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The Livnat Brothers in Prague:
A Revival for "Holčička"
 The
Livnat brothers are presenting their new version for "Holčička"
which was a song of the Prague band "Zlatá Hvežda" and marked the
beginning of their success. The song won the first prize in a
competition of the so called trampists in 1935.
The group's Jewish lead singer was Leo Steiner. Steiner was born in
Jihlava in 1912. His father was killed in action during the first
days of World war I. Leo was raised by his mother, grandmother and
his older sister Greta. Leo later moved to Prague and worked in a
big drapery store.
With the German occupation the star of the "Zlatá Hvežda" began to
sink. In November 1941 Leo Steiner was arrested. He had transferred
cloth ration cards to those who couldn't get some because of the
Nazi restrictions. For the German occupiers this was reason enough
to convict him to death. Leo was executed in Dresden at the 24th of
February 1942.
His daughter Jirina was born only one month before. She and Leos
wife Hanna were deported in autumn 1942 to Theresienstadt and in the
following winter to Auschwitz, where they where forced straight into
the gas chambers.
The only surviving member of Leo's family was his sister Greta.
Through Theresienstadt, Auschwitz and Neuengamme, she came to Bergen
Belsen where she was liberated by the British troops. After her
return to Prague she saved some of the records, photos and sheet
music of her brother. Greta died in 1995 aged 85.
Leo loved to sing and entertain. Something that could not be taken
from him until the end. As he wrote in his last letter from the
prison in Dresden:
"I'm singing here for the companions and the Mighty one gives my
great, almost admirable strength. We even laugh together. The
companions tell me that I sing beautiful, but I know that in eight
hours I will hear even more beautiful singing, the singing of angels,
and the singing of the Lord."
June 18th, 7 p.m., Wallstein Garden, Prague,
Mala Strana
'Di goldene pave' proyekt
Prag 1935:
Mit
Holcicka fing es an
Das Hinausfahren aufs Land, am besten mit einem
Motorrad mit Beifahrerwagen, war in der ersten tschechoslowakischen
Republik der absolute Renner. Als Begleitmusik waren sogenannte
"Trampisten-Bands" angesagt, die noch vom "Picknick im Grünen"
sangen, als sich im Deutschen Reich der Himmel längst verfinstert
hatte... |
