Paul-Hermann Opitz
Paul-Hermann Opitz (born August 19, 1917 in Görlitz ; † May 19, 2014 ) was a German music teacher, choir director and composer .
Youth and education
Paul-Hermann Opitz grew up as the eldest of three sons in a middle-class, liberal family of the Görlitz funeral director and insurance director Max Opitz and his wife Elsa. He attended the Augustum grammar school until he graduated from high school.
Second World War
He experienced the Second World War as a soldier and, most recently, as an officer from start to finish almost entirely in the front line. His severe wounds and high war awards, such as the German Cross in Gold, offered his blind father a certain protection. He had supported SPD members persecuted by the Nazis, free religious, Freemason lodge members and Jewish fellow citizens and in some cases also employed them in his company until the end of the war.
post war period
At the end of the war, P.-H. In order to avoid being captured by the Soviets, Opitz went to the British Zone in the Ruhr Area, where he was used for heavy underground mining. He then stayed in the American zone in Hesse for the time being, while his wife Anneliese, who had been expelled from his Silesian homeland, and initially four children, who were later joined by three more, found accommodation in the house of his Görlitz parents in the Soviet occupation zone. In Hesse, Opitz earned his living with various odd jobs and musical entertainment. In addition, he began studying philosophy and law at the Philipps University in Marburg, which he won in 1953 with the Dr. jur. completed. After a brief activity as a court trainee in Treysa, Hesse, he moved back to his home town of Görlitz after the worst persecution by the Soviet occupying forces had subsided.
Musical creation in the GDR
For the further professional career Opitz could not use his degree because in the GDR no civil law was valid. Therefore, he completed another degree as a subject teacher for music up to the Abitur level. At his old school, the former Augustum grammar school, he shaped entire generations of students with his musical enthusiasm for decades and was a co-founder of a children's and youth ensemble that worked far beyond the city limits. Among the many songs created by Opitz, most of which are related to their homeland, the 1953 "Zu Görlitz an der Neisse" stands out. It became the home song that almost everyone in Görlitz knows and is performed again and again by all of the town's choirs. For his cultural work, Opitz was honored with the art prize of the city of Görlitz and in 1996 with a songbook of his works published by the city.
Works (selection)
- From: To Görlitz on the Neisse. A song book by Paul-Hermann Opitz. Published by the city of Görlitz 1996.
- To Görlitz on the Neisse
- A breath of fresh air
- Morning song
- On the fairground
- I would be the wind
- From the Görlitzer Whisper Arch
- From the Görlitz City Hall Lion
- From the Görlitz night smith
- Zoo song
- Mussel minna
- Hey holla ho!
- Sleigh ride at the Landeskrone
- Early in the woods
- Königshain evening song
- Upper Lusatian evening song
- Görlitz - Zgorzelec
- Singspiel "The Key to the Castle"
Individual evidence
- ↑ Ronny Kabus: "... I cry for my father every day" - under the control of Stalin and the SED . 2nd, extended u. edit again Edition. Norderstedt 2016, ISBN 978-3-7392-4237-8 , pp. 11-15 .
- ↑ Kulturamt Görlitz: To Görlitz on the Neisse. A song book by Paul-Hermann Opitz . Ed .: City of Görlitz. 1996.
- ↑ Eberhard Wolfgang Giese, Herbert Nitsche: The tower keeper tells Görlitzer sagas . 4th, exp. and edit New edition of the first edition from 1954 by Ronny Kabus. Zittau 2018, p. 25 .
- ↑ Ralph Schermann: Three stanzas made him famous . In: Saxon newspaper . Edition Görlitz. May 21, 2014.
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Opitz, Paul-Hermann |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | German music teacher, choir director and composer |
| DATE OF BIRTH | August 19, 1917 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Goerlitz |
| DATE OF DEATH | 19th May 2014 |