Tango of Death (orchestra)
Tango of Death was a Jewish orchestra in the Janowska concentration camp.
Tango of death | |
|---|---|
 Photo of the orchestra, which was used to illustrate Nazi crimes at the Nuremberg trials | |
| Background information | |
| Years active | 1941 — 1944 |
| Past members | Jacob Mund, Leon Strix, Jozef German, and others |
History
In Lviv, which was seized at the end of June 1941, shortly after the Lviv pogrom carried out at the beginning of July, the "Jewish Worker Camp", later known as the Janowska concentration camp, began to form under the leadership of the German administration by the Ukrainian auxiliary police, formed from the Marŝogrupoj de OUN. The initiator of the compulsory organization of musicians-prisoners in the orchestra was the deputy commandant of the Janowska camp, SS-Untersturmführer Richard Rokita, who before the war was a violinist in Katowice cafeterias, and was noted for exceptional sadistic inclinations.
The orchestra consisted of the best Lviv musicians, people with a European or even a world name — Jewish prisoners of the camp. The violinist, composer, conductor Jacob Mund, who before the war held the position of musical director of city theaters, was appointed the head of the orchestra.[1] Among the orchestra students were famous musicians Leon Shtriks and Josef German. During the executions of prisoners, the orchestra performed a tango whose author was unknown, during the torture performed a foxtrot, and often played for several hours in a row under the window of the head of the concentration camp.
Shortly before the liberation of Lviv, during the performance of this tango, all orchestra musicians were shot. Subsequently, a sonderkommando was formed, which was engaged in concealing the crimes of the nazis.
Literature
- Baranovsky, Mikhail (2020). Tango of Death. A True Story of Holocaust Survivors: Historical Book for Adults and Teens. ISBN 979-8620147014