Heinz Alt (19226 January 1945) was a German

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 Defi ...

and one of the

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

victims of Nazi regime.

Biography

Few facts are known about Alt, who worked in

Theresienstadt concentration camp Theresienstadt Ghetto was established by the Schutzstaffel, SS during World War II in the fortress town of Terezín, in the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia (German occupation of Czechoslovakia, German-occupied Czechoslovakia). Theresienstad ...

together with

Victor Ullmann Viktor Ullmann (1 January 1898, in Český Těšín, Teschen – 18 October 1944, in KZ Auschwitz-Birkenau) was a Silesia-born Austrians, Austrian composer, conductor and pianist. Biography Viktor Ullmann was born on 1 January 1898 in Český ...

Gideon Klein Gideon Klein (6 December 1919 – c. January 1945) was a Czechoslovakia, Czechoslovakian pianist, european classical music, classical music composer, educator and organizer of cultural life at Theresienstadt concentration camp. Life Klein was bor ...

, Pavel Haas,

Hans Krása Hans Krása (30 November 1899 – 17 October 1944) was a Czech composer, murdered during the Holocaust at Auschwitz. He helped to organize cultural life in Theresienstadt concentration camp. Life Hans Krása was born in Prague, the son of Anna ...

and others. In June 1943, he arrived at Theresienstadt from

Ostrava Ostrava (; pl, Ostrawa; german: Ostrau ) is a city in the north-east of the Czech Republic, and the capital of the Moravian-Silesian Region. It has about 280,000 inhabitants. It lies from the border with Poland, at the confluences of four rive ...

. His participation in the musical culture there comes from his "Six Miniatures for the Piano" in the second of the Studio for New Music concerts under the direction of Victor Ullman. It is also known that he composed an accompaniment to Smetana's "The Bohemian Song" which was written for the 60th anniversary of Smetana's death in 1944. In September 1944, Alt was deported to

Auschwitz Auschwitz concentration camp ( (); also or ) was a complex of over 40 concentration and extermination camps operated by Nazi Germany in occupied Poland (in a portion annexed into Germany in 1939) during World War II and the Holocaust. It con ...

and briefly after that to

Dachau , , commandant = List of commandants , known for = , location = Upper Bavaria, Southern Germany , built by = Germany , operated by = ''Schutzstaffel'' (SS) , original use = Political prison , construction ...

, where he died on January 6, 1945.

References

Sources

* Jascha Nemtsov, Beate Schroder-Nauenburg: "Musik im Inferno des Nazi-Terrors: Jüdische Komponisten im 'Dritten Reich'", en: ''Acta Musicologica'', Vol. 70, Fasc. 1 (enero-junio de 1998), 1922 births 1945 deaths German people who died in Auschwitz concentration camp German male composers Theresienstadt Ghetto prisoners German Jews who died in the Holocaust 20th-century German composers 20th-century German male musicians {{germany-composer-stub