‘Swing’ by jazz duo Johnny and Jones in 1938 with their biggest hit , the dutch song “Mijnheer Dinges weet niet wat Swing is” …Mister Dingus doesn’t know what Swing and Hot (jazz) is…he’s a composer and teacher with a problem : his students skip class, he thinks jazz is banal.
“Two Kids and a Guitar”
The Amsterdam duo sang jazzy Dutch songs with a mock American accent and a parody of current events. They were the first teen idols in Holland and often on the dutch radio in the 1930s …before World War 2.
Nazi victims
Because of their Jewish origins, both ‘Johnny’ (Salomon Meijer Kannewasser, born 1916 and called Max) and his second cousin, partner, ‘Jones’ (Arnold Siméon van Wesel, born Amsterdam 1918 and called Nol) were arrested together with their wives in 1943, taken to the Westerbork transit camp, and deported Sep 4, 1944 first to the Theresienstadt camp, next the Auschwitz, Sachsenhausen, Ohrdruf and Bergen-Belsen camps. They died of exhaustion in the last days of the war in 1945.
Notes
Mijnheer Dinges weet niet wat Swing is | Two Kids and a Guitar | Johnny and Jones (1938). Lyrics from Joop de Leur. Recorded in Casino Hamdorf, Laren, Holland, November 1938. Label: Panachord (78 rpm). # H 1058 (Am 546-1). URL https://youtube.com/clip/UgkxMQtbdZ26fS4zcluq6fT7NlTbbpfuxpcx
Dinges, oh Dinges Dinges, oh Dinges Meneer Dinges die is dol op componeren Hij zit eeuwig met zijn neus in de muziek Jongelieden die bij hem piano leren Houden zich na de eerste les een tijdje ziek Want hun leraar heeft een kwaal Hij vindt jazzmuziek banaal Meneer Dinges weet niet wat swing is Hij weet niet wat saxofoon voor een ding is Omdat zijn radio kapot is Wat voor de buren een genot is Weet die Dinges niet wat swing of hot is Op een dag belde aan Dinges’ deur de wasman Die zei meneer er staat muziek op uw manchet Hou hem hier of stuur hem Theo Uden Marsman Maar meneer Dinges antwoordde toen zeer ontzet Man, ga uit mijn trapportaal In mijn huis geen jazz-schandaal Meneer Dinges weet niet wat swing is Hij weet niet wat saxofoon voor een ding is Omdat zijn radio kapot is Wat voor de buren een genot is Weet die Dinges niet wat swing of hot is Meneer Dinges maakte een grote ouverture Met een slotkoor, de finale stond in mol Toen het klaar was speelde Pietje van de buren De compositie dreunde in hot style door zijn bol Toen viel hij flauw op 1 crapaud (het kunnen er ook twee geweest zijn) En Johnny and Jones zongen door de radio Meneer Dinges weet niet wat swing is Hij weet niet wat saxofoon voor een ding is Omdat zijn radio kapot is Wat voor de buren een genot is Weet die Dinges niet wat swing of hot is Domme Dinges Oh, domme Dinges Weet jij nu nog niet wat jazz voor een ding is Als jij je goed wil amuseren Moet je de hi-de-ho studeren Meneer Dinges, probeer de swing ‘s Dinges, oh Dinges Dinges, oh Dinges.
Short impression of Viviane telling her story April 2023 in Boortmeerbeek, Belgium, at the 80th anniversary of the attack on Transport XX near Boortmeerbeek — the Twentieth Train heading for Auschwitz, the night of April 19-20, 1943. Viviane escaped from Transport XX in the womb of her pregnant mother Isabella Weinreb-Castegnier who jumped from this death train, with the help of Elias Gnazik, shortly after the 2nd attack on this train near Bierbeek, Belgium. Viviane was born 6 months later October 30, 1943 in Brussels … and celebrates her 80th birthday today, October 30, 2023, in LA, USA 😉 Music : Al Kol Ele by Crescendo Boortmeerbeek Choir .
Full story available in free e-Book download :
Viviane Yarom-Castegnier & Michel van der Burg. Viviane’s Story: Escape from Transport XX… Born 6 Months Later [e-Book]. Boskoop, Miracles.Media, 2019. Distribution [ISBN (ePUB) : 978-94-93147-00-3 | ISBN (pdf) : 978-94-93147-01-0]. URL https://miracles.media/vivianesstory/
Citation : Viviane – 80 Years After Escape From Transport XX | 20231030 | Michel van der Burg | Miracles•Media | TakeNode 84175450-c147-4fd9-9039-8ca85995ff46
From the old forest They dragged the night, And the wind danced in your hair.
Your fingers die in the evening, Already in your sky the stars wander.
From “Far-away-from-love” they dragged the night.
My shadow dances in your dream.
Yves Darriet (Pseudonym Jean Roland)
Berceuse by Yves Darriet , from Anthologie des poèmes de Buchenwald , collected by André Verdet in Buchenwald (Ref 1), in a 2013 German translation by Wulf Kirsten and Annette Seemann : Wiegenlied (Ref 2).
Wiegenlied – Reading by Susanne Marie Wrage — an actor with a background in Documentary theater – in the June 2013 Passage – Lyrik aktuell broadcast by Radio SRF 2 Kultur (Ref 3, 4) .
Berceuse
De la vieille forêt Ils ont portè la nuit, Et le vent a dansé dans tes cheveux.
Tes doigts meurent au soir, Dans ton ciel déjà Les ètoiles cheminent.
De plus loin que l’amour Ils ont porté la nuit.
Mon ombre danse dans ton rêve.
Wiegenlied
Aus dem alten Wald Schleppten sie die Nacht her, Und der Wind tanzte in deinem Haar.
Deine Finger sterben am Abend, Schon in deinem Himmel Wandern die Sterne.
Von «Weit-weg-von-der-Liebe» Schleppten sie die Nacht her.
Mein Schatten tanzt in deinem Traum.
REFS
1. Anthologie des poèmes de Buchenwald by André Verdet (R. Laffont) 1946
2. Wulf Kirsten und Annette Seemann, Hrsg. und Übers., Der gefesselte Wald: Gedichte aus Buchenwald, Französisch-Deutsche Ausgabe, Mainzer Reihe N.F. 11 (Göttingen: Wallstein Verlag 2013).
Rhythmus was a jazz orchestra in the Buchenwald concentration camp in which a total of 23 musicians from 9 different countries played together from 1943 until the liberation. Czech prisoners around Jiří Žák took the initiative to found this orchestra in the summer of 1943.
Among the French prisoners that later joined, were Yves Darriet – the bandleader , who wrote most arrangements , and Robert Widerman – the band’s singer , who made a career as Robert Clary on Broadway after the war.
Two programs are known to have been performed in November 1944 and April 19, 1945, i.e. 8 days after the liberation of the camp (Ref 1) , including compositions by Duke Ellington, Lionel Hampton and pieces by Cole Porter, Fats Waller, Glenn Miller and Louis Armstrong. In The Mood was performed even though this music was banned in Nazi Germany.
Ref. 3 – Jazz im KZ Buchenwald – das gab es wirrklich! | weimarer-rendezvous | Sep 25, 2022 https://youtu.be/HX4X7TJ19nQ
„Rhythmus“ – Jazz im Konzentrationslager Buchenwald
At the April 11, 2022 event ‘„Rhythmus“ – Jazz im Konzentrationslager Buchenwald’ — in the Notenbank in Weimar, Germany (Ref 2, 3) — the Big Band and a jazz ensemble of the Hochschule für Musik under the direction of Prof. Gero Schmidt-Oberländer performed 9 or 10 pieces from the programs. In addition biographies of the prisoners in the Buchenwald Jazz Orchestra were made visible using excerpts from their letters and reports.
The French singer Robert Widerman ( Robert Clary ) was shown in a clip (Ref 4) from the documentary film From Buchenwald to Hollywood, The Robert Clary Story (Ref 5). Robert Clary (March 1, 1926 – Nov 16, 2022) survived thanks to several prisoners, including Yves Darriet (pseudonym Jan Rolan, Jean Roland), Claude Francis-Boeuf, and Jiří Žák. (Ref 6)
5. From Buchenwald to Hollywood, The Robert Clary Story by Karen and Richard Bloom and Michel van der Burg | 2023 Edition | 20230202 | URL https://youtu.be/0tKc5T-Sw-E
Images from the Westerborkfilm have been used countless times in documentaries and films about the Second World War. Here images screening in the virtual opera PUSH – based on the story of Simon Gronowski – an 11 year old Jewish boy who was pushed from the train – Transport XX – by his mother on the way to Auschwitz — Video clip https://youtube.com/clip/UgkxsM6Rj_HB0xEh4TksbjhIm4EzY81dc4H0
A virtual performance, during the April 2020 Corona virus lockdown, of the epilogue of the community opera PUSH , entitled : Ma Vie N’est Que Miracles | My life is only miracles – hosted by composer Howard Moody. It premiered on the night of the 19th April 2020, exactly 77 years after three Brussels resistance heroes stopped the Nazi train Transport XX, transporting 1600 Jewish deportees to Auschwitz, and more than 200 prisoners escaped from the train before the German border. Info : michelvanderburg.com/2020/04/19 .
Images from the Westerborkfilm have been used countless times in documentaries and films about the Second World War.
Here Westerborkfilm images – clips – screening semi-permanent ten years ago (Feb. 2013) in a museum introduction film (on holocaust, genocides, discrimination, diversity, rights) on one of the huge columns in the entrance hall of the Kazerne Dossin museum in Mechelen, Belgium (a few months after opening of the new Kazerne Dossin building). Note, shortly after this outbound deportation transport to Bergen-Belsen and Auschwitz, had left the Westerbork transit camp on May 19, 1944, the train paused at the nearby railway station of the dutch town Assen, where train cars were added from Belgian Transport XXV (25) with 508 deportees, Jews and the Roma deportee Stevo Caroli, from transit camp Kazerne Dossin (Dossin barracks) in Mechelen, and this combined transport with Jews, Sinti and Roma, including Settela Steinbach, continues to the east…to the Bergen-Belsen and Auschwitz concentration camps. Stevo Caroli survives Auschwitz-Birkenau. After returning to Belgium, Stevo Caroli’s request for a certificate, necessary for the compensation for political deportees or work refusers, is refused by the Belgian Aliens Police for racial reasons ( kazernedossin.memorial/biografie/stevo-karoli/ ).
The new 2021 Westerbork Film is missing part of the image in every frame …
The new high quality restored Westerbork film, presented first May 2021 by the Netherlands Institute for Sound & Vision and the NIOD Institute for War, Holocaust and Genocide Studies, has numerous advantages over the previous well known first edition of the Westerborkfilm made in 1986 in 4 acts by the dutch Rijksvoorlichtingsdienst (RVD ; the Dutch National Centre for Information) .
The full 1986 film including all 4 acts , was first published in 2019 at Settela•Com (Ref 1), with annotations for the various scenes. That 1986 Westerborkfilm however does not include all of the footage shot by Rudolf Breslauer, Spring 1944 in Camp Westerbork, in the Netherlands.
Footage not used in the 1986 Westerbork film compilation was presented in a series of posts published later in 2019 at Settela•Com.
Next, a film compilation of all that known footage was posted online as the WESTERBORK FILMS COLLECTION – UNESCO ALBUM (Ref 2). That film compilation was also made available for download 20 January 2020 by Michel van der Burg | Miracles.Media via the Open Images bank of Sound & Vision (Ref 3). That compilation was prepared without checking / deleting duplicate copies of footage, and thus contains redundant footage.
The 2021 restored Westerbork film is a major upgrade from the 1986 Westerborkfilm edition. Important advantages of the 2021 Westerbork film are , (i) new high quality 4K scans were made of the footage, (ii) containing a complete selection of all known footage, (iii) using only the best copies of all footage found in the archives, (iv) based on an extensive new inventory of all known archives, with the discovery of 2 canisters with ‘camera-original’ footage, and a hitherto unknown clip, and (v) with conservative, digital, restoration applied. Details on that new restored Westerbork film were discussed July 2021 with the co-publication of an important part of the 2021 Westerbork film : the new high quality deportation footage — a film compilation of scans of the newly discovered original camera negative film used by Rudolf Breslauer 19 May 1944 in Camp Westerbork, in the Netherlands (Ref 4).
The complete Westerbork Film 2021 was published too at Settela•Com on May 7, 2022 with all scenes annotated (Ref 5), together with a short introductory film : Westerborkfilm Introduction (Ref 6).
Note that additional digital restoration has been applied by Sound & Vision for the publicly made available so-called ‘display edition’ of this new 2021 Westerbork film according to Conservator Valentine Kuypers | Sound and Vision (Ref 7) – as discussed previously at Settela•Com (Ref 4).
Missing Part Images
It should be noted that the released 2021 ‘display edition’ of the Westerbork film – due to the applied image stabilization – does show less of the actual image in each frame as compared to the 1986 edition.
Below some examples illustrating the crop in the display edition.
2021 edition | not showing ‘nazi with bike’ | 20230519 | Settela•Com
2021 edition – not showing ‘nazi with bike’ in same scene, near identical frame — though he shows up in later frames a few seconds later, walking away ) – https://youtu.be/ZiLNDziwEtc?t=882
Settela’s car (not) showing 74p•
Next a comparison of the frame displaying “74 p.” (chalked on the car with Settela). The dot is shown in the 1986 film. That dot is missing in the 2021 film due to the cropped image resulting from the image stabilization.
Of note : first news clips presented by Sound & Vision announcing the new restored film , are apparently not based on the ‘display edition’, and do show that dot in the original 4K scan.
The full image — including the dot ’74 p.” — was shown in a first news item Sep 12, 2019 on the daily dutch ‘Nieuwsuur’ national news show , on colorized high quality deportation footage, that mentioning the new original footage. Item “Iconische beelden Tweede Wereldoorlog na 75 jaar in kleur” ; URL https://nos.nl/nieuwsuur/artikel/2301340-iconische-beelden-tweede-wereldoorlog-na-75-jaar-in-kleur
Jan 2020 Sound & Vision publicly showed and announced the newly discovered camera original footage via the daily dutch news show NOS (Ref 8) showing the images with no crop — including the dot ’74 p.” and presented an 8 min film compilation a few days later via their Vimeo channel also (at 0021) shwoing 74 Pers • (with dot) . URL https://vimeo.com/386667241
In 2021 Sound & Vision apparently started using the ‘display edition’ for publications on the new found original Westerbork deportation footage ; such as the YouTube uploads “De Westerborkfilm 📽️🎞️” (uploaded Apr 8, 2021) – https://youtu.be/8Y-A4BkWY18?t=2 , a video presented first I believe April 18, 2021 in an online Media Café event by Sound & Vision , and May 18, 2021 on the occasion of the public release of the restored film (Ref 9), in the 20 min presentation “Gerestaureerde filmbeelden Westerbork (1944)” of a compilation of selected images from the restored film – missing again the dot at 0:47 – https://youtu.be/-zCmr6PSNcI?t=47
Missing Image Westerbork Film 2021 | 20230519 | Michel van der Burg | Settela•Com | ISSN 2949-9313
References
1. Westerbork Film | Full version RVD 1986 | 20190605 | Michel van der Burg | Settela•Com | ISSN 2949-9313
2. WESTERBORK FILMS COLLECTION – UNESCO ALBUM | 20200120 | Michel van der Burg | Settela•Com | ISSN 2949-9313
3. WESTERBORK FILMS COLLECTION – UNESCO ALBUM (20200120) Michel van der Burg | Settela•Com | ISSN 2949-9313 | CC BY 4.0 | Open Images – URL https://www.openimages.eu/media/1223905
5. Westerbork Film 🎦 2021 | 20220302 | Michel van der Burg | Settela•Com | ISSN 2949-9313 | Display edition film annotated online in CC
6. Westerborkfilm Introduction | 20220507 | Michel van der Burg | Settela•Com | ISSN 2949-9313 | Introduction by Michel van der Burg on the Westerborkfilm screening in METRO Kinokulturhaus , Vienna , Austria at the DOCUMENTS OF DESTRUCTION | DOKUMENTE DER VERNICHTUNG Symposium 6-7 May, 2022 curated by Florian Widegger. Presented by Filmarchiv Austria in cooperation with the Vienna Jewish Film Festival and the Mauthausen Memorial.
1-memo•com 