Wilhelm Heckmann

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Wilhelm Heckmann (born June 26, 1897 in Wellinghofen ; † March 10, 1995 in Wuppertal ) was a German concert and entertainment musician . From 1937 to 1945 he was imprisoned in the Dachau and Mauthausen concentration camps. He founded the first prisoner band in Mauthausen concentration camp and played a key role in building up the large prisoner orchestra.

Life

Wilhelm Heckmann with accordion

As the son of the landlord Adolf Heckmann, Willi Heckmann grew up in the restaurant environment in Altena (Westphalia). After the First World War (patriotic service and military service) Heckmann studied tenor singing and piano at the municipal conservatory in Hagen (Westphalia) with Otto Laugs, among others.

In the 1920s he made guest appearances as the "Rheinischer Tenor" in Wuppertal, Altena, Rheydt, Zurich and Berlin; in addition, he accompanied silent films as a cinema musician (among others) in the cinema "Zentraltheater" in Altena and "Thalia" in Wuppertal. At the beginning of the 1930s, guest appearances in Stuttgart, Gotha and Düsseldorf followed. From 1934, ever since the National Socialist government urged professional musicians energetically and brought musicians into line from a national and racist point of view, excluding so-called “degenerate music” and promoting popular light music (“Schlager”), Heckmann was featured in the musicians' magazine “Das Deutsche Podium, Kampfblatt für deutsche Musik” commented increasingly positively: “ … has gained a large base of friends and patrons in the course of the many months… with a finely trained tenor voice… ” “ … Willi Heckmann, who, by the way, does not miss anything musically ... in terms of tone volume, his representation is sufficient for the room ... piano playing, beautiful chord, well-trained singing, Mr. Heckmann is waiting for everything ... "

Further appearances and engagements followed in Stuttgart, Gotha, Munich, Partenkirchen and Passau. There he was arrested and interrogated by the Gestapo on July 29, 1937, completely unexpectedly, without any acute cause or judicial order , and with reference to an earlier homosexual episode he was sent to the Dachau concentration camp “because of Paragraph 175 ” (the homosexual paragraph) for “ Protective custody ". It has not yet been possible to clarify the exact circumstances of the concentration camp assignment. Immediately before his transfer to the Dachau concentration camp, his stay in the Munich police prison can be proven - from August 8th to 14th, 1937. The prisoner's book only contains the note “Examination of protective custody” under the heading “ Reason for admission ”. Moral crimes ”or“ pederasty ”. Under the heading “ Remarks” there is the note “Separated from homosexuals”. These entries clearly indicate that Heckmann's concentration camp assignment is to be viewed as an act of massive arbitrariness.

Mauthausen Concentration Camp Music Band (Wilhelm Heckmann with a small accordion), July 30, 1942

At the beginning of the war he was transferred to Mauthausen concentration camp in Austria. In Mauthausen he worked in the “Wiener Graben” quarry, but from around 1940 he was able to build up a music trio that had to play music of various genres with members of the SS , when visiting high-ranking guests and in the casino. When the escaped and recaptured prisoner Hans Bonarewitz was led through the main camp on July 30, 1942, accompanied by the "Gypsy Orchestra" and the photo department of the SS took photos, Willi Heckmann found himself in the first row of musicians in the musically leading position. To the right of him (with a large accordion) the Kapo of the Georg Streitwolf post office. After Heinrich Himmler ordered the establishment of a large camp orchestra during his visit in autumn 1942, the chapel was put together "with the help or mediation of Heckmann, Rumbauer and a Czech doctor" . Until the liberation of the camp, this orchestra regularly played marching, popular and serious music. " The harmonica player and singer was Willi Heckmann ." Heckmann was almost like a since of employees in large orchestral prisoner functionary of the toughest spared concentration camp tasks and used in commands with lighter activities (transport column, disinfection). His musical talent was obviously used by the SS leadership to emotionally influence camp life. On May 5, 1945 he witnessed the liberation of the Mauthausen concentration camp by the 11th US Armored Division of the 3rd US Army .

Later he tried to regain a foothold as a professional musician, which he only managed to a limited extent throughout his life. After years of hard work in the Mauthausen concentration camp stone quarry, he suffered long-term from rheumatism and inflammation of the nerves in his shoulders and arms, which hindered him in the practice of his profession. His application for restitution or compensation, made in 1954, was rejected in 1960 on the grounds that he was “only held in custody as a homosexual for crimes against Section 175 of the Criminal Code”. Therefore, there is no entitlement to compensation.

Wilhelm Heckmann worked as a solo entertainer in various German hotels and restaurants until around 1964 . He died on March 10, 1995 in Wuppertal at the age of 97.

See also

literature

  • Kurt Lettner : Music between life and death. Music in the Mauthausen concentration camp and its sub-camps 1939–1945. In: Oberösterreichische Heimatblätter 2000, issue 1,2; Pp. 55–72, online (PDF) in the forum OoeGeschichte.at
  • Klaus Stanjek : Music and Murder - a professional musician in Mauthausen. In: Andreas Baumgartner, Isabella Girstmair, Verena Kaselitz (eds.): The mind is free. Volume 2. edition Mauthausen, Vienna 2008, ISBN 978-3-902605-01-6
  • Milan Kuna: Music at the limit of life. Two thousand and one, Frankfurt / M. 1993, ISBN 3-86150-018-3
  • Simon Hirt, Hansjörg Stecher: Music between subversive survival and brutal terror instruments. In: The exhibitors and the Federal Ministry of the Interior (ed.): Art and culture in the Mauthausen concentration camp 1938 - 1945. Vienna 2007.
  • Guido Fackler : Panoramas of power and powerlessness. Concentration camp pictures as iconic memories and historical documents . In: Helge Gerndt; Michaela Haibl (Ed.): The everyday picture. Perspectives of a folklore image science . Munich: Waxmann, 2005, pp. 251-274.
  • Alexander Zinn : Sounds of Silence. A detective music film. In: Invertito. Yearbook for the History of Homosexualities Jahrgg. 18, 2016; Pp. 182-185. ISBN 978-3-86300-241-1

Movies

  • Klaus Stanjek : Sounds of Silence , documentary about Wilhelm Heckmann
  • Forget Us Not Documentary about concentration camp survivors

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ The German Podium. Journal for ensemble music and music restaurants, No. 31, p. 15 + No. 36, p. 10. Brückner-Verlag Munich, 1935.
  2. ↑ International Tracing Service Bad Arolsen, file number: T / D - 526 895.
  3. ↑ State Archive Munich / Munich police headquarters 8585 / adhesion book Munich police prison
  4. ^ A b Josef Jira: tape recording of an interview by Hans Marsalek , April 18, 1972, Linz. Mauthausen archive of the BMfl, Vienna.
  5. ^ Wilhelm Heckmann on the film's website

Web links

Commons : Wilhelm Heckmann  - Collection of images, videos and audio files
personal data
SURNAME Heckmann, Wilhelm
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German concert and entertainment musician
DATE OF BIRTH June 26, 1897
PLACE OF BIRTH Wellinghofen
DATE OF DEATH March 10, 1995
Place of death Wuppertal