Hermann Leopoldi

Hermann Leopoldi (born Hersch Kohn; 15 August 1888 – 28 June 1959) was an Austrian composer and cabaret star who survived Buchenwald. Einzi Stolz, wife of composer Robert Stolz, remembered him thus:

Hermann Leopoldi was born in Vienna and was taught the piano by his father, a musician called Leopold Leopoldi (born Kohn; the family officially changed its name to Leopoldi in 1911) who also sought employment for him: Leopoldi's first jobs were as an accompanist and bar pianist. He married in 1911 and served in the First World War, establishing himself as a forces entertainer. His first major appearance was in the Viennese cabaret Ronacher in 1916. By 1922 he and his brother were well enough known to open their own cabaret, Kabarett Leopoldi-Wiesenthal, which developed a reputation as a centre for such later celebrated performers as Hans Moser, Szöke Szakall, Max Hansen, Fritz Grünbaum, Karl Valentin, Raoul Aslan and Otto Tressler. After its closure in 1925 Leopoldi toured, appearing in Berlin, Paris, Budapest, Bukarest, Prague and Switzerland as well as Vienna.

Leopoldi wrote the music for some of the most famous ‘’Wienerlieder’’ (songs about Vienna), setting words by Peter Herz and Fritz Löhner-Beda among others. Following the arrival of the Nazis in Austria on 11 March 1938 – the so-called Anschluss – Leopoldi and his wife attempted to flee from Vienna by train but the border to Czechoslovakia had already been closed. On 26 April 1938 Leopoldi, by now already set to travel to appear in the United States, was arrested and transported first to Dachau and then Buchenwald.

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