: Jüdische Allgemeine, February 15, 2007
personal data
SURNAME Mandell, Eric
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Mendel, Erich
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German, Jewish teacher and Chasan, musicologist and collector
DATE OF BIRTH February 14, 1902
PLACE OF BIRTH Gronau (Westphalia)
DATE OF DEATH February 6, 1988
Place of death Philadelphia