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The Resource Silences and secrets : the Australian experience of the Weintraubs Syncopators, Kay Dreyfus

Silences and secrets : the Australian experience of the Weintraubs Syncopators, Kay Dreyfus

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Summary: The Weintraubs Syncopators, international musical celebrities of the 1930s, embarked on a four-year journey across Europe, Russia and the Far East in exile from the antisemitic ideologies of the German Third Reich. This band of mainly Jewish musicians arrived in Sydney, Australia, in 1937. The decision of some of them to stay brought them into conflict with the aggressively protectionist Musicians' Union of Australia. They gained employment at a high-end Sydney nightclub but when war came, were forced to come to terms with a change in their status - from celebrities to enemy aliens. Denounced for alleged espionage activities in Russia, three were interned and the band broke up. In this major recounting of the experience of the Weintraubs Syncopators, Kay Dreyfus pieces together the complex personal, social and political forces at work in this story of migration at a time of insecurity, fear and dramatic conflict

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Note: "How did Australia treat one of Europe's hottest jazz bands after they were forced into exile by the Third Reich?" -- Cover

Label: Silences and secrets : the Australian experience of the Weintraubs Syncopators

Summary: The Weintraubs Syncopators, international musical celebrities of the 1930s, embarked on a four-year journey across Europe, Russia and the Far East in exile from the antisemitic ideologies of the German Third Reich. This band of mainly Jewish musicians arrived in Sydney, Australia, in 1937. The decision of some of them to stay brought them into conflict with the aggressively protectionist Musicians' Union of Australia. They gained employment at a high-end Sydney nightclub but when war came, were forced to come to terms with a change in their status - from celebrities to enemy aliens. Denounced for alleged espionage activities in Russia, three were interned and the band broke up. In this major recounting of the experience of the Weintraubs Syncopators, Kay Dreyfus pieces together the complex personal, social and political forces at work in this story of migration at a time of insecurity, fear and dramatic conflict

Summary: Over the course of four years during the Nazi era, Weintraub's Syncopators, a Jewish comedic big band of the 1930s, moved from Germany through Europe, Russia, and Asia to escape the Third Reich's ban on jazz music and its oppression against Jews. The band members finally landed in Australia in 1937, where they found sanctuary for a while, but eventually were considered potential enemies to the state when WWII broke out, because of their time spent in Russia. Their story illuminates how the political and social forces of the period affected individuals. The book includes 30 b&w historical photos, posters, and newspaper cartoons. Dreyfus (history, Monash University, Australia) has written other books on musical outfits in Australia in WWII. The book is distributed in the US by ISBS. Annotation ©2013 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)