Kurt Singer (11 October 1885 – 7 February 1944) was a German

neurologist Neurology (from el, νεῦρον (neûron), "string, nerve" and the suffix -logia, "study of") is the branch of medicine dealing with the diagnosis and treatment of all categories of conditions and disease involving the brain, the spinal c ...

musicologist Musicology (from Greek μουσική ''mousikē'' 'music' and -λογια ''-logia'', 'domain of study') is the scholarly analysis and research-based study of music. Musicology departments traditionally belong to the humanities, although some mu ...

, conductor and chairman of the

Jüdischer Kulturbund , or (with the definite article) , was a Cultural Federation of German Jews, established in 1933. It hired over 1300 men and 700 women artists, musicians, and actors fired from German institutions, and grew to about 70,000 members, according to som ...

. He 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 ...

Life

Born in

Kościerzyna Kościerzyna ( Kashubian and Pomeranian: ''Kòscérzëna''; formerly german: Berent, ) is a town in Kashubia in Gdańsk Pomerania region, northern Poland, with some 24,000 inhabitants. It has been the capital of Kościerzyna County in Pomerania ...

, Singer, son of a rabbi, spent his youth in Koblenz. After graduating from high school he studied medicine, psychology and

musicology Musicology (from Greek μουσική ''mousikē'' 'music' and -λογια ''-logia'', 'domain of study') is the scholarly analysis and research-based study of music. Musicology departments traditionally belong to the humanities, although some mu ...

. In 1908, he received his doctorate in medicine and initially worked as a neurologist at the Berlin

Charité The Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin (Charité – Berlin University of Medicine) is one of Europe's largest university hospitals, affiliated with Humboldt University and Free University Berlin. With numerous Collaborative Research Cen ...

. He earned an

Iron Cross The Iron Cross (german: link=no, Eisernes Kreuz, , abbreviated EK) was a military decoration in the Kingdom of Prussia, and later in the German Empire (1871–1918) and Nazi Germany (1933–1945). King Frederick William III of Prussia est ...

for his gallantry in World War I. Since 1910, he wrote music reviews. In 1913, he founded the Berliner Ärztechor, which he directed until the time of National Socialism. In 1923, he became professor at the Staatliche Akademische Hochschule für Musik, where he could teach as well as do research. Three years later, his work ''Die Berufskrankheiten der Musiker'' was published. From 1923 to 1932, Singer was head of the medical advisory service at the Academy of Music and gave lectures on occupational diseases of musicians. From 1927 to 1931, he was temporarily deputy and then director of the

Deutsche Oper Berlin The Deutsche Oper Berlin is a German opera company located in the Charlottenburg district of Berlin. The resident building is the country's second largest opera house (after Munich's) and also home to the Berlin State Ballet. Since 2004, the De ...

At the Academy of Music, he was dismissed in Autumn 1932 because of alleged financial difficulties. When, after the ''

Machtergreifung Adolf Hitler's rise to power began in the newly established Weimar Republic in September 1919 when Hitler joined the '' Deutsche Arbeiterpartei'' (DAP; German Workers' Party). He rose to a place of prominence in the early years of the party. Be ...

'' in 1933, numerous musicians of Jewish origin lost their jobs in accordance with the

Law for the Restoration of the Professional Civil Service The Law for the Restoration of the Professional Hitler Service (german: Gesetz zur Wiederherstellung des Berufsbeamtentums, shortened to ''Berufsbeamtengesetz''), also known as Civil Service Law, Civil Service Restoration Act, and Law to Re-es ...

, he founded the "jüdischen Kulturbund". Singer emigrated to Amsterdam in 1938. He was arrested in 1943, first in the

Westerbork transit camp Camp Westerbork ( nl, Kamp Westerbork, german: Durchgangslager Westerbork, Drents: ''Börker Kamp; Kamp Westerbörk'' ), also known as Westerbork transit camp, was a Nazi transit camp in the province of Drenthe in the Northeastern Netherlands, d ...

, then

deported Deportation is the expulsion of a person or group of people from a place or country. The term ''expulsion'' is often used as a synonym for deportation, though expulsion is more often used in the context of international law, while deportation ...

in the

Theresienstadt Ghetto Theresienstadt Ghetto was established by the SS during World War II in the fortress town of Terezín, in the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia ( German-occupied Czechoslovakia). Theresienstadt served as a waystation to the extermination cam ...

. He died there on 7 February 1944 as a result of the prison conditions at the age of 58. The '' Kurt-Singer-Institut für Musikphysiologie und Musikergesundheit'' at the

Hochschule für Musik "Hanns Eisler" ' (, plural: ') is the generic term in German language, German for institutions of higher education, corresponding to ''universities'' and ''colleges'' in English. The term ''Universität'' (plural: ''Universitäten'') is reserved for institutions ...

and the

Academy of Arts, Berlin The Academy of Arts (german: Akademie der Künste) is a state arts institution in Berlin, Germany. The task of the Academy is to promote art, as well as to advise and support the states of Germany. The Academy's predecessor organization was fo ...

are named after him.Kurt Singer-Institut für Musikergesundheit
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Publications

Articles: in ''Gemeindeblatt der Juedischen Gemeinde zu Berlin'': * ''Die Welt des "Fidelio"'', Jg. 24. 1934, Nr. 41 (3 November 1934), S. 3 * ''Disput über Saint-Saëns' Oper "Samson und Dalila"'', Jg. 26. 1936, Nr. 11 (15 March 1936), S. 9 * ''Dr. Singer erklärt'', Jg. 26. 1936, Nr. 21 (24 May 1936), S. 22 * ''Die nächste Kulturbund-Premiere'', Jg. 26. 1936, Nr. 22 (31 May 1936), S. 9 * ''Kulturbund vor Gericht'', Jg. 26. 1936, Nr. 27 (5 July 1936), S. 3 * ''Kulturbundbilanz 1936'', Jg. 27. 1937, Nr. 1 (3y January 1937), S. 4 * ''Händels "Israel"'', Jg. 27. 1937, Nr. 6 (7 February 1937), S. 11 * ''Der Jüdische Kulturbund wirbt!'', Jg. 27. 1937, Nr. 34 (22 August 1937), S. 3 * ''Wie organisieren wir das Hauskonzert?'', Jg. 27. 1937, Nr. 39 (26 September 1937), S. 17 * ''"Wenn ich König wär"'', Jg. 28. 1938, Nr. 7 (13 February 1938), S. 5 * ''"Die schöne Helena"'', Jg. 28. 1938, Nr. 23 (5 June 1938), S. 7 * ''Hilfe für jüdische Autoren'', Jg. 28. 1938, Nr. 40 (2 October 1938), S. 4 in the '': * ''Sozialistische Bewegung'', Jg. 12. 1937, Nr. 23 (5 November 1937),

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Singer, Kurt German conductors (music) German music critics 20th-century German musicologists Academic staff of the Berlin University of the Arts German choral conductors German people who died in the Theresienstadt Ghetto Jewish emigrants from Nazi Germany to the Netherlands 20th-century German physicians German neurologists 1885 births 1944 deaths People from Kościerzyna

Life

Publications

Further reading

References

External links