Heinz Letton
Heinz Letton , born as Heinz Lewin , (born March 22, 1888 in Wiesbaden ; † September 1942 in Auschwitz concentration camp ) was a German entertainment musician, composer and film composer .
Life
Born in Heinz Lewin, the son of Moses / Moshe (1862–1938) and Chaje / Chaya Lewin, he received his artistic training in Berlin. Subsequently, interrupted from 1915 by his military service in the First World War , he began his work as a composer of operettas, ballets, hits and sound film music. Most of the latter work he did under the pseudonym Heinz Letton. After the seizure of power by the Nazis in 1933 Letton fled in the same year abroad.
Letton stayed in Prague and London in 1933 , his music for the film The Secret of the Blue Room was also used for the Hollywood remake Secret of the Blue Room in 1933 . Eventually he settled in France. There, after the outbreak of World War II , Letton was arrested as an enemy alien in 1939. In the internment Septfonds arrested in southern France, to Letton operated as musical director at position theatricals of the "Groupe de travailleurs étrangers 302". Finally, under German pressure, he was taken to the Drancy collection camp near Paris. From there, German authorities deported him to Auschwitz, where Lewin was presumably gassed shortly after his arrival . On June 28, 2019, a stumbling block was laid in his hometown in his memory .
Letton was married to the Ukrainian Jenni Trabsky (1895–1942), who was murdered by the Nazis in Riga in January 1942 , and had a son with her, Ralph Arthur Lewin (1914–1993), who was also born in Wiesbaden. He survived the Holocaust in exile in Britain, was last active there as a theater operator (The Creative Theater Company Limited) and died in London in February 1993.
Filmography (complete)
- 1931: Moritz makes his fortune
- 1932: Crime reporter Holm
- 1932: The Secret of the Blue Room
- 1933: The night in the forester's house
- 1933: Záhada modrého pokoje
- 1933: Secret of the Blue Room
literature
- Kay Less : "In life, more is taken from you than given ...". Lexicon of filmmakers who emigrated from Germany and Austria between 1933 and 1945. A general overview. ACABUS Verlag, Hamburg 2011, ISBN 978-3-86282-049-8 , p. 589.
Web links
- Heinz Letton in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Stumbling block for Heinz Lewin (Heinz Letton) in Wiesbaden-Mitte
Individual evidence
- ^ Entry in the Central Database of the Names of Holocaust Victims at the Yad Vashem Memorial
- ^ Lewin on yadvashem.org
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Letton, Heinz |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Lewin, Heinz (maiden name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | German entertainment musician, composer and film composer |
| DATE OF BIRTH | March 22, 1888 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Wiesbaden |
| DATE OF DEATH | September 1942 |
| Place of death | Auschwitz concentration camp |