Leyb Rozental

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Leyb Rozental (also Lejb Rosenthal , born on November 5, 1916 in Wilna (today: Vilnius, Lithuania ), Russian Empire ; died in January 1945 , presumably drowned in the Baltic Sea) was a Lithuanian-Jewish-Russian songwriter, poet and author of Stage revues.

Life

Rozental was the oldest child in a Jewish family from what is now Vilnius. His parents Fruma and Nohum Rozental and both sisters were considered artistically gifted and educated. The youngest sister, Chayela (different spelling: Khayele) Rozental (1924–1979), worked as a singer and actress and also spoke Leyb's texts in the context of theater performances and song contributions. Leyb Rozental published his first volume of poetry at the age of 14.

When a Jewish ghetto was established in German-occupied Vilnius in 1941, the Rozentals also had to move there. Here Leyb was heavily involved in the cultural sector and made a name for himself as an author of musical performances and theater revues. His best-known piece Yisrolik (text: Rozental, music: Misha Veksler ) also premiered in January 1942 in the ghetto. The productions “ Peshe fun Reshe ” and “ Moyshe Halt Zikh ” with texts by Rozental were particularly popular with the audience. He also wrote the lyrics to several ghetto songs, which Chayela Rozental interpreted as other singers. The songs often reflected the hardship of life in the ghetto. The best known was his song Mir lebn ejbig , which was interpreted by Esther Bejarano and Nizza Thobi as well as the Ernst Bloch Choir .

When the Vilna ghetto was to be liquidated in 1943, Leyb Rozental was taken to the Klooga concentration camp in Estonia with Transport 64 on December 7, 1943 . When the Red Army liberated this region from National Socialist terror, the remaining prisoners were sent on a death march and presumably drowned by the Germans in the Baltic Sea at the beginning of 1945. Leyb's sister Chayela survived the Holocaust and worked after the war in France, South Africa and on Broadway in New York.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Sound recording with Chayela Rosental , Paris around 1948
  2. ^ Benjamin Ortmeyer (ed.): Yiddish songs against the Nazis. Retrieved January 15, 2019 . ; taz, Hamburg Update, January 26, 2008. Retrieved January 15, 2019 . ; haGalil.com: I live ejbig. Retrieved January 15, 2019 .

Web links

literature

  • Kay Less : Between the stage and the barracks. Lexicon of persecuted theater, film and music artists from 1933 to 1945 . With a foreword by Paul Spiegel . Metropol, Berlin 2008, ISBN 978-3-938690-10-9 , p. 410.
personal data
SURNAME Rozental, Leyb
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Rosenthal, body
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Lithuanian-Jewish-Russian librettist and playwright
DATE OF BIRTH November 5, 1916
PLACE OF BIRTH Vilnius , Russian Empire
DATE OF DEATH January 1945
Place of death Baltic Sea