Michael Wieck
Encyclopedia
Michael Wieck is a German
violin
ist and author
. He was the first violinist of the Stuttgart
Radio Symphony Orchestra in 1974-93. In 1989 Wieck published a memoir, Zeugnis vom Untergang Königsbergs, in which he related his and his family's sufferings under the Nazis
and, after the German defeat, under the Soviet occupation
. This moving story has been translated into English
and Russian
.
in Prussia, the capital of East Prussia
. He is the son of two Königsberg musicians who were widely known before the Nazi era
, Kurt Wieck and Hedwig Wieck-Hulisch. They were founders of the popular Königsberger Streichquartett ("Königsberg String Quartet").
After consultation with a local rabbi his Jewish mother and his Protestant, but in religious matters indifferent, father had decided to bring up their children, Michael and his sister, Miriam (born 1925), as Jews and enrolled them with the Jewish congregation in Königsberg. According to the Halacha a person born from a Jewess, who is no outspoken apostate (e.g. convert to another religion), is Jewish by birth. This differs from the non-religious Nazi racist categorisations of half, quarter or smaller fractions of Jewishness or Aryan
ness, respectively, which are completely alien to Judaism. Following the 1935 Nuremberg Laws
(article 5, sentence 2) this caused Wieck and his sister not to be categorised as Mischling
e, but as Geltungsjude
n ("Jews by legal validity"). Their mother was categorised fully Jewish.
After Adolf Hitler
came to power in 1933 they experienced the gradual ramping up of anti-Semitic
discrimination and oppression. They were first ejected from public schools and sent to Jewish schools. They were later forbidden to attend classes at all, and Miriam was sent to a boarding school in Scotland in 1938 (Kindertransport
e), taking the place of another girl who had gone to the United States
.
Shortly thereafter, Michael Wieck was compelled to work in factories. In mid-1941 Wieck celebrated his Bar Mitzva in the small Orthodox synagogue Adass Jisroel (עדת ישראל) of Königsberg, the main Jewish place of worship, the New Synagogue, had been destroyed in the November Pogrom of 1938. During the pogrom perpetrators had vandalised the interior of the Orthodox synagogue hall, but spared it from arson because it was no separate structure but inbuilt in a building also used for residential purposes. Later on the congregation could restore a prayer hall in the building and used it until the few remaining German synagogues were prohibited to function. The Wiecks experienced the pain of parting from emigrating close Jewish siblings and friends throughout the Nazi era but most terribly when the government started systematic deportations of Jewish Germans and Gentile Germans of Jewish descent to ghettos and concentration camps in October 1941.
However, because Wieck's parents were a mixed marriage – Kurt Wieck had no known recent Jewish ancestors – they were spared from deportation and ultimately genocide
, unlike most members of Königsberg's Jewish community, the history of which dated back four centuries. Although the Wiecks experienced isolated acts of kindness from a few of their non-Jewish neighbours, they were tormented by others, and life became more and more difficult for them as the war dragged on.
In late August 1944 during World War II
, Königsberg was repeatedly fire-bombed by the Royal Air Force
, and much of the city's centre, including the medieval castle and the 14th century Königsberg Cathedral
, was destroyed, gutted, or heavily damaged. "The people of Königsberg shall never expunge these nights of terror from their memory," Wieck wrote.
When the Red Army
conquered Königsberg
on April 9, 1945, after a bitterly fought siege lasting nearly three months, the city had become a vast graveyard of rubble. Of the 316,000 people who had lived there before the war, perhaps 100,000 survived, and Wieck estimated that about half of these were to die of hunger, disease, or maltreatment before the last Germans were allowed to leave in 1949-50. The Soviet occupiers
declined to recognise the few surviving German Jews as victims of the Nazis, and initially treated all German speakers as enemies.
Wieck's incarceration in a Soviet prison camp
, and the story of how he and his parents barely managed to eke out an existence thereafter in Kaliningrad
, as the city was renamed on 4 July 1946, occupy the second half of his book. In 1949, they finally were allowed to "emigrate" to the Soviet Zone of occupation in truncated and divided Germany. Wieck left as fast as possible the Soviet zone and lived first in West Berlin
, where Gentile
paternal family had survived, then for seven years in New Zealand
, before he settled in Stuttgart
.
In his memoir, Wieck muses on human nature and speculates on ultimate causes and the nature of the deity. Although he retains a strong emotional attachment to Judaism, he ultimately espouses a kind of deism, alluding to "a definite feeling of something 'lying behind it all' that always resists being put into words." Regarding human nature and humankind’s potential for good and evil, he says:
In 2005, Wieck was awarded the Otto Hirsch Medaille – an annual honor given to persons who have served the cause of German-Jewish cooperation. The award commemorates Otto Hirsch (1885-1941), a German-Jewish lawyer and politician from Stuttgart who was imprisoned by the Nazis and ultimately tortured to death at Mauthausen Concentration Camp.
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
violin
Violin
The violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....
ist and author
Author
An author is broadly defined as "the person who originates or gives existence to anything" and that authorship determines responsibility for what is created. Narrowly defined, an author is the originator of any written work.-Legal significance:...
. He was the first violinist of the Stuttgart
Stuttgart
Stuttgart is the capital of the state of Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany. The sixth-largest city in Germany, Stuttgart has a population of 600,038 while the metropolitan area has a population of 5.3 million ....
Radio Symphony Orchestra in 1974-93. In 1989 Wieck published a memoir, Zeugnis vom Untergang Königsbergs, in which he related his and his family's sufferings under the Nazis
Nazism
Nazism, the common short form name of National Socialism was the ideology and practice of the Nazi Party and of Nazi Germany...
and, after the German defeat, under the Soviet occupation
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
. This moving story has been translated into English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
and Russian
Russian language
Russian is a Slavic language used primarily in Russia, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. It is an unofficial but widely spoken language in Ukraine, Moldova, Latvia, Turkmenistan and Estonia and, to a lesser extent, the other countries that were once constituent republics...
.
Biography
Wieck was born in KönigsbergKönigsberg
Königsberg was the capital of East Prussia from the Late Middle Ages until 1945 as well as the northernmost and easternmost German city with 286,666 inhabitants . Due to the multicultural society in and around the city, there are several local names for it...
in Prussia, the capital of East Prussia
East Prussia
East Prussia is the main part of the region of Prussia along the southeastern Baltic Coast from the 13th century to the end of World War II in May 1945. From 1772–1829 and 1878–1945, the Province of East Prussia was part of the German state of Prussia. The capital city was Königsberg.East Prussia...
. He is the son of two Königsberg musicians who were widely known before the Nazi era
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
, Kurt Wieck and Hedwig Wieck-Hulisch. They were founders of the popular Königsberger Streichquartett ("Königsberg String Quartet").
After consultation with a local rabbi his Jewish mother and his Protestant, but in religious matters indifferent, father had decided to bring up their children, Michael and his sister, Miriam (born 1925), as Jews and enrolled them with the Jewish congregation in Königsberg. According to the Halacha a person born from a Jewess, who is no outspoken apostate (e.g. convert to another religion), is Jewish by birth. This differs from the non-religious Nazi racist categorisations of half, quarter or smaller fractions of Jewishness or Aryan
Aryan
Aryan is an English language loanword derived from Sanskrit ārya and denoting variously*In scholarly usage:**Indo-Iranian languages *in dated usage:**the Indo-European languages more generally and their speakers...
ness, respectively, which are completely alien to Judaism. Following the 1935 Nuremberg Laws
Nuremberg Laws
The Nuremberg Laws of 1935 were antisemitic laws in Nazi Germany introduced at the annual Nuremberg Rally of the Nazi Party. After the takeover of power in 1933 by Hitler, Nazism became an official ideology incorporating scientific racism and antisemitism...
(article 5, sentence 2) this caused Wieck and his sister not to be categorised as Mischling
Mischling
Mischling was the German term used during the Third Reich to denote persons deemed to have only partial Aryan ancestry. The word has essentially the same origin as mestee in English, mestizo in Spanish and métis in French...
e, but as Geltungsjude
Geltungsjude
Geltungsjude was the term for persons that were considered Jews by the first supplementary decree to the Nuremberg Laws from November 14, 1935. The term wasn't used officially, but was coined because the persons were considered Jews rather than exactly belonging to any of the categories of the...
n ("Jews by legal validity"). Their mother was categorised fully Jewish.
After Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...
came to power in 1933 they experienced the gradual ramping up of anti-Semitic
Anti-Semitism
Antisemitism is suspicion of, hatred toward, or discrimination against Jews for reasons connected to their Jewish heritage. According to a 2005 U.S...
discrimination and oppression. They were first ejected from public schools and sent to Jewish schools. They were later forbidden to attend classes at all, and Miriam was sent to a boarding school in Scotland in 1938 (Kindertransport
Kindertransport
Kindertransport is the name given to the rescue mission that took place nine months prior to the outbreak of the Second World War. The United Kingdom took in nearly 10,000 predominantly Jewish children from Nazi Germany, Austria, Czechoslovakia, Poland and the Free City of Danzig...
e), taking the place of another girl who had gone to the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
.
Shortly thereafter, Michael Wieck was compelled to work in factories. In mid-1941 Wieck celebrated his Bar Mitzva in the small Orthodox synagogue Adass Jisroel (עדת ישראל) of Königsberg, the main Jewish place of worship, the New Synagogue, had been destroyed in the November Pogrom of 1938. During the pogrom perpetrators had vandalised the interior of the Orthodox synagogue hall, but spared it from arson because it was no separate structure but inbuilt in a building also used for residential purposes. Later on the congregation could restore a prayer hall in the building and used it until the few remaining German synagogues were prohibited to function. The Wiecks experienced the pain of parting from emigrating close Jewish siblings and friends throughout the Nazi era but most terribly when the government started systematic deportations of Jewish Germans and Gentile Germans of Jewish descent to ghettos and concentration camps in October 1941.
However, because Wieck's parents were a mixed marriage – Kurt Wieck had no known recent Jewish ancestors – they were spared from deportation and ultimately genocide
The Holocaust
The Holocaust , also known as the Shoah , was the genocide of approximately six million European Jews and millions of others during World War II, a programme of systematic state-sponsored murder by Nazi...
, unlike most members of Königsberg's Jewish community, the history of which dated back four centuries. Although the Wiecks experienced isolated acts of kindness from a few of their non-Jewish neighbours, they were tormented by others, and life became more and more difficult for them as the war dragged on.
In late August 1944 during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, Königsberg was repeatedly fire-bombed by the Royal Air Force
Royal Air Force
The Royal Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Formed on 1 April 1918, it is the oldest independent air force in the world...
, and much of the city's centre, including the medieval castle and the 14th century Königsberg Cathedral
Königsberg Cathedral
Königsberg Cathedral is a Brick Gothic style building in Kaliningrad on an island in the Pregel . The island was called Kneiphof in German times.-14th Century to World War II:...
, was destroyed, gutted, or heavily damaged. "The people of Königsberg shall never expunge these nights of terror from their memory," Wieck wrote.
When the Red Army
Red Army
The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army started out as the Soviet Union's revolutionary communist combat groups during the Russian Civil War of 1918-1922. It grew into the national army of the Soviet Union. By the 1930s the Red Army was among the largest armies in history.The "Red Army" name refers to...
conquered Königsberg
Battle of Königsberg
The Battle of Königsberg , was one of the last operations of the East Prussian Offensive during World War II. In four days of violent urban warfare, Soviet forces of the 1st Baltic Front and the 3rd Belorussian Front captured the city of Königsberg...
on April 9, 1945, after a bitterly fought siege lasting nearly three months, the city had become a vast graveyard of rubble. Of the 316,000 people who had lived there before the war, perhaps 100,000 survived, and Wieck estimated that about half of these were to die of hunger, disease, or maltreatment before the last Germans were allowed to leave in 1949-50. The Soviet occupiers
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
declined to recognise the few surviving German Jews as victims of the Nazis, and initially treated all German speakers as enemies.
Wieck's incarceration in a Soviet prison camp
Gulag
The Gulag was the government agency that administered the main Soviet forced labor camp systems. While the camps housed a wide range of convicts, from petty criminals to political prisoners, large numbers were convicted by simplified procedures, such as NKVD troikas and other instruments of...
, and the story of how he and his parents barely managed to eke out an existence thereafter in Kaliningrad
Kaliningrad
Kaliningrad is a seaport and the administrative center of Kaliningrad Oblast, the Russian exclave between Poland and Lithuania on the Baltic Sea...
, as the city was renamed on 4 July 1946, occupy the second half of his book. In 1949, they finally were allowed to "emigrate" to the Soviet Zone of occupation in truncated and divided Germany. Wieck left as fast as possible the Soviet zone and lived first in West Berlin
West Berlin
West Berlin was a political exclave that existed between 1949 and 1990. It comprised the western regions of Berlin, which were bordered by East Berlin and parts of East Germany. West Berlin consisted of the American, British, and French occupation sectors, which had been established in 1945...
, where Gentile
Gentile
The term Gentile refers to non-Israelite peoples or nations in English translations of the Bible....
paternal family had survived, then for seven years in New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
, before he settled in Stuttgart
Stuttgart
Stuttgart is the capital of the state of Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany. The sixth-largest city in Germany, Stuttgart has a population of 600,038 while the metropolitan area has a population of 5.3 million ....
.
In his memoir, Wieck muses on human nature and speculates on ultimate causes and the nature of the deity. Although he retains a strong emotional attachment to Judaism, he ultimately espouses a kind of deism, alluding to "a definite feeling of something 'lying behind it all' that always resists being put into words." Regarding human nature and humankind’s potential for good and evil, he says:
In 2005, Wieck was awarded the Otto Hirsch Medaille – an annual honor given to persons who have served the cause of German-Jewish cooperation. The award commemorates Otto Hirsch (1885-1941), a German-Jewish lawyer and politician from Stuttgart who was imprisoned by the Nazis and ultimately tortured to death at Mauthausen Concentration Camp.