Artur (Arthur) Gold (born 17 March 1897,

Warsaw Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is officiall ...

, died 1943 in

Treblinka Treblinka () was an extermination camp, built and operated by Nazi Germany in occupied Poland during World War II. It was in a forest north-east of Warsaw, south of the village of Treblinka in what is now the Masovian Voivodeship. The cam ...

) was a

Polish Jewish The history of the Jews in Poland dates back at least 1,000 years. For centuries, Poland was home to the largest and most significant Ashkenazi Jewish community in the world. Poland was a principal center of Jewish culture, because of the lon ...

violin The violin, sometimes known as a '' fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone ( string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument ( soprano) in the family in regu ...

ist and dance-music

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and Def ...

during the Interbellum. He closely collaborated with his brother Henryk Gold and with

Jerzy Petersburski Jerzy Petersburski (1895–1979) was a Jewish Polish pianist and composer of popular music, renowned mostly for his Tangos, some of which (such as '' To ostatnia niedziela'', ''Już nigdy'' and ''Tango Milonga'') were milestones in popularizat ...

with whom he arranged music for his famous ensembles; they were among the most popular composers in interwar Poland and many of their hits were sung throughout the whole country. Gold ran an orchestra in the "Qui Pro Quo" theater (1922) and in the Warsaw "Adria" night club (1931–1939).

Life

Artur Gold was the second son of Michał Gold, a musician in the Warsaw Opera; when Michał died an uncle took Artur to England, where he received his musical education.Isaschar Fater, ''Jewish Music in Poland Between the Two World Wars'', 1970. He later returned to Warsaw and played there for various venues including nightclubs. Some of his noted compositions were the

foxtrot The foxtrot is a smooth, progressive dance characterized by long, continuous flowing movements across the dance floor. It is danced to big band (usually vocal) music. The dance is similar in its look to waltz, although the rhythm is in a tim ...

''Gdy Petersburski razem z Goldem gra'' ("When Petersburski and Gold play together") (1926), the

tango Tango is a partner dance and social dance that originated in the 1880s along the Río de la Plata, the natural border between Argentina and Uruguay. The tango was born in the impoverished port areas of these countries as the result of a combina ...

''Gdy w ogrodzie botanicznym'' ("While in the botanical garden"), ''Jesienne róże'' ("Autumn roses"), ''Nie odchodź ode mnie'' (Don't walk away from me), ''Nie wierzę ci'' ("I don't trust you'"), ''Jaśminy'' (Jasmine), ''Kwiaciarka z Barcelony'' (Flower girl from Barcelona), ''Oczy czarne'' (Black Eyes), ''Ostatni jeszcze,'' and others. Most of the lyrics were by Andrzej Włast. Artur Gold also performed with English orchestras in the 1920s and recorded for

Columbia records Columbia Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the North American division of Japanese conglomerate Sony. It was founded on January 15, 1889, evolving from the A ...

. In the 1930s he also recorded several albums for the Polish "Odeon" record company.

Treblinka extermination camp

After the German and Soviet invasion on Poland in September 1939, Artur Gold was forced into the newly created

Warsaw Ghetto The Warsaw Ghetto (german: Warschauer Ghetto, officially , "Jewish Residential District in Warsaw"; pl, getto warszawskie) was the largest of the Nazi ghettos during World War II and the Holocaust. It was established in November 1940 by the G ...

, in which he played with an orchestra. He was deported by the Germans with thousands of fellow inmates who boarded the

Holocaust train Holocaust trains were railway transports run by the ''Deutsche Reichsbahn'' national railway system under the control of Nazi Germany and its allies, for the purpose of forcible deportation of the Jews, as well as other victims of the Holoc ...

s at the

Umschlagplatz ''Umschlagplatz'' (german: collection point or reloading point) was the term used during The Holocaust to denote the holding areas adjacent to railway stations in occupied Poland where Jews from ghettos were assembled for deportation to Nazi ...

in Warsaw, destined for the

gas chamber A gas chamber is an apparatus for killing humans or other animals with gas, consisting of a sealed chamber into which a poisonous or asphyxiant gas is introduced. Poisonous agents used include hydrogen cyanide and carbon monoxide. History ...

s of German

Treblinka extermination camp Treblinka () was an extermination camp, built and operated by Nazi Germany in occupied Poland during World War II. It was in a forest north-east of Warsaw, south of the village of Treblinka in what is now the Masovian Voivodeship. The camp ...

. He was not killed upon arrival there in 1942. He played for the Nazis in their casino, at least on one occasion dressed as a clown.Monica Whitlock
Warsaw Ghetto: The story of its secret archive.
BBC News Online. He was murdered in 1943 in Treblinka. According to recollections of some of the Treblinka survivors Gold might have been killed during the uprising at Treblinka which occurred on 2 August 1943. The melody of his song ''Chodź na Pragę (Come to Praga)'' (1930) is currently played as a

Hejnał St. Mary's Trumpet Call ( Polish: ''Hejnał mariacki''; Polish pronunciation: , derived from the Hungarian expression ''Szűz Mária hajnala'' meaning " Saint Mary's dawn") is a traditional, five-note Polish bugle call closely bound to the histo ...

of the Warsaw borough of

Praga Praga is a district of Warsaw, Poland. It is on the east bank of the river Vistula. First mentioned in 1432, until 1791 it formed a separate town with its own city charter. History The historical Praga was a small settlement located at ...

, each day at noon.

References

External links

Music and the Holocaust

* [https://polona.pl/search/?query=Artur_Gold&filters=creator:%22Gold,_Artur_(1897--1942)%22,creator:%22Gold,_Artur_(1897--1942)_Kompozytor%22,creator:%22Gold,_Artur_(1897--1943)%22,creator:%22Gold,_Artur_(1897--1942)_Kompozytor_%22,creator:%22Gold,_Artur__(1897--1942)%22,public:1,hasTextContent:0 Scores by Artur Gold] in digital library Polona {{DEFAULTSORT:Gold, Artur 1897 births 1943 deaths Jewish cabaret performers Polish composers Polish violinists Male violinists Polish cabaret performers Warsaw Ghetto inmates Musicians from Warsaw Jewish composers Jewish songwriters Jewish violinists Polish civilians killed in World War II Polish people who died in Treblinka extermination camp 20th-century violinists 20th-century comedians 20th-century male musicians