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Perseverance in the Face of Totalitarianism: The Life and Legacy of Józef Zygmunt Szulc in Nazi Occupied France

The Reichsleiter Rosenberg Task Force of 1940, initiated a systematic confiscation of items belonging to Jews throughout Europe. Because of this task force and Hitler's decrees, Jews across Europe were labeled as stateless, and were stripped of ownership and rights to property. Not only did these actions devastate Jews economically, but intellectually and artistically as well. In parts of occupied France, this task force was legitimized by Vichy laws under the label of the Commissariat Générale aux Questions Juives (General Commission for Jewish Issues) and enabled Nazi officials to closely watch Jewish musicians and stop them from performing their music, profiting from anyone else performing it, and to halt any public performance of Jewish compositions. This dissertation exhibits the lost legacy of one such Jewish musician, Józef Szulc. It discusses him as a musician of great importance in the ongoing recovery of Jewish culture, music, and life during World War II. His musical output has historical notoriety, as seen through reviews and performance history. The study of Vichy laws and their effect on Jewish musicians in Paris during the Nazi occupation provides the socio-political context for Szulc's life. It also provides the most plausible reason why his contribution to French vocal music was almost entirely lost. Szulc's success with his operetta compositions created a trajectory of performances that lasted well into the late 1920s and early 1930s.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:unt.edu/info:ark/67531/metadc1505262
Date05 1900
CreatorsMamola, Bethany Grace
ContributorsMorscheck, Stephen, Joyner, William, Wilson, Carol (Soprano)
PublisherUniversity of North Texas
Source SetsUniversity of North Texas
LanguageEnglish
Detected LanguageEnglish
TypeThesis or Dissertation
Formatv, 31 pages : facsimiles, Text
CoverageFrance, Germany, 1900~/1945~
RightsPublic, Mamola, Bethany Grace, Copyright, Copyright is held by the author, unless otherwise noted. All rights reserved.
RelationRecital: April 30, 2015, ark:/67531/metadc983856, Recital: April 20, 2017, not yet digitized, Lecture recital: November 18, 2018, not yet digitized

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