Johannes Jacobsohn

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Johannes Jacobsohn alias Hanns John (born January 23, 1890 in Schmiegel ; † May 28, 1942 in Sachsenhausen concentration camp ) was a German Chasan (cantor) in Berlin .

Life

His father David Jacobsohn acted as a prayer leader, and Johannes Jacobsohn handed down some of his liturgical compositions. Little is known about the origin of Johannes Jacobsohn. First-hand information is no longer accessible as there are no longer any first or second generation descendants. At the age of 15, Jacobsohn first moved to Breslau, where he worked as a bookseller, and after the First World War came to Berlin, like many other Jews from the former West Prussia, because in the years after the end of the First World War the political and social situation of German Jews in rural regions increasingly deteriorated. The Poznan Jews, for example, mainly moved to Berlin and formed their own country team within the Jewish community, as shown by advertisements in the community newspaper of the Berlin Jewish community. After Jacobsohn had already made the decision in Berlin to train as an opera singer or cantor, he performed under the stage name Hanns John. In 1927 he took up a position at a reform synagogue in Berlin-Wilmersdorf . From January 1930 he worked as chief cantor in the Jewish community in Berlin, including probably at the New Synagogue , but mainly in the Berlin community synagogue at Lützowstrasse 16, of which only a plaque reminds us today. Only a few audio documents from this period survived, and were recorded on Electrola as early as 1929 . Cantor Jacobsohn was also the arranger of synagogue music and published a musical guide for the Jewish holidays . At the Lützowstrasse synagogue, John conducted the services accompanied by a boys' choir led by Arno Nadel .

Jacobsohn had a brother, Ludwig Jacobsohn or Eliezer Ben David .

After the ban on January 1, 1936, which forbade all Jewish artists to use a stage name, Hanns John now had to officially perform under the name of Hanns John Jacobsohn. Jacobsohn lived in Berlin at Lipaer Strasse 2 in Berlin-Lichterfelde. From 1939 to 1941, if time allowed, he was still busy writing liturgical notes. Most of his music was made available by his heirs to the Klau Library of the Hebrew Union College , where the material is still stored today. However, a small part of his estate remained after his death in Berlin and survived the era of National Socialism in an almost adventurous way. This also includes a previously unpublished manuscript with the title “Otzar Schirei Beit Haknesset - Collection of Synagogue Chants, Berlin 1940/41”. In this music manuscript, the first composition ( 1. To light the Hanukkah lights ) is dated November 15, 1939 and the last (“24. Tikanto shabboss, for prayer and organ”) on August 17, 1941, so less than recorded a year before Jacobsohn's murder. J. refers in the manuscript to his father David Jacobsohn (David Ben Joel), whom he describes as the author of some of the notated melodies. He dedicated a composition (“9. Tachanun”) to the blessed “Memory of my blessed brother Ludwig / L'Secher Achi R. Elieser B. HCh.R. David". On 27./28. In May 1942 the Nazis carried out the so-called “special action” in Berlin in retaliation for the arson attack organized by the Jewish resistance fighter Herbert Baum on the anti-Soviet exhibition The Soviet Paradise . Among the 500 Jewish men imprisoned in the process was Johannes Jacobsohn, who was shot in the Sachsenhausen concentration camp on May 28, 1942 .

The CD Es wird nicht untergang , released in 1996, with recordings by Berlin cantors from the prewar period, contains among other things the singing U'w Nuchau Jaumar , sung by Hanns John. This unique recording called the already completely forgotten name of Hanns John back into the consciousness of the friends of Jewish liturgical music and was the trigger for the research that has been carried out on Hanns John since then.

Fonts

  • Sabbath sound and festival song. A musical guide for celebrating the Sabbath and feast at home . Philo-Verlag, Berlin 1937

Audio documents

Record by Hanns John

Cantor Hanns John recorded 10 tracks with the Electrola record company in April 1929 , and 6 recordings were repeated in August 1929, presumably due to technical defects. The meetings took place in the Sing-Akademie zu Berlin , the organ accompanist is not named.

  • From the depths
    Unpublished (die number: CNR 462-1 and -2), recorded on April 22nd and August 15th, 1929
  • Hanukkah : blessing [sung in Hebrew] and hymn (Moaus Zur) ( ברכה ומעוז צור) [Sung in Hebrew and German]
    Order number: EG 1518 (die number: BNR 459-2), recorded on August 15, 1929
  • Lord, what is man
    Order number: EH 355 (die number: CNR 467-1), taken on April 23, 1929
  • Joh schimcho [sung in Hebrew]
    Order number: EH 379 (die number: CNR 463-3), recorded on August 15, 1929
  • Kiddush for Friday evening (arranged by: Louis Lewandowski ) [sung in Hebrew]
    Order number: EG 1347 (matrix number: BNR 466-1), recorded on April 23, 1929
  • Kol nidre [sung in Hebrew]
    Unpublished (die number: CNR 461-1 and -2), recorded on April 22nd and August 15th, 1929
  • L'cho daudi (arranged by: Louis Lewandowski) [sung in Hebrew]
    Order number: EG 1347 (die number: BNR 465-2), recorded on April 23, 1929
  • N'ilah Kaddish (music: Louis Lewandowski) [sung in Hebrew]
    Order number: EH 379 (die number: CNR 458-2), recorded on August 15, 1929
  • Blessing for the wedding [sung in Hebrew]
    Order number: EH 355 (die number: CNR 464-1), recorded on April 23, 1929
  • U'w nuchau jaumar (ובנחה יאמר) (Music: Louis Lewandowski) [sung in Hebrew]
    Order number: EG 1518 (die number: BNR 460-3), recorded on August 15, 1929.

The German Music Archive owns all published records except EH 355.
EG 1518 was re-released in 1996 on the CD Es wird nicht unteriegen - Jüdisch -Liturgical Gesänge aus Berlin (Edition BARBArossa EdBa 01317-2).

literature

  • Raymond Wolff: It won't go down . Booklet for the CD of the same name, pp. 32–35. Edition BARBArossa, Berlin 1996
  • Horst Weber, Stefan Drees (ed.): Sources on the history of emigrated musicians 1933–1950. Volume 2: New York , pp. 175-177. De Gruyter, Berlin 2005. ISBN 978-3-598-23747-8
  • Rainer E. Lotz, Axel Weggen: Discography of the Judaica recordings . B. Lotz, Bonn 2006. ISBN 978-3-9810248-2-1

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Sofie Fetthauer:  Johannes Jacobsohn in the Lexicon of Persecuted Musicians of the Nazi Era (LexM)
  2. ↑ Geoffrey Goldberg: Register of the papers of Hanns John Jacobsohn, 1890-1942 . New York, NY: Klau Library, Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, 1990
  3. ↑ Memorial Book. Victim of the persecution of the Jews under the Nazi tyranny in Germany 1933–1945 . Federal Archives, Koblenz 1986
  4. ↑ Electrola music records: General index July 1931 . Berlin 1931.
    Alan Kelly: The Gramophone Company Limited: Matrix series prefixed BR / CR. CD-ROM. Sheffield 1998
personal data
SURNAME Jacobsohn, Johannes
ALTERNATIVE NAMES John, Hanns; Jacobsohn, Hanns John
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German Chasan (Cantor) in Berlin
DATE OF BIRTH January 23, 1890
PLACE OF BIRTH Schmiegel
DATE OF DEATH May 28, 1942
Place of death Sachsenhausen concentration camp