Hermann Blume

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Hermann Blume (born June 4, 1891 in Biegen , Lebus district ; † May 10, 1967 in Großbottwar , Ludwigsburg district ) had been music advisor for the Stahlhelm, Bund der Frontsoldaten , since 1925 . During the time of National Socialism he was a Nazi functionary and special representative for music for Reich Labor Minister Franz Seldte . In addition to instrumental music , choral works and marches, Blume composed numerous pieces that served Nazi propaganda .

Life

Blume was initially a violinist . As a participant in World War I , he was badly wounded and lost his right hand. He then began studying composition in Berlin with Engelbert Humperdinck and Friedrich Ernst Koch and musicology with Hermann Kretzschmar , Max Friedlaender and Johannes Wolf . In the period from 1917 to 1919 he was, according to his own account, chairman of the student committee, but was dismissed at the end of 1919 because of his anti-Semitic agitation. After completing his studies, he lived as a composer in Berlin.

Blume had been a member of the Stahlhelm, Bund der Frontsoldaten, since 1923, in which he was Federal Music Officer from 1925 until it was finally dissolved in 1935. From 1932 he was the editor and editor of the magazine Der Stahlhelm-Kapellmeister , which was renamed the Stahlhelm-Musikzeitung in 1933, but was discontinued in the second year at the end of 1933.

After the National Socialists came to power , Blume was an honorary special representative for music with Reich Labor Minister Franz Seldte. In April 1933 he joined the völkisch and anti-Semitic Kampfbund for German culture and on December 1, 1933 became a member of the Nazi war victims' pension . After a "folk song competition" had been announced under the patronage of Adolf Hitler in 1933, Blum's composition Kamerad Horst Wessel was awarded the second prize (a first prize was not awarded).

Since 1934, Blume was a member of the administrative committee of the Reich Chamber of Music and the Great Council of the German Composers' Profession within the Reich Chamber of Music.

After an initial application for admission of 3 January 1934, and a new application from 9 November 1935 on the occasion of the dissolution of the steel helmet, he was, in spite of the existing members erase protection on April 1, 1936 in the NSDAP received (membership number 3759291). From July 1, 1937, he was also a member of the SS . Until 1941 he was on the staff of the SS Personnel Main Office and was promoted to Obersturmführer in 1939 and to Hauptsturmführer in 1941 .

Many of his written statements during the Nazi era were shaped by racism, anti-Semitism and Nazi slogans. This also applied to his articles in the magazine Die Musik-Woche . In March 1936, Blume's contribution Des Führer Saat appeared. Each of us work with us! In an article in the magazine Die Musik-Woche on June 6, 1936, he described jazz as a "devilish means of destruction":

“If up until then I had considered the appearance of some Negro jazz dance bands to be sensational, nonsensical, but temporary sensational folly in my home country , then here abroad I recognized for the first time in all its scope the corrosive danger that German culture and with it the down-to-earth culture of other nations was exposed. It was deep to think that at the moment when a certain clique devised and employed this diabolical means of destruction, even the race-sensitive American forgot his natural, often cruelly perverse contempt for the black race and its wild, uncivilized, the lowest instincts sprang from it Let rhythms be talked about as their own national music. [...] "

In 1943 he wrote about his war injury in the First World War in the magazines Musik im Kriege and the German military musician newspaper : experiences and reflections of a war-damaged musician and the triumph of the will. Consideration on the subject of "The war-damaged musician" .

After the Second World War, radio performances of his works, of which numerous recordings existed on sound carriers, were banned in the Soviet Zone .

Blume last lived in retirement in Großbottwar.

Works

Blume composed, among other things, a fairy tale game , various orchestral pieces such as the suite Meine Berge - Meine Heimat ; a horn concert, chamber music, including a little house music for string quartet (1936) and choirs, which also included traveling songs for the Hitler Youth and soldiers' songs . He also emerged as a composer of popular music, such as the tango serenade Schöne blond Frau aus Wien (1936) and the character piece Holzkadetten .

Blume was best known for numerous military marches, many of them with titles that glorified the steel helmet or served Nazi propaganda , such as the swastika on the steel helmet (1933), Adolf Hitler fanfare or Adolf Hitler fantasy , both in 1934.

Some of Blume's military marches were included in Wilhelm Stephan's collection “German Army Marches” for the Bundeswehr .

literature

  • Fred K. Prieberg : Handbook of German Musicians 1933–1945 , CD-Rom-Lexikon, Kiel 2004, pp. 509–518.
  • Ernst Klee : The cultural lexicon for the Third Reich. Who was what before and after 1945. S. Fischer, Frankfurt am Main 2007, ISBN 978-3-10-039326-5 .
  • Joseph Wulf : Music in the Third Reich - A Documentation , Siebert Mohn Verlag, Gütersloh 1963.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Biographical data according to Ernst Klee: Das Kulturlexikon zum Third Reich. Who was what before and after 1945. S. Fischer, Frankfurt am Main 2007, p. 59.
  2. ↑ According to Blum's information "Destruction of the Right Hand", see letter of July 21, 1962, Fred K. Prieberg: Handbuch Deutsche Musiki 1933–1945 , CD-Rom-Lexikon, Kiel 2004, p. 517.
  3. ↑ Information on the person in a letter dated July 21, 1962, see Fred K. Prieberg: Handbook of German Musicians 1933–1945 , CD-Rom-Lexikon, Kiel 2004, pp. 517–518.
  4. ↑ Written curriculum vitae of Blumes from June 10, 1937, printed by Fred K. Prieberg: Handbook German Musicians 1933–1945 , CD-Rom-Lexikon, Kiel 2004, p. 515.
  5. ^ Joseph Wulf : Music in the Third Reich. A documentation . Ullstein, Frankfurt am Main, Berlin, Vienna 1983, ISBN 3-548-33032-0 . Pp. 80 and 190.
  6. ↑ Fred K. Prieberg: Handbook of German Musicians 1933–1945 , CD-Rom-Lexikon, Kiel 2004, pp. 514–515 with reference to Die Musik-Woche IV / 13, March 27, 1936, pp. 7–8.
  7. ↑ a b Complete quote from Joseph Wulf: Music in the Third Reich. A documentation . Ullstein, Frankfurt am Main, Berlin, Vienna 1983, ISBN 3-548-33032-0 . P. 387.
  8. ↑ Fred K. Prieberg: Handbook of German Musicians 1933–1945 , CD-Rom-Lexikon, Kiel 2004, p. 517.
  9. ↑ Based on Fred K. Prieberg: Handbuch German Musicians 1933–1945 , CD-Rom-Lexikon, Kiel 2004, pp. 73 and 517, this piece was performed during the 1939 Reichsmusiktage .
personal data
SURNAME Blume, Hermann
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German composer and Nazi functionary
DATE OF BIRTH June 4, 1891
PLACE OF BIRTH To bend
DATE OF DEATH May 10, 1967
Place of death Grossbottwar