Max Alexander (singer)

Max Alexander (born on April 26, 1885 in Goral , West Prussia , German Reich ; died in 1942 in Majdanek concentration camp ) was a German opera singer ( bass voice ).

Life

Alexander received his vocal training at the beginning of the 20th century and came quite early, in 1917, as a choir singer at the Frankfurt Opera , to which he was to devote his entire artistic life. In later years the West Prussian moved up to the rank of first bass in the opera hierarchy. In 1933, following the seizure of power by the National Socialists, the Jewish singer began to decline professionally. The director Carl Stueber, appointed temporarily by the NS mayor, dismissed Alexander, five choir members and three orchestral musicians before the uniform regulation by the " Law for the Restoration of Professional Civil Service ". On June 23, 1933, the compulsory leave was dismissed without notice due to alleged “political unreliability”. The new general manager Hans Meissner claimed that Alexander "hatefully persecuted National Socialist members of the choir (professional colleagues) by expelling them from the choir singers 'association and dancers' association", but for formal legal reasons did not mention the Jewish origin of the singer who had been celebrated up to then.

Alexander now had to break new ground in order to secure an economic survival for himself and his wife. Until he closed down in 1938, he worked as the first accountant and office manager at the company "Emil Stein oHG" in Frankfurt's Kaiserstraße. After the Reichskristallnacht in November 1938, Max Alexander was arrested by the Gestapo and presumably deported to the Buchenwald concentration camp . In early December 1938, however, he was released again. In the end the artist only found employment as a laborer and forced laborer (at the “Schoeller & Co. Elektrotechnische Fabrik” in Sachsenhausen). Depending on the source, Max Alexander was deported either to the Majdanek extermination camp on June 11, 1942 or to the Theresienstadt ghetto on September 1, 1942. A little later he is said to have been transferred from there to the Majdanek concentration camp, where he was probably murdered shortly after arrival.

Max Alexander was married to Luise Kannenhagen, who presumably perished in the Trawniki forced labor camp . His name is listed on the plaque of the municipal theaters.

literature

• Heike Drummer / Jutta Zwilling (arrangement) / Jewish Museum Frankfurt am Main (ed.): Database of the Neuer Börneplatz memorial.
• Judith Freise / Joachim Martini: Jewish musicians in Frankfurt 1933–1942, Frankfurt am Main 1990, p. 4 (Appendix).
• Bettina Schältke, theater or propaganda? Die Städtische Bühnen Frankfurt am Main 1933–1945 (Studies on Frankfurt History 40), Frankfurt am Main 1997, pp. 54, 82, 105
• 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. 380.

Web links

• Max Alexander on ffmhist.de