Hermann Schramm
Encyclopedia
Hermann Schramm was a German tenor who sang at the Frankfurt Opera in the 1920s and made several recordings for HMV Germany.
Although he was Jewish he escaped the deportation and subsequent fate of his colleagues at the Frankfurt Opera, Richard Breitenfeld
, Magda Spiegel
, bass Hans Erl
and violinist Moses Slager, since he was married to an "Aryan" wife, and his children had been raised as Christians. Hans Meissner, head of the opera, intervened personally for Schramm with the mayor in 1933 when Erl and others had to be dismissed from the opera. A chance anecdote reveals Schramm, then 72, as a witness in the 1950 trial of low-ranking Gestapo officer Heinrich Baab who scoured the streets of Frankfurt after 1940 looking for Jews. Schramm was witness to the arrest of a Jewish woman caught with a tramway ticket in her handbag - evidence of her using public transport. Schramm attempted to intervene and was repeatedly struck in the face by Baab, but not himself arrested.
Although he was Jewish he escaped the deportation and subsequent fate of his colleagues at the Frankfurt Opera, Richard Breitenfeld
Richard Breitenfeld
Richard Breitenfeld was a German baritone who was a member of the Frankfurt Opera ensemble and was murdered in the Theresienstadt concentration camp....
, Magda Spiegel
Magda Spiegel
Magda Spiegel was a German contralto who was a member of the Frankfurt Opera ensemble and was murdered in the Auschwitz concentration camp...
, bass Hans Erl
Hans Erl
Hans Tobias Erl was a German operatic bass.-Professional career:He began his actual career in the theatre during the 1908-1909 season at the Raimund-Theater in Vienna, after already having sung in the world premiere performance of Oscar Straus' operetta Die lustigen Nibelungen at the Wiener...
and violinist Moses Slager, since he was married to an "Aryan" wife, and his children had been raised as Christians. Hans Meissner, head of the opera, intervened personally for Schramm with the mayor in 1933 when Erl and others had to be dismissed from the opera. A chance anecdote reveals Schramm, then 72, as a witness in the 1950 trial of low-ranking Gestapo officer Heinrich Baab who scoured the streets of Frankfurt after 1940 looking for Jews. Schramm was witness to the arrest of a Jewish woman caught with a tramway ticket in her handbag - evidence of her using public transport. Schramm attempted to intervene and was repeatedly struck in the face by Baab, but not himself arrested.
Recordings
- Schubert; "Ein Jüngling liebt ein Mädchen"
- Johann StraussJohann Strauss IIJohann Strauss II , also known as Johann Baptist Strauss or Johann Strauss, Jr., the Younger, or the Son , was an Austrian composer of light music, particularly dance music and operettas. He composed over 500 waltzes, polkas, quadrilles, and other types of dance music, as well as several operettas...
; duet from Der Zigeunerbaron "Wer uns getraut," with Carl Reich - LoeweLOEWELoewe can stand for* Löwe Automobil, a German automotive part manufacturer, also referred to as Lowe Automobile, and Löwe Automobil;* Loewe AG, a German electronics manufacturer;* Loewe, a Spanish luxury brand;...
; ballad "Glockentürmers Töchterlein" with Carl Reich