Hanns Eisler

Hanns Eislers (1898-1962) is the most controversial composer to come from turn of the century Vienna. Forced to leave Austria in 1933 as a Communist and to flee Europe as a Jew, he settled after years of homelessness in the US, becoming a respected though unconventional composer for Hollywood films. The House of Un-American Activities, denounced by his own sister, removed him from the US in 1948 and placed him on their black-list making job-opportunities in Austria outside the Soviet Sector impossible. Having composed the national anthem for the German Democratic Republic, he moved to East Berlin in 1949 subsequently becoming a wayward though ultimately reliable defender of the new State. In common with his most frequent collaborator Bertolt Brecht, he held on to his Austrian citizenship.

 

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in collaboration with Thomas Geisler / graphic design and photos by maupi.com

as part of the series Music in Transition

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