Ewiger Anklang

Siegfried Translateur (1875 – 1944) 

Ewiger Anklang / Start

The public artwork “Ewiger Anklang” (English: “Eternal Appeal / Eternal Resonance”) is a sonic memorial to Siegfried Translateur (*1875 in Pokój; †1944 in Ghetto Theresienstadt) a prominent composer, orchestra leader, and music publicist who was a notable figure in Berlin's music scene in the early 20th century. The piece consists of a graphical installation of waltz steps at the former location of the Berliner Sportpalast, where Translateur's waltz "Wiener Praterleben" became famous in the 1920s as the "Sportpalast Walzer." A QR code embedded in the graphic allows passersby to access an audio composition based on Translateur’s life and music. The piece reflects on the role he played in the city’s cultural life until he was persecuted by the Nazis and deported to KZ Theresienstadt, where he died in 1944.

Location

The piece can be found at the location of the former Berliner Sportpalast, on the square adjacent to the intersection of Pallastraße and Potsdamer Straße in Berlin Schöneberg.

Approximate street address:
Pallasstraße 4,
10781 Berlin

Coordinates:
52.49454546874121, 13.359494062236813

At the location, the audio composition is best listened to with headphones or earbuds.

Listen

Language:

العربية


English


Deutsch


Türkçe


Siegfried Translateur / Biography

  • 19.6.1875 Born in Carlsruhe/Oberschlesien (now Pokój, Poland) as Salo Translateur. The family moved to Vienna.

  • In 1892, at the age of 17, Translateur composed the waltz Wiener Praterleben. At the time, couples had to pay for each dance, and the dance master would clap four times to announce a discounted dance that was affordable for more people. Noting this, Translateur worked the four claps into the composition.

  • For his musical training, Translateur went to Breslau and Leipzig.

  • Translateur had settled in Berlin by 1905 and founded the Translateur-Orchester with ca. 30 musicians that performed every night at Weinhaus Rheingold, a large restaurant on Potsdamer Platz, and toured in the summers.

  • In 1911, Translateur founded his own music publishing house, Lyra, which published his scores as well as those of other composers.

  • Starting in 1915, Translateur, his wife, Meta, and son, Hans Heinz, lived on Güntzelstraße in Wilmersdorf.

  • In 1923, Wiener Praterleben was played at the Berliner Sportpalast on the occasion of the popular Sechtagerennen, a bicycle race. Reinhold Habisch, a regular guest at the Sportpalast who was known by the nickname "Krücke," loudly whistled four times in a row at the moment of the claps in the refrain, and the whole crowd followed suit. Known from then on by many as the Sportpalast Walzer, Wiener Praterleben became the anthem for the race and a melody known throughout the city.

  • On the occasion of Translateur’s 50th birthday in 1925, a newspaper article wrote, “Wer kennt nicht diesen liebenswürdigen Meister der leichten Muse?” [“Who hasn’t heard of this gracious maestro of the gentle muse?”]

  • After the Nazis came into power, the couple’s son emigrated to South Africa, but Siegfried and Meta Translateur remained in Berlin. According to the 1935 “Nuremberger Laws,” Translateur was considered a “half-Jew.“ He was expelled from the Reich Chamber of Music, forced to give up his music publishing house, and later had to work in an arms factory.

  • In 1937, the crowd at a bicycle race in the Deutschlandhalle demanded that the Sportpalast Walzer be played. This was to no avail, as performances of music by Jewish composers were banned under the Third Reich.

  • On February 18, 1943, crowds gather at the Sportpalast to hear Joseph Goebbels give his speech calling for a “total war.”

  • Meta and Siegfried Translateur were deported to Ghetto Theresienstadt on March 17 and April 19, 1943 respectively. Both died there in 1944.

Acknowledgements

A sound installation by Chelsea Leventhal, commissioned by the State of Berlin, represented by the Department of Art, Culture, Museums of the Tempelhof-Schöneberg District Office, Office for Advanced Education and Culture.

Collaborators and contributors:

Design, Texts, Sound Composition, and Mixing: Chelsea Leventhal
Voiceovers: Scott Martingell, Julia Möller, Zain Saleh, Irem Aydin
Translators: Zain Saleh, Irem Aydin
Voice Recording and Mastering: micro-moose-berlin
Programming: Stefan Lang
Consulting Historian / Biografer: Dr. Johanna Niedbalski
Dance Consultant: Önder Uludogus
Fabrication: BNB Potsdam, H. Albrecht Steinmetz
Installation: T.S. Cakir
 
Photo credits: Landesarchiv Berlin, Kim Wichera, Chelsea Leventhal
 
Special thanks to: Annette Butscher, Dr. Irene von Götz, David Henderson, Douglas Henderson, Hans Peter Kuhn, Edith Kollath, Flo Maak, Martin Philipp, Frank Rüdiger, Fred Stephan.