Ghetto Swingers

The Ghetto Swingers were a prisoner orchestra at the time of National Socialism. As a jazz combo the Ghetto Swingers were founded in the ghetto of the jazz trumpeter Erich Vogel in January 1943 and developed in the spring of 1944 to a modern Swing Big Band. The Ghetto Swingers consisted of Jewish inmate musicians and performed exclusively in the storage area. Performances of the Ghetto Swingers were used by the Nazi propaganda for the representation of Theresienstadt as a " model ghetto " publicity in order to refute the accusation of Jewish persecution. In the fall of 1944, most of the band were deported to the concentration camp Auschwitz -Birkenau, only a few of these Theresienstadt ghetto musicians survived the war.

Band's formation, performances and repertoire

On 8 January 1943, the Czech jazz trumpeter Eric ( Erich ) bird presented at the Department recreation of the Jewish ghetto in Theresienstadt self-government the request for establishment of a jazz combo, after well-known jazz musicians had been admitted to the Theresienstadt ghetto.

"I share with you that I intend to contact a jazz orchestra in the public, which is mainly cultivate Jewish music. The orchestra would Die ( The) Ghetto Swingers occur below the title. I would be connected to you, if your music speaker would sit down with me so I could inform him in detail about our intentions and desires. "

After the bird request was granted to found a jazz band, the Ghetto Swingers played in different occupation before inmates mainly in coffee and in the music pavilion of the ghetto. The repertoire of the band comprised ghetto under the Nazis outlawed jazz music of Count Basie and Duke Ellington. The jazz song "I Got Rhythm " by George Gershwin became the signature tune of the Ghetto Swingers. From the extremely popular with the Terezín prisoners Swing play " When I Have Schoen ," but there is a recording that may have come from the Ghetto Swingers. The Ghetto Swingers were the most famous jazz band in a camp, in addition, there were two other high-profile jazz combos.

Band Members

The Ghetto Swingers were first led by the clarinetist and saxophonist Fritz Weiss. During the year 1944, the above presented from the transit camp Westerbork to Theresienstadt jazz pianist Martin Roman took over temporarily the management of the Ghetto Swingers. He was also musical director of the cabaret carousel of Kurt Gerron. Under the Roman Ghetto Swingers transformed from a jazz quintet to a modern big band. The band included, inter alia, Fritz Taussig (trombone), Erich Vogel (trumpet ), Fritz Goldschmidt (guitar ) and guitarist Coco Schumann, who occupied the drums at the Ghetto Swingers at.

"The art, the music, the game served as a direct, simple and comfortable escape from the terrible camp everyday. Used only was what the prisoners brought with them anyway: their skills and their tools. I was a prime example. When I played, I forgot where I was standing. The world seemed in order, the suffering of the people around me disappeared - life was good. [ ... ] We were a 'normal' band with ' normal ' audience. We knew everything and forgot everything at the same moment for a few bars of music. We played for and about our lives - like all in this ' city ', this cruel, hypocritical stage for theatrical performances, children's operas, cabarets, scientific lectures, sporting events, social for an absurd life and a bizarre self-governing survival in the queue in front of the furnaces of the third Reich. "

Instrumentalization in the Nazi propaganda

To counter the circulating abroad rumors of Nazi persecution of the Jews, even appearances of the Ghetto Swingers were arranged by the Nazis and exploited for their own purposes in the " model ghetto " Theresienstadt. These staged performances ostracized jazz music should deceive the world public about the Holocaust: Firstly, the Ghetto Swingers had on 23 June 1944, a Commission of the International Committee of the Red Cross occur. On the other hand they were also in some scenes of the Nazi propaganda film Theresienstadt. To see a documentary from the Jewish settlement area. For this performance, the band was fitted with crisp white shirts, and the musicians had to wear a clearly visible Jewish star, respectively.

Ends of the belt

After the forced participation in the Nazi propaganda film, most band members were deported in the autumn of 1944 in the concentration camp Auschwitz -Birkenau. Only four members of the Ghetto Swingers survived the Holocaust, including birds, Schumann and novel.