Gideon Klein

Collection description

Scope and content:: The fonds contains original music scores by Gideon Klein, personal documents, correspondence, concert programmes and reviews.

Archival history:: The personal papers of Gideon Klein were put together after the Second World War by his sister, the pianist and music teacher Eliška Kleinová. They were donated to the Jewish Museum in Prague in 1992 and 1996.

Administrative/biographical history:: Gideon Klein (6 December 1919, Přerov, Moravia - January 1945, Fürstengrube, Silesia) was a composer and pianist. He attended the conservatory in Prague and studied musicology at Charles University, Prague. His piano teachers were Růžen Kurzová and, later, Professor Vilém Kurz. He also studied composition with the composer Alois Hába. On 4 December 1941 he was deported to the Terezín ghetto on Transport J. He contributed greatly to the cultural life of the ghetto, performing as a solo pianist and as a member of a piano trio and a piano quartet. Among the works he composed in the ghetto were pieces for string quartet, string trios and piano sonatas. On 16 October 1944 he was deported on Transport Er to Auschwitz and from there to Fürstengrube in Silesia, where he died probably on 27 January 1945 during the liquidation of the camp.

Subject terms:: Correspondence; Music; Music--Composers; Music--Musicians; Personal records; Sheet music

Finding aids:: Franková A: Pozůstalost hudebního skladatele a klavíristy Gideona Kleina, Inventář, 1998, 74 s., AP č. 344