Language German Signature Role Librettist Libretti Ball im Savoy | Nationality Austrian Name Fritz Lohner-Beda Education University of Vienna | |
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Born Bedrich Lowy
24 June 1883
Wildenschwert, Bohemia ( 1883-06-24 ) Occupation librettist, lyricist, writer Died December 4, 1942, Monowitz concentration camp Movies Victoria and Her Hussar, Ball at Savoy Similar People Paul Abraham, Hermann Leopoldi, Franz Lehar, Diana Damrau, Jerzy Petersburski | ||
Fritz Lohner-Beda (24 June 1883 – 4 December 1942), born Bedrich Lowy, was an Austrian librettist, lyricist and writer. Murdered in Auschwitz III Monowitz concentration camp and nearly forgotten, many of his songs and tunes remained popular up to today.
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Life
Lohner-Beda was born Bedrich Lowy in Wildenschwert, Bohemia (present-day Usti nad Orlici, Czech Republic) in 1883. In 1888, his family moved to Vienna, and in 1896 changed their surname to the less Jewish surname Lohner. Having passed his Matura exams, he began the study of law at the University of Vienna, where he became a member of the Jewish Kadimah student association. After he had obtained his doctorate, he worked as a lawyer from 1908 onwards. A dedicated football player, he was among the founders of the Hakoah Vienna sports club in 1909.
In 1910, Lohner-Beda decided upon a career as an author. He wrote numerous light satires, sketches, poems, and lyrics but also contributed to several newspapers, often under the pen name "Beda", a shortened version of his Czech first name, Bedrich (Frederick). In 1913, he met Franz Lehar, for whom he wrote the libretto of the 1916 operetta Der Sterngucker (The Stargazer). Two years later, in 1918, Lohner-Beda was called up for military service in World War I, which he left as an officer and a convinced antimilitarist.
In the 1920s, Lohner-Beda became one of the most sought-after librettists and lyricists in Vienna. Together with Lehar as composer, Ludwig Herzer as co-author, and Richard Tauber as singer, Lohner-Beda produced the operettas Friederike (Frederica, 1928), Das Land des Lachelns (The Land of Smiles, 1929), and, with Paul Knepler as co-author, Giuditta (1934). Together with his friend Alfred Grunwald as co-author and Paul Abraham as composer, Lohner-Beda produced Viktoria und ihr Husar (Victoria and Her Hussar, 1930), Die Blume von Hawaii (The Flower of Hawaii, 1931), and Ball im Savoy (Ball at the Savoy, 1932).
On April 1, 1938, almost immediately after the Anschluss (the Austrian annexation to Nazi Germany, in mid-March 1938), Fritz Lohner-Beda was arrested and deported to the Dachau concentration camp. On September 23, 1938, he was transferred to the Buchenwald concentration camp. There, together with his fellow prisoner Hermann Leopoldi at the end of 1938, he composed the famous anthem of the concentration camp, Das Buchenwaldlied ("The Buchenwald Song"):
The line wir wollen trotzdem Ja zum Leben sagen was adopted by the Holocaust survivor Viktor Frankl for the German title of his 1946 book Man's Search for Meaning.
Even though Lohner-Beda's name appeared in the Nazi Encyclopedia of Jews in Music in 1940, his songs and the Lehar operettas were still performed (but with no mention of their librettist). The circumstances surrounding Franz Lehar possibly attempting to intercede with the Nazis on Lohner-Beda's behalf are clouded. Supposedly after World War II Lehar denied any cognizance of Lohner-Beda's concentration-camp imprisonment, but one source states that Lehar may have tried personally to secure Hitler's guarantee of Lohner-Beda's safety.
On October 17, 1942, he was deported to the Monowitz concentration camp, near Auschwitz. The circumstances of his death are described in Raul Hilberg's The Destruction of the European Jews: during an inspection by several directors of the IG Farben syndicate around Otto Ambros, Fritz ter Meer, Carl Krauch, and Heinrich Butefisch, the already diseased Lohner-Beda was denounced as working not hard enough, for which he was beaten to death on December 4, 1942. A Kapo accused of the murder in the 1968 Frankfurt Auschwitz Trial was acquitted of the charge due to lack of evidence.
Famous songs
Among the most famous songs for which he wrote the lyrics are: