Requiem for grandson of Hitler’s pianist

My recent article on Ernst Hanfstaengl, court composer and pianist to Hitler, and Harvard alumni, attracted a lot of readers. But the final paragraph left a mystery unsolved:

Peter Conradi's excellent life of Hanfstaengl (right) ends with his death. But there is a fascinating coda to this extraordinary story, where fact is often far stranger than fiction. On the penultimate page of Conradi's book the author writes: '(Hanfstaengl) took great pride in his grandchildren - especially Eynon, the eldest, who had inherited his grandfather's musical talent, taking an impressive twenty-fourth place in the prestigous Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow in June 1974.' The pianist career of the junior Hanfstaengl seem to have been obscured by the mists of time, and my researches found no further information on this. But tantalisingly my search found a German German film actor and writer called Eynon Hanfstaengl. One of his acting roles was Count Durkheim in the 1972 movie Ludwig - Requiem Fur einen jungfraulichen Konig. The film is a cinematic requiem for Wagner's patron Ludwig ll of Bavaria, and the music credits include excerpts from Furtwängler's Tristan, and Karajan's Siegfried and Gotterdammerung. Is this Ernst Hanfstaengl's grandson?

But now the mystery is solved, thanks to this email from On An Overgrown Path reader Marie-Françoise Bourgoin:

Bonjour, thanks for your interesting article on Peter Conradi's book. I had the opportunity to practise music with Eynon Hanfstaengl in the 70s, so I am able to give you some information. Yes, Eynon was Putzi's grandson and Egon's son. Although a very fine cellist (not a pianist), he turned to cinema and studied film making in Munich after making Werner Schroeter's acquaintance in the 80s. He played a small part in Der Tod der Maria Malibran, appeared in Syberberg's Ludwig, ein Requiem für einen jugfräulichen König, and wrote scenarios for TV. He committed suicide in 1987. Interestingly, Putzi also considered taking his life in the late 30s.
Regards Marie-Françoise Bourgoin, Révisor, Translation & Interpretation Section, Secretary of the Pacific Community (SPC). B.P. D5 - 98848 Nouméa Cedex (Nouvelle-Calédonie).

Now read how another Overgrown Path reader helped uncover the past of Karajan’s court photographer.
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Multicultural, multimedia, and banned

In 1925 New York bandleader Sam Wooding's all-black jazz revue Chocolate Kiddies toured to Berlin (photo above). Among the audience were composers Ernst Krenek and Kurt Weill. Krenek had studied in Vienna under Frank Schreker, and was married Gustav Mahler's daughter Anna for a short while. His compositions include an opera written to a libretto by the expressionist painter Oskar Kokoschka.

Chocolate Kiddies inspired Ernst Krenek (photo below) to write his jazz influenced opera Jonny Spielt Auf (Johnny Strikes Up) which was premiered in Leipzig in January 1927, and opened at the City Opera in Berlin ten months later. Jazz was anathema to the ascendant Nazi party due to its African-American origins, but despite this Jonny Spielt Auf achieved major success with audiences across Europe, and was translated into twelve languages. The Center for Jazz Arts describes the opera as having "jazz-infused harmonies, syncopations, and story-lines; an African-American jazz-artist hero (Jonny); interracial romantic story elements; innovative Expressionist and Bauhaus influenced stage sets; and an unconventional incorporation of modern technology into classical opera, such as telephones, radios, and automobiles."

When Jonny Spielt Auf was performed at the Metropolitan Opera in New York in 1928 the plot was altered so that the promiscuous black jazz band leader who gives the opera its title could be played by a white. But then in a bizarre twist the title role was actually sung by a 'blacked-up' white singer. This prompted the early civil rights activist James Weldon Johnson to say: 'We have in this country colored singers who could masterfully sing that role. I need only name Jules Bledsoe and Paul Robeson.'

Ernst Krenek's name was put on the Nazis' blacklist in 1933. He was based in Vienna until 1938 but was expelled after the Anschluss. He lived in the US until his death in 1991, although in the last decade of his life he spent summers at the Arnold Schönberg House in Mödling, near Vienna. The year after his death in Palm Springs Krenek's remains were transferred to an honorary grave in Vienna.

* The 1993 Decca recording of Jonny Spielt Auf, with Lothar Zagrosek conducting the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, is available through Amazon Germany. There are some brief audio extracts via this link. The slightly more idiomatic Vanguard recording (left) with the Wiener Staatsopernorchester and Lucia Popp is deleted, but is still available from Amazon resellers. Visit the Ernst Krenek Institute website via this link.

Now read more about contemporary music under the Third Reich in Furtwängler and the forgotten new music
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Childhood luggage

'In 1939 at the age of fifteen Gert Berliner travelled on a Kindertransport to Sweden. In his luggage was his toy monkey. Gert's parents Paul and Sophie remained in Berlin. They were deported to Auschwitz in 1943 and murdered there. A few days before the deportation they wrote one last time to their son: "Chin up, with God's help we will see each other again." The postcard that Gert wrote to his parents from Stockholm in 1944 was sent back.

Gert Berliner emigrated in 1947 from Sweden to the US. He became a painter, filmmaker and photographer.'

Caption from an exhibit at the Jewish Museum in Berlin. American architect Daniel Libeskind and the museum curators have created something so profoundly moving that it defies my words or pictures. All I can say is visit it if you possibly can.


The story of the flight of children from despotism in the 20th century is particularly relevant as Christmas approaches. Here is a brief history of Kindertransport, and a viewpoint on the Jewish tragedy, taken verbatim from the Kindertransport Association web site.

The Nazi persecution of Jews started in earnest on November 9, 1938, the "Kristallnacht" (Night of the Broken Glass), when mobs destroyed synagogues, smashed Jewish stores, and beat up and humiliated Jews.

Hitler did not originally plan to exterminate Jews: he only wanted that Germany be free of Jews. The tragedy was that no country was willing to take them in, even when it was widely known what fate awaited them. For this, the world at large bears the guilt, the U.S. being one of the worst offenders. Thus the real problem facing most Jews in Central Europe was to find a country which would let them in.

The British Jewish Refugee Committee appealed to certain members of Parliament, and a debate was held in the House of Commons. It was agreed to admit to England an unspecified number of children up to age 17. A 50 pound bond had to be posted for each child, "to assure their ultimate resettlement." The children were to travel in sealed trains.The first transport left barely six weeks after the Kristallnacht, the last, just two days before war broke out (September 3, 1939), which put an end to the program. Approximately 10,000 children had made the trip.

When the children arrived in England, some were taken in by foster families, some went to orphanages or group homes, while some worked on farms. They were distributed throughout Great Britain (England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland). Once there, they were at no more risk than the rest of the population. This was not inconsiderable since many towns were heavily bombed.

Mostly, the children were well-treated and grew up to develop close ties to their British hosts. A few were mistreated or abused. A number of the older children joined the British or Australian armed forces as soon as they reached 18, and joined the fight against the Nazis. Most of the children never saw their parents again. Of the 10,000, it is believed that 20-25% eventually made their way to the U.S. or Canada.

Web resources:
Kindertransport Associationthis link.
Jewish Museum Berlin
BBC Kindertransport page
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Take An Overgrown Path to The Year is '42 for a related story