Fritz Weiss (

Czech Czech may refer to: * Anything from or related to the Czech Republic, a country in Europe ** Czech language ** Czechs, the people of the area ** Czech culture ** Czech cuisine * One of three mythical brothers, Lech, Czech, and Rus' Places * Czech, ...

: Bedřich Weiss) (28 September 1919 – 28 September 1944) was a

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...

musician and arranger, active in the first half of the 20th century. He was an organizer of jazz performances and an important participant in the musical life of the

Theresienstadt concentration camp Theresienstadt Ghetto was established by the Schutzstaffel, SS during World War II in the fortress town of Terezín, in the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia (German occupation of Czechoslovakia, German-occupied Czechoslovakia). Theresienstad ...

. Weiss was murdered in 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 ...

Biography

Early years

Weiss was born into a middle-class German-speaking Prague family of

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 ...

origin. He became interested in jazz at an early age, and soon began to participate in the jazz life of Prague. He started to play violin, but later switched to trumpet. As a student of the ''Prague English Grammar School'' he became a member of the school orchestra called ''Swing Rhythm'', where he played first trumpet. Playing in the orchestra he met a significant exponent of Czech jazz, Karel Vlach. Among the members of the orchestra were Germans, Czechs and Jews; the bandleader was Czech pianist Milan Halla. The situation changed in 1939, with the rise of

Nazism 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 ...

. Some of the German musicians left the ensemble, because they did not want to play with Jews. In 1939, Weiss moved to the newly founded ''Karel Ludvík Orchestra''. He played first trumpet, but his performing with the band was more and more problematic because of

racial laws Anti-Jewish laws have been a common occurrence throughout Jewish history. Examples of such laws include special Jewish quotas, Jewish taxes and Disabilities (Jewish), Jewish "disabilities". Some were adopted in the 1930s and 1940s in Nazi Germany ...

. He was finally forced to leave the orchestra. However, he anonymously participated in the recording of gramophone records. As a member of the ''Karel Ludvík Orchestra'', Weiss became a bandleader and helped to organize rehearsals, but above all, he arranged the major part of the repertory of the ensemble. The Jewish jazz musicians used to practice 1940–1941 in the Jewish Orphanage.

Theresienstadt

On the 04.12.1941 Fritz Weiss was sent, as part of the second Aufbaukommando, to the

. He was on transport J that took 1000 people from Prague to Theresienstadt. He took part in musical events held in the camp, and he even continued his collaboration with orchestras outside of the camp. With the help of Czech police officers he managed to obtain music paper and scores needed for arranging jazz compositions. He later secretly sent his arrangements out of the camp. He collaborated mainly with Arnošt Kavka, the singer of the ''Karel Vlach Orchestra''. In Theresienstadt, Weiss founded his own quintet, active up to August 1944. In 1943 he also became an artistic leader and arranger of the Theresienstadt Dixieland ensemble called

Ghetto Swingers The Ghetto Swingers were a jazz band organised in the Nazi concentration camp Theresienstadt. The original amateur Czech band playing in the Café of the Ghetto was led by Eric Vogel and Pavel Libensky. Vogel petitioned the Kommandant on Janua ...

. Both bands collaborated in various performances and the number of musicians increased, especially following the arrival of Danish and Dutch Jewish jazz players. Weiss, together with Berlin pianist

Martin Roman Martin Roman (23 April 1910 – 12 May 1996) was a German jazz pianist. At the time of the Reichstag fire in February 1933, Martin was stopped by SS men at the entrance to the huge Vaterland emporium in Berlin, where his band, the Marek Weber Ba ...

, composed and arranged more than thirty new compositions for the ensembles. The most popular composition was the jazz arrangement of the children's opera Brundibár, originally composed by

Hans Krása Hans Krása (30 November 1899 – 17 October 1944) was a Czech composer, murdered during the Holocaust at Auschwitz. He helped to organize cultural life in Theresienstadt concentration camp. Life Hans Krása was born in Prague, the son of Anna ...

. In June 1944, during the visit of the

Red Cross The International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement is a Humanitarianism, humanitarian movement with approximately 97 million Volunteering, volunteers, members and staff worldwide. It was founded to protect human life and health, to ensure re ...

to the camp, the ''

'' were forced to participate in the propaganda performance organized by

Kurt Gerron Kurt Gerron (11 May 1897 – 28 October 1944) was a German History of the Jews in Germany, Jewish actor and film director. He and his wife, Olga were murdered in the Holocaust. Life Born Kurt Gerson into a well-off merchant family in Berlin, he ...

, coerced by the Germans to deceive the outside world. The ensemble also appeared in the propaganda movie '' The Fuhrer Gives a City to the Jews'', made during this event. In September 1944, Fritz Weiss's father was sent in the transport to the

Auschwitz extermination camp Auschwitz concentration camp ( (); also or ) was a complex of over 40 concentration and extermination camps operated by Nazi Germany in occupied Poland (in a portion annexed into Germany in 1939) during World War II and the Holocaust. It con ...

. His son joined him and stayed with him during the selection. Both father and son were murdered in the gas chambers of Auschwitz. Fritz Weiss died in Auschwitz on 28 September 1944, the day of his 25th birthday.Sources differ a bit about details of his death - Kuna and Vogel quote 4 September, while Dorůžka corrects their claim with information from the ''

Jewish Museum in Prague The Jewish Museum in Prague (Czech: Židovské muzeum v Praze) is a museum of Jewish heritage in the Czech Republic and one of the most visited museums in Prague. Its collection of Judaica is one of the largest in the world, about 40,000 objects ...

''.

Recordings

*
In Defiance of Fate. Compositions arranged by Fritz Weiss for the Emil Ludvík Orchestra. Unique recordings from 1940–41.
'

, 2003. D ŽMP006.

Notes

References

* *E. Vogel; B. Marek: ''Za Bedřichem Weissem''. (republished in the album notes of the ''In Defiance of Fate'' CD without further details) *

External links

Fritz Weiss and a series of miraculous wartime jazz recordings (Czech Radio)Jazzman Fritz Weiss navzdory osudu (Holocaust.cz)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Weiss, Fritz 1919 births 1944 deaths Czech people who died in Auschwitz concentration camp Czech Jews who died in the Holocaust Musicians from Prague Theresienstadt Ghetto prisoners Czech jazz bandleaders Jazz clarinetists Czechoslovak civilians killed in World War II People killed by gas chamber by Nazi Germany Jewish jazz musicians Ghetto Swingers members