Albrecht Dümling – författare

“Albrecht Dümling’s rich documentation of this groundbreaking Berlin jazz band with its sensational show power is both a moving testament to the impudent creativity of youth and a warning against timeless strains of bigotry and terror.” — Alan Lareau, Professor Emeritus of German, University of Wisconsin–Oshkosh, USA Founded in Berlin in 1924 by the pianist and drummer Stefan Weintraub, the Weintraubs Syncopators were Germany’s most popular jazz band until 1933. They enjoyed success on concert and variety stages, in theatre and film, and in recordings, and were painted by Max Oppenheimer. Forced into exile by the Nazis’ seizure of power, the group, consisting mainly of Jewish musicians, was initially able to continue to perform under difficult conditions in Europe, the Soviet Union and Japan, before temporarily finding a new home in Australia in 1937. The Second World War and internment ended their career. This comprehensive book on the subject, published for the first time in English, traces the fascinating artistic development and moving lives of the Weintraubs Syncopators. The accompanying website brings the versatile art of this jazz band to life in annotated audio and video files.

About 9,000 Jewish refugees from Nazi Germany settled in Australia between 1933 and 1945, a small fraction of the hundreds of thousands who fled. Although initially greeted with a mixed reception as «enemy aliens», some of these refugees remained and made a significant impact on multicultural Australia. This book traces the difficult journey of the orchestral performers, virtuoso soloists, singers, conductors and composers who sought refuge on a distant continent. A few were famous artists who toured Australia and stayed, most notably the piano virtuoso Jascha Spivakovsky and the members of the Weintraubs Syncopators, one of the most successful jazz bands of the Weimar Republic. Drawing on extensive primary sources – including correspondence, travel documents and interviews with the refugees themselves or their descendants – the author depicts in vivid detail the lives of nearly a hundred displaced musicians. Available for the first time in English, this volume brings to light a wealth of Jewish, exilic and musical history that was hitherto unknown.

Als nach 1933 viele Musiker vom NS-Regime aus Deutschland und Österreich vertrieben wurden, führte die Flucht manche bis ins ferne Australien. Hier mussten sie sich eine neue Existenz aufbauen. Während es einigen wenigen gelang, die Musikkultur ihrer neuen Heimat entscheidend mit zu prägen, wurden andere als »feindliche Ausländer« interniert und oft zum Wechsel des Berufs gedrängt. So verschwanden sie auf doppelte Weise und fielen nicht selten dem Vergessen anheim. Das Buch ist das Ergebnis einer jahrelangen Spurensuche in Archiven. Es lebt aber ebenso von den Erkenntnissen aus zahllosen Gesprächen mit Überlebenden und Zeitzeugen. Damit gelingt es Albrecht Dümling, ein neues, bisher kaum beachtetes Kapitel der Kulturgeschichte des Exils aufzuschlagen. Das Buch legt Zeugnis ab vom persönlichen Mut der verschwundenen Musiker und von ihrem Überlebenswillen und Pioniergeist vor dem Hintergrund der rassischen, poli­tischen oder religiösen Verfolgung durch das Dritte Reich.