Erhard Wechselmann
Erhard Eduard Wechselmann (1895–1943) was a German baritone who was murdered in Auschwitz concentration camp.[1] Wechselmann was born in Eastern-Europe but migrated to The Hague, the Netherlands, where he was chazan in the Synagoge. He was also vocal teacher of Dutch Jiddish singer Lin Jaldati, who wrote also about him in the autobiography she published together with her husband Eberhard Rebling in 1986 in the German Democratic Republic, Sag nie, du gehst den letzten Weg. Dutch translation: Lied van verzet (Song of resistance), 2024. Jaldati, Rebling and Wechselmann also gave a concert together.[2] According to a Dutch source, Wechselmann was murdered in Sobibor. [3]
According to Peter Hugh Reed writing in American Record Guide, 1949, he also sang with the Metropolitan Opera in 1890.[4] Under the Nazi regime, Wechselmann performed for Jewish audiences, on at least one occasion with the contralto Ottilie Metzger-Lattermann who was also to perish in Auschwitz.[5][6]
References
[edit]- ^ F. C. DeCoste, Bernard Schwartz The Holocaust's ghost: writings on art, politics, law, and education p80 2000 "One was baritone Erhard E. Wechselmann, who had also fled Germany for Amsterdam, where for awhile he served as cantor for the Jewish congregation. Others who died in Auschwitz, often via Holland and Terezin, were Alfred Kropf, a conductor from Stettin; Magda Spiegel, a Frankfurt contralto; and composer James Simon, a student of Max Bruch."
- ^ "File:Joodse kunst.jpg - Wikipedia". en.wikipedia.org. Retrieved 2025-06-15.
- ^ "Erhard Eduard Wechselmann". www.joodsmonument.nl. Retrieved 2025-06-15.
- ^ Peter Hugh Reed, American Record Guide, No. 16, 1949. Quote: "Official confirmation has at last come through informing us that this grand old singer, a fine baritone, who sang with the Metropolitan Company in 1890, died in a Jewish camp in Poland in 1943. The exact day of his death has not been ascertained."
- ^ Jüdisches Musik- und Theaterleben unter dem NS-Staat Stephan Stompor, Andor Izsák, Susanne Borchers - 2001 "Zwei Wochen danach gab Ottilie Metzger-Lattermann mit dem Bariton Erhard Wechselmann einen Lieder- und Duette-Abend."
- ^ Dinah Shelton Encyclopedia of Genocide and Crimes Against Humanity 2 2005 "However, among them are: the baritone and cantor Erhard E. Wechselmann, murdered in Auschwitz; the contralto Magda Spiegel, murdered in Auschwitz; Richard Breitenfeld, a member of the Frankfurt opera ensemble, murdered in Theresienstadt"
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