1904 - 1942

His first vocal training was as a classic Hebrew singer in the local synagogue in Cernowitz.
At twenty he was sent to Berlin where he studied both piano and voice with Frau Dr. Jaffe and Professor Hermann Weissenborn. He was conscripted for military service from 1926 till 1929 and after his discharge he accepted a position as cantor at the synagogue in Cernowitz.

With an engagement for a German radio broadcast began his successful international career.
His popularity was so great that he even took part in several very successul musicals, e.g. "Ein Lied geht um die Welt (33) with Viktor de Kowa and "Heut' ist der schönste Tag in meinem Leben" (36).
His comet-like rise clashed with the rise of the Nazis. They were taking control of the Government and instituting cultural bans on Jewish artists, writers and performers. Now Joseph Schmidt was confronted with a hostile surrounding.

The days that came with the Nazis was everything else than pleasant. As a Jew he had already to escape from the Nazis in 1933 and flee to Vienna. There he could stay for the next five years but then the Nazis caught up with. He escaped again, this time to Bruxelles and 1940 to France. As war erupted he tried to make his way to the USA but his effort failed. Finally he didn't have any other chance than to enter Switzerland illegal after they also refused his legal entry.

He could manage to hide in Zurich for a week and later on he was sent to the internment camp Girenbad (it was the last station of his life). There he waited under catastrophic circumstances for the asylum decree together with 350 other Jews.
The prisoners were harassed, along with adverse circumstances, by a "bastard" of camp leader - as Joseph Schmidt described him in one of his last letters. Among other things he demanded that all prisoners had to line up outside of the hut - in the night, dressed in pajamas and snow on the ground. 
It was a question of time till Joseph Schmidt caught a cold and heart trouble.He suffered a first heart attack and was taken to the camp infirmary. He was quickly released, his complaints interpreted as excuses to escape the hard work of the camp. Forced to return to ditch digging he soon succumbed to a second heart attack and died.

On the 16th November 1942 the heart of Joseph Schmidt knocked off beating, a wonderful voice became silent for ever.
 

Other movies with Joseph Schmidt:
Der Liebesexpress/Acht Tage Glück (31) Goethe lebt...! (32) Gehetzte Menschen/Steckbrief Z (32) Wenn du jung bist, gehört dir die Welt (34) Ein Stern fällt vom Himmel (34)