Fritz Löhner-Beda

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Photo by Karl Winkler (1928)
Löhner-Beda Fritz 1937.jpg

Fritz Löhner , born as Bedřich [Czech for Friedrich] Löwy ; Also Fritz Lohner , pseudonym Beda , is sometimes called laborers-Beda (* 24. June 1883 in Wildenschwert , Bohemia , † 4. December 1942 in Monowitz concentration camp ) was an Austrian librettist, Beat lyricist and writer. Many of his works are still much better known today than Löhner-Beda himself.

Life

In 1888 the Löwy family moved to Vienna . In 1896 she changed her name to "Löhner". Fritz laborers-Beda studied after graduation at the Vienna School Kundmanngasse at the University of Vienna Law to the promotion and worked from 1908 for some time in a Viennese law firm. During his studies he became a member of the Jewish student union Kadima Vienna . He was an excellent football player and in 1909 a founding member and first president of the Vienna sports club Hakoah .

Act as a writer

In 1910 he became a freelance writer. His passion was "light poetry". He wrote numerous satires, skits, poems and hit texts as well as numerous articles for newspapers such as the Wiener Sonn- und Monday-Zeitung . He mostly published under the pseudonym "Beda", the short form of "Bedřich", the Czech form of "Friedrich". In 1913 he met Franz Lehár .

At the beginning of the First World War he wrote Rosa patriotically , we drive to Lodz to the soldiers song, then in 1916 he wrote the operetta libretto Der Sterngucker for Franz Lehár . In 1918, Löhner was drafted at the age of 34. Although he achieved the rank of officer, he remained an anti-militarist throughout his life after his war experiences.

Photo of Karl Winkler with Ludwig Herzer and Franz Lehár
(1928)

In the 1920s, Löhner became one of the most sought-after librettists and hit writers in Vienna. With the help of his girlfriend Friedl Weiss at the time, he helped Hans Moser achieve his breakthrough as an actor in Vienna in 1922 by writing the solo one-act play Ich bin der Hausmeister vom Siebenerhaus for him at his request . In collaboration with Fred Raymond and Ernst Neubach , the song I lost my heart in Heidelberg was created , which was to wander around the world with the former American soldiers even after the next war.

From 1927 he also worked for the "Jewish-Political Cabaret" Oscar Tellers .

Together with Ludwig Herzer as co-author, Franz Lehár as composer and Richard Tauber as singer, he created the operettas Friederike (1928), The Land of Smiles (1929), Schön ist die Welt (1930) and, with Paul Knepler as co- Author, Giuditta (1934; von Lehár later dedicated to the dictator Benito Mussolini ). With his friend Alfred Grünwald as co-author and Paul Abraham as composer, Viktoria und ihr Husar (1930), Die Blume von Hawaii (1931) and Ball im Savoy (1932) were created.

In 1934 Löhner became Vice President of the Austrian Society of Authors, Composers and Music Publishers .

Deportation and murder

On March 13, 1938, one day after Austria was annexed to the National Socialist German Reich , Löhner-Beda was arrested and taken to the Dachau concentration camp on April 1, 1938 on the first " Prominent Transport " .

On September 23, 1938, he was deported to Buchenwald concentration camp . There he wrote the text for the Buchenwaldlied at the end of 1938 , and the composer Hermann Leopoldi , who was also abducted, composed the melody for it.

Löhner hoped in vain for an intercession from Franz Lehár. There is so far no evidence for the claim in literature that Lehár went to Berlin specifically and asked Hitler to campaign for Löhner-Beda's dismissal. On the contrary, after the Second World War , Lehár claimed in a conversation with Peter Edel that he knew nothing.

On October 17, 1942, Löhner-Beda was transported to Auschwitz . During the time he had to do forced labor in the IG Farben AG Buna plant , he still wrote the Buna song. On December 4, 1942, he was slain in the factory after a group of IG Farben directors inspecting - they were Walter Dürrfeld , Otto Ambros , Fritz ter Meer , Carl Krauch and Heinrich Bütefisch  - criticized the work performance of the sick 59-year-old would have. Raul Hilberg describes the circumstances of the murder in his book The Annihilation of European Jews according to the affidavit of surviving fellow inmate Raymond van den Straaten, Nuremberg 1947:

“One of the directors pointed to Dr. Löhner-Beda and said to his SS companion: 'This Jewish pig could also work faster.' Another IG director then remarked: 'If they can no longer work, they should perish in the gas chamber.' After the inspection was over, Dr. Löhner-Beda was taken from the work detail, beaten and trampled so that he came back to his camp friend as a dying man and ended his life in the IG factory in Auschwitz. "

The immediate murderer of Löhner-Bedas was very likely Kapo Josef Windeck . At his later trial, however, the court found the evidence in this death to be insufficient for a conviction.

The psychologist and concentration camp survivor Viktor Frankl published an experience report in 1946, the title of which ... still say yes to life reminded of the Buchenwald song.

family

In 1918 Löhner married Anna Akselradi (* 1894 in Krakow). Their son Bruno was born in 1917 and grew up with his mother. The marriage ended in divorce in 1925.

In 1925 he married Helene Jellinek (* 1902) and had two daughters with her: Liselotte (* 1927) and Evamaria (* 1929). The family lived in Vienna's Josefstadt , Lange Gasse 46. He dedicated the text of the song Your is my whole heart to Helene and gave her the Villa Felicitas in Bad Ischl , also known as the Schratt Villa , which he bought in 1932 . After Löhner's arrest, Helene was gradually expropriated, deported to Minsk on August 31, 1942 with her two daughters, now thirteen and fourteen years old, and murdered in gas vans on September 5, 1942 in the Maly Trostinez extermination camp, together with her daughters .

Honors

Works (selection)

Issue of notes from I have to old Daimler
Record of the German Carl Lindström AG with the Tango You black gypsy
Memorial sheet from 1923 on the occasion of his 50th hit

Stage works (operettas)

Movie

  • Let the little ones come to me ...! (Tragedy in four acts, screenplay, director: Max Neufeld ; with Liane Haid , Liesl Günther, Max Neufeld, Karl Ehmann, UA Vienna, February 20, 1920)

Bat

  • I got an old Daimler (parody of the Viennese Fiakerlied, music: Gustav Pick )
  • Farewell, black-brown girl (music: Ralph Erwin 1922)
  • The old pelican is a fine bird! (Foxtrot, music: Ralph Erwin 1923)
  • Goodbye (Valse Boston, music: Ralph Erwin 1923)
  • Sun, dear sun, give me a ray (Music: Ralph Erwin 1923)
  • L'Origan (Double-Foxtrot, music: Ralph Erwin 1924)
  • Spring Dream (Foxtrot Serenade, Music: Ralph Erwin 1923)
  • When I see you, I have to cry ( Shimmy , music: Artur M. Werau 1923)
  • Die Blanka, ja die Blanka (Foxtrot, music: Jara Benes 1924)
  • The Big World (Wanderlied, Music: Ralph Erwin 1925)
  • In the Urals fell on the ice (Russian Foxtrot, music: Ralph Erwin 1926)
  • Drink and close your eyes! (Song and Blues, music: Ralph Erwin 1927)
  • You are the woman I dream of (song and tango, music: Ralph Erwin 1931)
  • In the Bar zum Krokodil (Onestepp; music: Willy Engel-Berger ; sung by Paul O'Montis and the Comedian Harmonists , among others )
  • You black gypsy (Tango; adaptation of Cikánka by Karel Vacek )
  • Laila (Lied) (Tango; Music: Adolf Dauber, made famous in 1960 by the version of the "Regento Stars".)
  • Down in the Lobau (Music: Heinrich Strecker )
  • Ironically bananas (German text by Yes! We Have No Bananas by Frank Silver and Irving Cohn)
  • I lost my heart in Heidelberg (together with Ernst Neubach, music: Fred Raymond )
  • Oh, Donna Clara (Tango; Music: Jerzy Petersburski )
  • Where is your hair, august? (Foxtrot; Music: Richard Fall )
  • What are you doing with your knee, dear Hans? (Paso Doble; music: Richard Fall)
  • Your is my whole heart (from The Land of Smiles ; quoted in the rock song of the same name by Heinz Rudolf Kunze )
  • Friends, life is worth living (from Giuditta )
  • My lips, they kiss so hot (from Giuditta )
  • Dear Katharina, come to me in China! (Song and Foxtrot; Music: Richard Fall)

more publishments

  • Baptized and soon to be baptized (satires). Vienna 1908
  • Israelites and other anti-Semites (satires). Huber & Lahme, Vienna 1909
  • The mild Marie and other vulgarities (satires and chansons). Bondy, Berlin 1910
  • New satires . 1912
  • The rumor maker and others . Löwit-Verlag, Vienna 1915
  • How to meet in the Ampezzo Valley . Löwit-Verlag, Vienna 1916
  • Bombs and grenades (collection of satirical and humorous poems). Vienna Sunday and Monday newspaper / Steinmann, Vienna 1916
  • The muse in the negligee . Löwit-Verlag, Vienna 1919
  • Ecce ego! (Songs and poems). Löwit-Verlag, Vienna 1920

Literature and media

  • Robert Dachs : Say goodbye ... Chapter about Löhner-Beda in the catalog Historisches Museum der Stadt Wien, self-published by the Museums der Stadt Wien, Vienna 1992.
  • Robert Dachs: Say goodbye ... Verlag der Apfel, Vienna 1994, ISBN 3-85450-099-8 .
  • Barbara Denscher, Helmut Peschina : No land of smiles. Fritz Löhner-Beda 1883–1942. Residence, Salzburg 2002, ISBN 3-7017-1302-2 .
  • Moritz Oriole: Halalí . (Second volume): 10 portraits. Orpheus and Sons Verlag, Hamburg 2010, ISBN 978-3-938647-18-9 .
  • Ulrike Schmitzer, Matthias Widter: The Causa Löhner - A woman's desperate struggle . ORF / 3sat , 2011
  • Günther Schwarberg : Yours is my whole heart. The story of Fritz Löhner-Beda, who wrote the most beautiful songs in the world, and why Hitler had him murdered. Steidl, Göttingen 2000, ISBN 3-88243-715-4 .
Lexica entries
Documentary film
  • Ulrike Schmitzer, Matthias Widter: The Löhner cause. A woman's desperate struggle. Station information , 45 min., Austria, 2011. (including Wolfgang Quatember, director of the contemporary history museum in Ebensee, and historians Tina Walzer, Jutta Hohenauer and Markus Priller from the association learning from contemporary history, as well as the former head of the contact point of the Israelite cultural community in Vienna for Jewish victims of Nazi persecution, Ingo Zechner , position in the film on the case.)

Web links

Commons : Fritz Löhner-Beda  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Siglinde Bolbecher, Konstantin Kaiser: Lexicon of Austrian exile literature . Deuticke, Vienna 2000, p. 452 f.
  2. ↑ Rena Jacob: Fritz Löhner-Beda - Your is my whole heart. In: Against forgetting. Retrieved October 30, 2014 .
  3. ^ Magistrate of the City of Vienna, MA 35, citizenship and civil status matters
  4. ↑ Harald Seewann : Zirkel und Zionsstern: Pictures and documents from the sunken world of the Jewish national corporation: a contribution to the history of Zionism on academic ground. Volume 3. 1994, pp. 25ff.
  5. ^ Sophie Lillie : What once was: Handbook of the expropriated art collections of Vienna (Library des Raubes Volume 8). Czernin 2003, ISBN 3-7076-0049-1 , p. 703.
  6. ↑ Günther Schwarberg: Yours is my whole heart . Steidl-Taschenbuch, Göttingen 2002, p. 63.
  7. ↑ Günther Schwarberg: Yours is my whole heart . Steidl-Taschenbuch, Göttingen 2002, ISBN 3-88243-892-4 , p. 33.
  8. ^ Georg Markus Stefan Grissemann , Ulrike Dembski u. a .: Hans Moser 1880–1964. Verlag Christian Brandstätter, 2004, ISBN 3-85498-361-1 .
  9. ↑ Günther Schwarberg: Yours is my whole heart . Steidl-Taschenbuch, Göttingen 2002, p. 82.
  10. ↑ Harry Stein, Buchenwald Memorial (ed.): Buchenwald Concentration Camp 1937–1945. Volume accompanying the permanent historical exhibition , Wallstein, Göttingen 1999, 5th edition 2007, ISBN 978-3-89244-222-6 , p. 80
  11. ↑ Wollheim Memorial: Fritz laborers-Beda .
  12. ^ Rudolf Augstein: My culture was Jewish . In: Der Spiegel . No. 47 , 2000 ( online - with reference to Günther Schwarberg's Löhner-Beda biography).
  13. ↑ Günther Schwarberg: Yours is my whole heart . Steidl-Taschenbuch, Göttingen 2002, p. 125, and p. 12.
  14. ↑ Günther Schwarberg: Yours is my whole heart . Steidl-Taschenbuch, Göttingen 2002, p. 183.
  15. ↑ Text in wollheim memorial
  16. ↑ Otto Köhler : From the land of smiles to Auschwitz . In: Die Zeit , No. 30/1996, p. 42.
  17. ^ Raul Hilberg : The annihilation of the European Jews . Fischer Taschenbuch, Frankfurt am Main 1990, p. 994 (translation from English, first 1961).
  18. ↑ Günther Schwarberg, Göttingen 2000, pp. 167, 169 and 200–210
  19. ^ Lexicon of persecuted musicians during the Nazi era . University of Hamburg
  20. ^ Fritz Löhner-Beda on the website of the Austrian Cabaret Archive
  21. ↑ Wolfgang Quatember: Otherwise we have to leave it to GESTAPO . ( Memento of the original from February 16, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. ZME Ebensee @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.memorial-ebensee.at
  22. ^ Ernst Klee : The culture lexicon for the Third Reich. Who was what before and after 1945. S. Fischer, Frankfurt am Main 2007, ISBN 978-3-10-039326-5 , p. 374.
  23. ^ Fritz Löhner-Beda , Norbert Wollheim Memorial
  24. ↑ To be seen from February 20 in cinemas in Vienna. In:  Wiener Bilder , February 22, 1920, p. 12 (online at ANNO ).Template: ANNO / Maintenance / wrb
personal data
SURNAME Löhner-Beda, Fritz
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Löwy, Bedřich (maiden name, Czech); Löwy, Friedrich (maiden name, German); Bede (pseudonym); Löhner, Friedrich (real name); Löhner, Fritz; Lohner, Fritz; Löhner-Beda, Friedrich
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Austrian librettist, songwriter and writer
DATE OF BIRTH June 24, 1883
PLACE OF BIRTH Wild Sword , Bohemia
DATE OF DEATH December 4, 1942
Place of death Auschwitz