Andrzej Włast (aka Gustaw Baumritter) (17 March 1885 – 1942 or 1943) was a

Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Poles Poles,, ; singular masculine: ''Polak'', singular feminine: ''Polka'' or Polish people, are a West Slavic nation and ethnic group, w ...

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

songwriter A songwriter is a musician who professionally composes musical compositions or writes lyrics for songs, or both. The writer of the music for a song can be called a composer, although this term tends to be used mainly in the classical music ...

. He wrote the lyrics for the 1929 hit song "Tango Milonga" / "Oh, Donna Clara". He died in the

Warsaw Ghetto The Warsaw Ghetto (german: Warschauer Ghetto, officially , "Jewish Residential District in Warsaw"; pl, getto warszawskie) was the largest of the Nazi ghettos during World War II and the Holocaust. It was established in November 1940 by the G ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

Biography

Włast was born in

Łódź Łódź, also rendered in English as Lodz, is a city in central Poland and a former industrial centre. It is the capital of Łódź Voivodeship, and is located approximately south-west of Warsaw. The city's coat of arms is an example of cant ...

. He studied law at

Warsaw University The University of Warsaw ( pl, Uniwersytet Warszawski, la, Universitas Varsoviensis) is a public university in Warsaw, Poland. Established in 1816, it is the largest institution of higher learning in the country offering 37 different fields of ...

. He began writing for the Warsaw stage before 1920 at ''Mirage'', ''Czarny Kot'', ''Sfinks'' and others. When the

Bolshevik The Bolsheviks (russian: Большевики́, from большинство́ ''bol'shinstvó'', 'majority'),; derived from ''bol'shinstvó'' (большинство́), "majority", literally meaning "one of the majority". also known in English ...

army attacked Poland in 1920 he fought to defend Warsaw against the

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army ( Russian: Рабо́че-крестья́нская Кра́сная армия),) often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic and, afte ...

in Pilsudski's Legion.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LtyYBgmIyBk, notes associated with Polish tango - Artur Gold's Szkoda twoich łez, 1929 After 1921 he worked with the ''Stańczyk (The Jester)'' theater and then the famous ''Qui Pro Quo''. In 1927 he founded his own revue, the ''Morskie Oko'' theater, which he managed until 1931. Later on, he managed the ''Rex'' revue and ''Wielka Rewia (The Grand Revue)'', each considered to be Polish versions of the Folies-Bergère. He was a prolific lyricist, sometimes called "The King of 'szmira' (cheap mass production of very low quality)" but there were

"also pearls of pure poetry, as well as innumerable examples of sophisticated Jewish humor and gems of ''szmonces (shmontses)'', Polish Jewish self-mockery, albeit resting upon many stereotypes."

He wrote Polish lyrics to Jerzy Petersburski's 1929 international hit ''Tango Milonga'', better known internationally as "Oh, Donna Clara". Bob Rothstein writes:

"One of the most successful of the Polish Jewish composers was
Jerzy Petersburski Jerzy Petersburski (1895–1979) was a Jewish Polish pianist and composer of popular music, renowned mostly for his Tangos, some of which (such as '' To ostatnia niedziela'', ''Już nigdy'' and ''Tango Milonga'') were milestones in popularizat ...
(born Jerzy Melodysta, 1897–1979), whose 1929 hit ''Tango Milonga,'' renamed ''Oh, Donna Clara,'' swept Europe ... and the United States ... sung by
Al Jolson Al Jolson (born Eizer Yoelson; June 9, 1886 – October 23, 1950) was a Lithuanian-American Jewish singer, comedian, actor, and vaudevillian. He was one of the United States' most famous and highest-paid stars of the 1920s, and was self-billed ...
in the 1931 Broadway show '' The Wonder Bar''. ... The original Polish text of ''Tango Milonga'' was written by Andrzej Włast (born Gustaw Baumritter, 1885–1941), one of the best-known lyricists of the interwar period, who wrote other hit tunes with melodies by Petersburski uch as''Już nigdy (Never Again)'' and ''Ja się boję sama spać (I’m Afraid to Sleep Alone)'', and by other Jewish composers, such as
Henryk Gold Henryk Gold (19029 January 1977 in New York City, United States) was a Polish-born American composer, arranger, and orchestra director. He was born in Warsaw to a musical family: his mother Helena was of the famous Warsaw klezmer Melodysta fami ...
(1899–1977; ''Szkoda twoich łez (Don’t Waste Your Tears)''),
Artur Gold Artur (Arthur) Gold (born 17 March 1897, Warsaw, died 1943 in Treblinka) was a Polish Jewish violinist and dance-music composer during the Interbellum. He closely collaborated with his brother Henryk Gold and with Jerzy Petersburski with whom he ...
(1897–1943; ''Przy kominku (By the Fireplace)''),
Zygmunt Białostocki Zygmunt Białostocki (15 August 1897 – c. 1942)http://www.altango.art.pl/postacie/zygmunt-bialostocki/ Wojciech Dabrowski biography at altango was a Polish Jewish musician and composer. He composed many popular Polish pre-war songs, and worked ...
(1897–1942; ''Rebeka''), and Fanny Gordon (pen name of Fania Markovna Kviatkovskaia, 1904–1991; ''Pod samowarem (By the Samovar)'')."http://www.yivoencyclopedia.org/printarticle.aspx?id=2195, YIVO article by Professor Robert Rothstein on Jewish songs and songwriters

After the 1939 German invasion of Poland, Włast was ordered in 1940 to live in the German-ordered

. Some say that he was dragged out, like thousands of others, during a 1942

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) ** Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

action, to the Umschlagplatz and transported to Treblinka German death camp. Others say:

...that he hid on the so-called "Aryan" side, in a flat of one of hePolish actresses he knew from his theatre. Being unable to stay most of the time alone in that microscopic shelter, and panicking at the slightest sign of the approaching steps, he finally ran out to the street, where he was immediately identified as a Jew and shot by a German soldier.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wlast, Andrzej 1885 births 1940s deaths Jewish songwriters Polish songwriters Writers from Łódź People who died in the Warsaw Ghetto Polish civilians killed in World War II