The Hungarian-Jewish cellist and composer Pál Hermann (1902 – after 1944) was the focus of a special session of the European Parliament in Brussels on January 29, 2025, held in commemoration of Holocaust Remembrance Day. Until recently, little attention has been paid to the fact that Hermann studied at the prestigious predecessor institutions of today's Berlin University of the Arts and was significantly shaped by them. It is fitting, therefore, to remember him in this edition of the university’s music newsletter dedicated to institutional history.

On January 29, 2025, the European Parliament held a ceremonial special session to mark the International Holocaust Remembrance Day. This year, particular tribute was paid to the Hungarian-Jewish cellist and composer Pál Hermann (1902 – after 1944), who was deported from France to Lithuania in May 1944. After that, all traces of him vanish. The liberation of the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp on January 27, 1945—which the United Nations later chose as the official date of remembrance—marked its 80th anniversary. It was often noted in recent days that only a few survivors remain who can personally testify to the horrors of that time. Present in Brussels was Corrie Hermann, the 92-year-old daughter of the composer. After the Andante from his Duet for Violin and Cello was performed, she gave a moving speech.

Pál Hermann studied in Berlin at institutions that were forerunners of today’s University of the Arts. For a total of four years, he was enrolled at the Academy for Church and School Music, which at the time was largely housed in Charlottenburg Palace. He may also have attended the Hochschule für Musik on Fasanenstraße. Among the documents preserved in the university archives is a draft certificate for the "Artistic Examination for Teaching at Higher Educational Institutions," issued to Hermann on June 30, 1931. His name appears here as "Paul Hermann." He passed the five-day examination with distinction. Interestingly, the examination did not even include his principal instrument, the cello, with which he was already performing widely. Instead, the main subjects were "School Singing" and "Musical Education," with "Composition Theory" as an additional subject. In all areas, Hermann received top marks: "With Distinction"—also recorded as his overall grade. Undoubtedly, the talented student sought to secure his professional future with the state exam, as he was just starting a family at that time.

Pál Hermann was born on March 27, 1902, in Budapest into a Jewish family with a deep love of music. At the age of 15, he was accepted into the music academy of his hometown, now known as the Franz Liszt Academy of Music. According to anecdote, he met Zoltán Kodály after being seen on a tram reading the score of his friend, the violinist Zoltán Székely. The two formed a duo and were invited to perform at an event hosted by Arnold Schoenberg’s Society for Private Musical Performances. In 1923, they had a successful appearance at the Salzburg Music Festival of the International Society for Contemporary Music (ISCM). That same year, Hermann began studying at the Berlin Academy for Church and School Music, which had been elevated from its previous status as an institute of church music (founded in 1822) the year before. He studied there until 1926.

At the same time, he took lessons from Hugo Becker, the renowned cello teacher at the Hochschule für Musik. Hermann pursued his career as a cellist and, after a performance at London's Wigmore Hall in 1928, found patrons in the Netherlands—Louise Bachiene and Jaap de Graaff—who bought him a Nicolò Gagliano cello and placed it at his disposal.

Despite recent research by Kate Kennedy (Cello: A Journey Through Silence to Sound, 2024), our knowledge of Hermann’s Berlin years remains limited. However, it is clear that he was deeply interested in contemporary music—from Debussy to Hindemith—and that his passion for new music aligned with a strong pedagogical and social commitment. In 1926/27, he gave concerts at the Bechstein Hall, became personally acquainted with Paul Hindemith, and taught at the Neukölln People's Music School, an innovative institution promoting broad musical education, established as part of Leo Kestenberg’s reform efforts at the Prussian Ministry of Culture.

Ada Weevers, a niece of his Dutch patrons, fell in love with the young musician, and the two married in Amersfoort in 1931—just weeks after Hermann’s state examination. The couple moved into an apartment in Berlin-Charlottenburg, and their daughter Cornelia (Corrie Hermann) was born in the summer of 1932. Before that, Hermann had enrolled for two additional semesters at the Academy for Church and School Music and then completed his state exam. His admission to the exam had been granted “with ministerial approval” on January 7, 1930.

As promising as the life of this extraordinarily gifted musician had been up to that point, it took a tragic turn in 1933, as it did for so many others. With the Nazi rise to power, Hermann was forced to leave Berlin. He initially found shelter at the beach house of his Dutch friends. But tragedy struck when his wife suffered a serious injury in a swimming accident and died later that same year. Hermann was left to fend for himself, and his daughter was raised by her grandparents. After Nazi Germany invaded France in 1940, Hermann volunteered as a foreign soldier in the French army. Following the German victory, he moved to the Vichy-controlled zone. Although he went into hiding as a Jew, he was arrested in Toulouse in 1944 and taken to the Drancy internment camp near Paris. During his deportation to Lithuania, he managed to throw a note from the railway car in which he was locked. It reached its intended recipient—his brother-in-law—asking him to save his musical instruments.

This was indeed achieved, but after the war, the valuable cello was sold by the family to finance Corrie Hermann’s education. In 2024, the instrument was rediscovered. It was identifiable by an inscription: Ego sum anima musicae (“I am the soul of music”). Its current performer, Australian cellist Sam Lucas, also dedicates himself to playing Pál Hermann’s compositions. Together with his partner, Sadie Fields, he provided the musical framework for the commemoration at the European Parliament. Corrie Hermann concluded her speech—after recounting the fate of her father—with the words:
“Hitler has burned books, destroyed paintings and buildings, murdered millions of people. But music is invincible.”

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Author: Dr. Dietmar Schenk, former Director of the University Archives