Wolf Durmashkin ( Lithuania, March 7, 1914 in Lithuania – September 18 or 19, 1944 in

Klooga concentration camp Klooga concentration camp was a Nazi forced labor subcamp of the Vaivara concentration camp complex established in September 1943 in Harju County, during World War II, in German-occupied Estonia near the village of Klooga. The Vaivara camp comple ...

Estonia Estonia, formally the Republic of Estonia, is a country by the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, a ...

) was a Jewish composer, conductor and pianist in

Vilnius Vilnius ( , ; see also other names) is the capital and largest city of Lithuania, with a population of 592,389 (according to the state register) or 625,107 (according to the municipality of Vilnius). The population of Vilnius's functional urb ...

(then known as Vilna), Lithuania. 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; ...

Life

Wolf Durmashkin was born in Lithuania, the exact place of birth is unknown. He was the son of Akiva Durmashkin, liturgical music director and choir leader, and Shayna Durmashkin. His sisters were Fania Durmashkin and Henia Durmashkin. He graduated from the Vilna Conservatory of Music and the Warsaw Conservatory. He produced and directed the opera ''

Aida ''Aida'' (or ''Aïda'', ) is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Antonio Ghislanzoni. Set in the Old Kingdom of Egypt, it was commissioned by Cairo's Khedivial Opera House and had its première there on 24 Decemb ...

'' in Hebrew. Wolf Durmashkin was appointed conductor of the Vilna Symphony in 1939 at the age of 25. He organized a symphony orchestra and a 100-voice Hebrew choir while incarcerated in the

Vilna Ghetto The Vilna Ghetto was a World War II Jewish ghetto established and operated by Nazi Germany in the city of Vilnius in the modern country of Lithuania, at the time part of the Nazi-administered Reichskommissariat Ostland. During the approximat ...

. The ghetto orchestra performed 35 chamber and symphonic concerts in the 15 months of its existence under his direction. In September 1943 when the

was liquidated, Wolf Durmashkin was taken to the Klooga, Estonia

concentration camp Internment is the imprisonment of people, commonly in large groups, without charges or intent to file charges. The term is especially used for the confinement "of enemy citizens in wartime or of terrorism suspects". Thus, while it can simpl ...

. He was murdered on September 18 or 19, 1944.

Wolf Durmashkin Composition Award

The Wolf Durmashkin Composition Award (WDCA) is an international composition contest, as well as a music- and composition award designed by the German cultural society ''dieKunstBauStelle'' in

Landsberg am Lech Landsberg am Lech (Landsberg at the Lech (river), Lech) is a Town#Germany, town in southwest Bavaria, Germany, about 65 kilometers west of Munich and 35 kilometers south of Augsburg. It is the capital of the district of Landsberg (district), Lands ...

. It is named after Wolf Durmashkin. The award was founded in 2018 by Karla Schönebeck and Wolfgang Hauck. The cause was the 70th anniversary of a concert played by Jewish Holocaust survivors from the DP-Orchestra in Landsberg am Lech on 10 May 1948. It was conducted by Leonard Bernstein.

Literature

* Herman Kruk, "The Last Days of the Jerusalem of Lithuania, Chronicles from the

and the Camps, 1939–1944, trans. By Barbara Harshav (New York:

YIVO Institute YIVO (Yiddish: , ) is an organization that preserves, studies, and teaches the cultural history of Jewish life throughout Eastern Europe, Germany, and Russia as well as orthography, lexicography, and other studies related to Yiddish. (The word '' ...

for Jewish Research, 2002) * Rachel Kostanian-Danzig, "Spiritual Resistance in the

(Vilna: Vilna Gaon Jewish State Museum), 112 * Cantore natan Stolnitz, " Akiva Durmashkin and His Influence on Liturgical Music in Old Radom", The Radomer Voice, April 1964

References

External links

Wolf Durmashkin
Music and holocaust
Wolf Durmashkin at geni

Wolf Durmashkin
Archive for Wolf Durmashkin
WDCA Wolf Durmashkin Composition Award
An international composition award named after Wolf Durmashkin. {{DEFAULTSORT:Durmashkin, Wolf 1914 births 1944 deaths Jewish composers Lithuanian Jews who died in the Holocaust Lithuanian composers Lithuanian male composers People who died in Vaivara concentration camp Vilna Ghetto inmates People executed by Nazi Germany occupation forces People executed in Nazi concentration camps Lithuanian people executed by Nazi Germany