Today we're sharing an inspiring video clip from Orchestra of Exiles, a documentary shown on PBS that is now available for rental from Netflix. This documentary focuses on Polish violinist Bronislaw Huberman, who rescued hundreds of Jews from the Holocaust and founded the Palestine Symphony, the globally renowned orchestra that would eventually become the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra.
The Palestine Symphony Orchestra was made up of Jewish musicians from the top ranks of orchestra and chamber music groups across Europe. Nearly 80 musicians joined, with only a few already living in Palestine. Those who moved from Europe brought their families, which meant Bronislaw Huberman’s efforts to found the orchestra under the threat of a pending Holocaust ultimately saved nearly 1,000 lives.
It was not an easy decision for musicians to leave their homes and professional associations in Europe and move to Palestine, a desert land in political transition since the end of World War I. But particularly in Germany, Jewish musicians had lost positions in orchestras because of their ethnicity. As early as 1933, Hitler ordered the firing of Jewish musicians and his anti-Semitic policies increasingly became laws that stripped Jews of their civil rights.
(A SPECIAL NOTE FOR NEW EMAIL SUBSCRIBERS: THE VIDEO MAY NOT BE VIEWABLE DIRECTLY FROM THE EMAIL THAT YOU GET EACH DAY ON SOME COMPUTERS AND TABLETS. YOU MUST CLICK ON THE TITLE AT THE TOP OF THE EMAIL TO REACH THE JEWISH HUMOR CENTRAL WEBSITE, FROM WHICH YOU CLICK ON THE PLAY BUTTON IN THE VIDEO IMAGE TO START THE VIDEO.)
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Thank you so much for sharing this important part of our history with us.
ReplyDeleteI hope all Israeli children know this chapter of our history.
ReplyDeleteGreat story, well told!
ReplyDeleteHow wonderful. Thank you so much.
ReplyDeletegreat story
ReplyDeleteAgainst all odds, Israel will continue growing and continue gathering all her children from the 4corners of the earth..No one can stop Her, Adonai Tzevaot is sustaining her with His Righteous right hand and fighting for her "until Jerusalem is the praise of all the earth" and Hashem establishes His Universal Kingdom there! In the meantime we continue singing with hope in our hearts!
ReplyDeleteAgainst all odds, Israel will continue growing and continue gathering all her children from the 4corners of the earth..No one can stop Her, Adonai Tzevaot is sustaining her with His Righteous right hand and fighting for her "until Jerusalem is the praise of all the earth" and Hashem establishes His Universal Kingdom there! In the meantime we continue singing with hope in our hearts!
ReplyDeleteJoseph Samson DE GROEN from The Netherlands (1st bassoonist) played at the openingsconcert in 1936. In june 1937 his cousin the bassoonist: Louis SALOMONS (at the age of 16 years) also from The Netherlands joined this orchestra. The cousins returned to The Netherlands in 1938 and survived WW2 by hiding in Amsterdam. In 1946 Louis Salomons emigrated to Cuba en later went to Mexico-city. Jos De Groen emigrated in 1948 to Johannesburg, South Africa.
ReplyDeleteMy clarinet teacher!
ReplyDelete