Josef Reinhardt

Josef Reinhardt (born June 1, 1927 between Esseratsweiler and Hugelitz ; † October 1994 ) was a German Sinto violinist and Sinti actor in the Riefenstahl film Tiefland .

Life

Josef Reinhardt was born on June 1, 1927, the first of five children of the housewife Anna (* 1904 in Glattfelden ) and the wine merchant Konrad Reinhardt (* 1895 in Alsace ). Because the family were Sinti , the exact place of birth of Josef Reinhardt was not officially recorded. After the parents married in 1929, the family moved to Ravensburg . The Karlsruhe family moved from 1935 and later to Pforzheim . With the increasing discrimination in the Nazi era , the family emigrated to Vorarlberg . After Austria's annexation to the German Empire and the persecution of Sinti and Roma , they hid in mountain forests near Gastein and sold woven baskets. In October 1939 the family was discovered, imprisoned with other Roma and Sinti in a barn and in August 1940 transported to the “gypsy camp” on the racetrack in the Maxglan district of Salzburg . In the fall of 1940, Josef Reinhardt was hired as an extra for the Riefenstahl film Tiefland because of his musical talent. He played a Spanish violinist. In addition to him, four other family members were active in the film, including his sister Elisabeth Reinhardt (born June 5, 1932 in Enzisweiler ). Through the efforts of Josef Reinhardt, the Sintis and Romas involved were promised a fee and their release after the shooting was over. However, this promise was not kept. In 1943 Josef Reinhardt and his family were employed as slave labor in the Loober ceramics factory in Lackenbach in Burgenland. After the liberation on March 28, 1945 by the Red Army , the family moved to Friedrichshafen . The parents and two children were later awarded reparation by court order. Josef Reinhardt worked as a professional mechanic and married his wife Renate in 1965 and had three children with her.

The WDR film Time of Silence and Darkness from 1982 deals, among other things, with the history of the Reinhardt family.

Documentary film

• Nina Gladitz : A time of silence and darkness . WDR , 1982.

literature

• Karl Schweizer: Josef Reinhardt had to act for Leni Riefenstahl . In: Persecution, Flight and Resistance in the Lindau District 1933–1945 . Publisher: Lindau District Office (Bodensee). Holzer Druck und Medien, 2016.