Žiga Hirschler (21 March 1894,

Velika Trnovitica Velika Trnovitica is a village and municipality in Bjelovar-Bilogora County, Croatia. Demographics According to the 2021 census, the population of the municipality was 1,091 with 486 living in the town proper. In 2011, there were 1,370 inhabitants ...

near

Bjelovar Bjelovar ( hu, Belovár, german: Bellowar, Kajkavian: ''Belovar'') is a city in central Croatia. It is the administrative centre of Bjelovar-Bilogora County. At the 2021 census, there were 36,433 inhabitants, of whom 93.06% were Croats. History ...

– 1941

Jasenovac concentration camp Jasenovac () was a concentration camp, concentration and extermination camps, extermination camp established in the Jasenovac, Sisak-Moslavina County, village of the same name by the authorities of the Independent State of Croatia (NDH) in I ...

) was a Croatian-Jewish composer, music critic and publicist who was killed during the

Holocaust The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; a ...

Life

Hirschler was born in

Zagreb Zagreb ( , , , ) is the capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Croatia#List of cities and towns, largest city of Croatia. It is in the Northern Croatia, northwest of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slop ...

, to a Croatian Jewish family. Ha-Kol (Glasilo Židovske zajednice u Hrvatskoj); Djela hrvatskih skladatelja Židovskog podrijetla u Beču; stranica 38; broj 107, studeni / prosinac 2008. He completed musical studies in 1917 at the Agram conservatory of the

Croatian Music Institute Croatian Music Institute ( hr, Hrvatski glazbeni zavod, HGZ) is the oldest music institution in Croatia. Also, after the Vatroslav Lisinski Concert Hall, it is the second most important concert hall in Zagreb. It was founded in 1827 under title ...

in Zagreb. Hirschler composed orchestral, piano, vocal and dramatic works, and showed a tendency towards popular music. He was one of the most famous music critics in Zagreb between the two world wars. Hirschler was editor of ''Musician magazine''. With his writing in the ''Večernji vjesnik'' and ''Jutarnji list'' he closely followed Croatian composers. As a Jew Hirschler faced persecution by

Ustaše The Ustaše (), also known by anglicised versions Ustasha or Ustashe, was a Croats, Croatian Fascism, fascist and ultranationalism, ultranationalist organization active, as one organization, between 1929 and 1945, formally known as the Ustaš ...

and

Nazis Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Na ...

. During the last days of his life, Hirschler didn't leave his apartment. He just had an intense correspondence with Paula Rendi, waiting for her to give him a pass so that he could cross over to a "free zone". That unfortunately never happened. Hirschler wrote his last letters on 12 September 1941. In one such letter, he dedicated a song to Rendi for her birthday. In late 1941 Hirschler was killed at the

Works

Operas

* ''Dvije renesansne noći'' ** ''Fiorentinska noć, '' 1926 ** ''Svadbena noć, '' 1931 * ''Mara''

Operettas

* ''Pobjednica oceana, '' 1928 * ''Kaj nam pak moreju, '' 1935 * ''Napred naš, '' 1936 * ''Iz Zagreba u Zagreb, '' 1937 His Burlesk has been played on radio by Dan Franklin Smith but not recorded.

References

Bibliography

* * * * * Pintar, Marijana, Hirschler, Žiga (Hiršler), u: Macan, Trpimir (ur.), Hrvatski biografski leksikon, Zagreb: Leksikografski zavod Miroslav Krleža, 1983., str. 580–581. (Croatian) * Polić, Branko, Prekinuti roman Žige Hirschlera, Cantus, 1994, 80/81, str. 25. (Croatian) * "Torta – Popijevke hrvatskih skladatelja uz klavirsku pratnju" (priredili Kristina Beck – Kukavčić i Felix Spiller; Edicije Spiller – hrvatski skladatelji, Zagreb 2005). (Croatian) * Vujnović-Tonković, Ankica, Pisana riječ Žige Hirschlera, Novi Omanut – Prilog židovskoj povijesti i kulturi, 1995, 12, str. 5–7. (Croatian) {{DEFAULTSORT:Hirschler, Ziga 1894 births 1941 deaths People from Zagreb Croatian Jews Jews from Austria-Hungary Croatian Austro-Hungarians Croatian composers Jewish classical composers Croatian musicians Jewish musicians Croatian civilians killed in World War II People who died in Jasenovac concentration camp Croatian people executed in Nazi concentration camps 20th-century classical composers Croatian male classical composers