Fritz Weiss (musician)

Fritz and Bedřich Weiss (born September 28, 1919 in Prague ; † October 4, 1944 in Auschwitz concentration camp ) was a Czech swing bandleader in Theresienstadt concentration camp .

Life

Weiss was a swing fan at an early age and played the trumpet when he was a student at the International English Grammar School in Prague. When many schools and universities were closed after the occupation by the National Socialists in 1939, many students became professional jazz musicians . The Emil Ludvík Band, whose musical director and arranger Weiss was secretly (as a Jew he was not allowed to be officially and not even perform in public), arose from these student and school bands. The band also made recordings of Weiss's arrangements in 1941. On December 4, 1941, Weiss was deported to Theresienstadt , but was able to maintain contact with his old bands in Prague and exchange arrangements. He was also able to write for Karel Vlach's orchestra , which recorded the arrangements smuggled out of the ghetto on record. In the Theresienstadt ghetto he founded the “ Ghetto Swingers ”, which also included former players from Prague. The tolerance of such cultural activities in Theresienstadt was intended to lead visitors from abroad to believe that prison conditions in concentration camps were humane. The “Ghetto Swingers” played the music for the film made in Theresienstadt in 1944 under the direction of Kurt Gerron , which later also became known as “ The Führer gives the Jews a city ”.

In the "Ghetto Swingers" Pavel Kohn, Gokkes and Erich Vogel played trumpet, Fritz Taussig trombone, Fritz Weiss clarinet, Vodnansky alto saxophone, Donde tenor saxophone, Pavel Libenský bass, Nettl piano, Frenta Goldschmidt guitar and Coco Schumann drums. In the course of time, the pianist Brammer, the drummer Kurt Bauer, the bassist Fasal, Fredy Mautner on the trombone (1943), Langer on the clarinet and tenor saxophone, Jetti Kantor (violin) and Fredy Haber (tenor) played.

In 1944 Weiss was deported to Auschwitz. Allegedly he joined his old father in the selection process on the ramp, who was sent to the gas chambers as "unable to work" .

In 1944, Weiss's successor was Martin Roman , who also wrote a cabaret program for Theresienstadt (“Karussell”).

Discography

• In Defiance of Fate - Compositions arranged by Fritz Weiss for the Emil Ludvik Orchestra , Jewish Museum Prague (30 recordings from 1940 to 1941)

See also

• List of composers persecuted by the Nazi regime or its allies

Web links

• Literature and other media by and about Fritz Weiss (musician) in the catalog of the National Library of the Czech Republic
• Jazz rhythms against fate: Fritz Weiss and the Ghetto Swingers on Radio Prague
• French site about the music in Theresienstadt
• Radio Prague to reissue recordings by Weiss

Remarks

1. ↑ the official director was pianist Emil Ludvík, who also composed for the band
2. ↑ Information from the holocaust.cz database
3. ^ Swing music in the Protectorate , contribution to Radio Praha of March 13, 2004
4. ↑ The number "We ride on wooden horses" from it was arranged by Moshe Zorman for big band and interpreted by Max Raabe and his palace orchestra in the style of the ghetto swingers and also in a completely different setting by Anne Sofie von Otter .