From Buchenwald to Hollywood, The Robert Clary Story : The Documentary (Extended Version) • 20250419 • A film by Karen and Richard Bloom and Michel van der Burg
Today 80 years ago , April 19, 1945 – the Buchenwald band ‘Rhythmus’ – with Jiří Žák & Robert Clary – gave a jazz concert in the Nazi concentration camp Buchenwald for their comrades and US soldiers that liberated the camp .
We , today, present the extended version of our Robert Clary documentary, now featuring also Robert Clary’s desire that Jiří Žák be nominated as a Righteous Among the Nations at Yad Vashem…
From the old forest They dragged the night, And the wind danced in your hair.
Your fingers die in the evening, Already in your sky the stars wander.
From “Far-away-from-love” they dragged the night.
My shadow dances in your dream.
Yves Darriet (Pseudonym Jean Roland)
Berceuse by Yves Darriet , from Anthologie des poèmes de Buchenwald , collected by André Verdet in Buchenwald (Ref 1), in a 2013 German translation by Wulf Kirsten and Annette Seemann : Wiegenlied (Ref 2).
Wiegenlied – Reading by Susanne Marie Wrage — an actor with a background in Documentary theater – in the June 2013 Passage – Lyrik aktuell broadcast by Radio SRF 2 Kultur (Ref 3, 4) .
Berceuse
De la vieille forêt Ils ont portè la nuit, Et le vent a dansé dans tes cheveux.
Tes doigts meurent au soir, Dans ton ciel déjà Les ètoiles cheminent.
De plus loin que l’amour Ils ont porté la nuit.
Mon ombre danse dans ton rêve.
Wiegenlied
Aus dem alten Wald Schleppten sie die Nacht her, Und der Wind tanzte in deinem Haar.
Deine Finger sterben am Abend, Schon in deinem Himmel Wandern die Sterne.
Von «Weit-weg-von-der-Liebe» Schleppten sie die Nacht her.
Mein Schatten tanzt in deinem Traum.
REFS
1. Anthologie des poèmes de Buchenwald by André Verdet (R. Laffont) 1946
2. Wulf Kirsten und Annette Seemann, Hrsg. und Übers., Der gefesselte Wald: Gedichte aus Buchenwald, Französisch-Deutsche Ausgabe, Mainzer Reihe N.F. 11 (Göttingen: Wallstein Verlag 2013).
Rhythmus was a jazz orchestra in the Buchenwald concentration camp in which a total of 23 musicians from 9 different countries played together from 1943 until the liberation. Czech prisoners around Jiří Žák took the initiative to found this orchestra in the summer of 1943.
Among the French prisoners that later joined, were Yves Darriet – the bandleader , who wrote most arrangements , and Robert Widerman – the band’s singer , who made a career as Robert Clary on Broadway after the war.
Two programs are known to have been performed in November 1944 and April 19, 1945, i.e. 8 days after the liberation of the camp (Ref 1) , including compositions by Duke Ellington, Lionel Hampton and pieces by Cole Porter, Fats Waller, Glenn Miller and Louis Armstrong. In The Mood was performed even though this music was banned in Nazi Germany.
Ref. 3 – Jazz im KZ Buchenwald – das gab es wirrklich! | weimarer-rendezvous | Sep 25, 2022 | URL https://youtu.be/HX4X7TJ19nQ
„Rhythmus“ – Jazz im Konzentrationslager Buchenwald
At the April 11, 2022 event ‘„Rhythmus“ – Jazz im Konzentrationslager Buchenwald’ — in the Notenbank in Weimar, Germany (Ref 2, 3) — the Big Band and a jazz ensemble of the Hochschule für Musik under the direction of Prof. Gero Schmidt-Oberländer performed 9 or 10 pieces from the programs. In addition biographies of the prisoners in the Buchenwald Jazz Orchestra were made visible using excerpts from their letters and reports.
The French singer Robert Widerman ( Robert Clary ) was shown in a clip (Ref 4) from the documentary film From Buchenwald to Hollywood, The Robert Clary Story (Ref 5). Robert Clary (March 1, 1926 – Nov 16, 2022) survived thanks to several prisoners, including Yves Darriet (pseudonym Jan Rolan, Jean Roland), Claude Francis-Boeuf, and Jiří Žák. (Ref 6)
5. From Buchenwald to Hollywood, The Robert Clary Story by Karen and Richard Bloom and Michel van der Burg | 2023 Edition | 20230202 | URL https://youtu.be/0tKc5T-Sw-E
Rhythmus | 20221117 | 1-memo•com
Robert Clary had rhythm ! Born Robert Widerman, March 1, 1926 in Paris — he passed away yesterday Nov 16, 2022, at his home in Los Angeles. He was 96. Robert was deported from Paris at the age of 16 to the death camps. April 19, 1945 he was singing and dancing in Buchenwald with the Rhythmus Jazz Band entertaining the U.S. Army troops who had liberated the camp .
Photo (courtesy Richard Bloom Productions) copy of the Program of 19.4.1945 – Rhythmus – 1st Jazz Concert in the liberated Buchenwald – – Vocal : Widerman / France . With political prisoner , resistance fighter, Jiří Žák (bass; founder of the band) who saved Robert’s life and the life of others in the Buchenwald Concentration Camp. Band leader Yves Darriet came up with the nickname Clary for Robert (from the movie Les Adventures de Désirée Clary) — the artist name Robert Clary made name with on Broadway in Hollywood … the US .
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