Martha Schlamme (née Haftel; September 25, 1923 – October 6, 1985) was an Austrian-born American singer and actress. She was born to an

Orthodox Jewish Orthodox Judaism is the collective term for the traditionalist and theologically conservative branches of contemporary Judaism. Theologically, it is chiefly defined by regarding the Torah, both Written and Oral, as revealed by God to Moses on M ...

family in Vienna, Austria in 1923. Her parents were Meier Haftel and Gisa Braten. Forced to flee to France in 1938 after the annexation of Austria by

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...

, Haftel soon after joined her family in

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, where they were then interned as 'enemy aliens' on the

Isle of Man ) , anthem = "O Land of Our Birth" , image = Isle of Man by Sentinel-2.jpg , image_map = Europe-Isle_of_Man.svg , mapsize = , map_alt = Location of the Isle of Man in Europe , map_caption = Location of the Isle of Man (green) in Europe ...

, where she made her acting debut, appearing in a German-language production of ''As You Like It''. At the camp, she heard a concert of the Danish-Icelandic folk singer Engel Lund, and it was exposure to Lund's repertoire, which included traditional Yiddish songs, that inspired Haftel to pursue a musical career. Living in London after the war, she supported herself doing office work while studying voice and piano and occasionally performing on stage and radio. Emigrating to the United States in 1948, Haftel married her first husband, Hans Schlamme. She supported herself performing an ever-increasing repertoire of folk songs in multiple languages in nightclubs and concert venues in the

Catskills The Catskill Mountains, also known as the Catskills, are a physiographic province of the larger Appalachian Mountains, located in southeastern New York. As a cultural and geographic region, the Catskills are generally defined as those areas c ...

and elsewhere. Her early recorded work began during this period and was recorded in collaboration with the Israeli composer Nachum Nardi. In 1954, she recorded the album ''German Folk-Songs'' with the then-blacklisted singer

Pete Seeger Peter Seeger (May 3, 1919 – January 27, 2014) was an American folk singer and social activist. A fixture on nationwide radio in the 1940s, Seeger also had a string of hit records during the early 1950s as a member of the Weavers, notably ...

. Aside from this album for Folkways Records, she would later record for the Vanguard, Columbia and MGM labels. In 1959, her album of songs composed by Kurt Weill at the

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led to wider awareness of her work; she herself said it made her "a star overnight". MGM released her albums ''The World of Kurt Weill in Song'' in 1962 and ''A Kurt Weill Cabaret'' in 1963. The label further issued ''(Martha Schlamme says:) Kissin's No Sin'' in 1963. Among her stage performances were Weill's '' Mahagonny'' ( Stratford Festival,

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, 1965), ''A Kurt Weill Cabaret'' (

Ravinia Festival Ravinia Festival is an outdoor music venue in Highland Park, Illinois. It hosts a series of outdoor concerts and performances every summer from June to September. The first orchestra to perform at Ravinia Festival was the New York Philharmonic unde ...

, 1967), '' Fiddler on the Roof'' (as Golde,

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, 1968) and several one-woman shows, including ''A Woman Without a Man Is....'' Her television appearances as herself include the series ''

Hootenanny A hootenanny is a party involving music in the United States. It is particularly associated with folk music. Etymology Placeholder Hootenanny is an Appalachian colloquialism that was used in the early twentieth century U.S. as a placeholder nam ...

'' (1963), ''

Rainbow Quest ''Rainbow Quest'' (1965–66) was a U.S. television series devoted to folk music and hosted by Pete Seeger. It was videotaped in black-and-white and featured musicians playing in traditional American music genres such as traditional folk music, ...

'' (1965), ''Talk of the Town'' (1965) and the ''America's Musical Theater'' episode "Happy End" (1985). She also appeared in a small role in the 1980 television movie '' Playing for Time'' (as "Woman on train"). She continued to perform until her death in 1985, two months after suffering a stroke while onstage in Jamestown, New York. She was 62 years old.

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