The eleven-year-old German Jewish refugee, Hellmut Stern, practices the violin in his home in Harbin, China.
Overview
- Caption
- The eleven-year-old German Jewish refugee, Hellmut Stern, practices the violin in his home in Harbin, China.
- Date
-
1939
- Locale
- Harbin, [Manchuria; Sungkiang] China
- Variant Locale
- Kharbin
- Photo Credit
- United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, courtesy of Helmut Stern
Rights & Restrictions
- Photo Source
-
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
Copyright: United States Holocaust Memorial MuseumProvenance: Hellmut Stern
Keywords & Subjects
Administrative Notes
- Biography
- Hellmut Stern is the son of Deitmar and Ilse (Wolff) Stern. He was born on May 21, 1928 in Berlin, where his father was employed as a singing teacher, and his mother as a pianist. Hellmut began playing violin at the age of nine. During the late 1930s, he had his pick of music teachers, since so many Jewish musicians had been forced out of work. In the fall of 1938 Hellmut's parents secured papers to go to Shanghai and booked passage on the Conte Bianco that was departing from Italy. Less than two weeks after Kristallnacht the Stern family left Berlin and made their way to Italy. Soon after their arrival in Shanghai, Hellmut's mother determined they would be better off going to Harbin. The Sterns lived out the war in Harbin and in 1949 immigrated to Palestine, where Hellmut played violin with the Israeli Philharmonic. Later he moved back to Berlin and performed with the Berlin Philharmonic orchestra.
- Record last modified:
- 2020-11-30 00:00:00
- This page:
- https://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/pa1118716
