Shony Alex Braun
Sandor (Shony) Alex Braun (Cristuru-Secuiesc, Romania, 14 July 1930 – Los Angeles, 4 October 2002)[1] was an Hungarian-Jew (Romanian born) violinist, Holocaust survivor, classical composer and actor. He wrote over 200 compositions including classic, Romanian and Gypsy music. His "Symphony of the Holocaust" for violin and orchestra was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize in 1994.[2] He also played bit parts in the TV shows Perry Mason, WKRP in Cincinnati and the film '68.[3] He died of pneumonia on October 4, 2002.[4][5]
Early life
Shony Alex Braun first encountered the enchanting spell of the violin as a frightened four-year-old child, lost in the dark forests of Transylvania (Hungary-Romania). Rescued by Gypsies and taken to their camp, little Shony was comforted and fascinated by the little box that makes music.
He began studying the violin shortly thereafter and at age 10 he debut on Radio Bucharest. Shony began composing music at the age of eleven. Two years later, he received a scholarship from the Budapest Academy of Music. However, he was never able to complete his studies. That year, at age 13 he and his family were transported to Auschwitz. His mother and sister were killed immediately. He was later sent to Dachau where he remained until liberation.
From his own words: <<Deported by the Germans in May 1944 [to Auschwitz and then to Kochendorf], I eventually ended up in Dachau, where an SS guard, promising extra food, entered my barracks with a violin, asking if anyone could play. Three of us volunteered. The first played well, but our work boss smashed his skull with an iron pipe. The second, too scared to play, was kicked to death. Then the violin was handed to me. I paused as the work boss gripped his iron pipe. Without thinking, I played the "Blue Danube"; this pleased the SS guard. I got the extra ration.>>
After the Holocaust he resumed his violin studies. He emigrated to the United States in 1950.[6] His experiences in Dachau are recorded in the book My Heart Is a Violin.
Throughout the Nazi nightmare, the violin continued to comfort Shony and, on one occasion, literally saved his life.[7] The day before the Dachau concentration camp was liberated by the Allies, Shony was shot in the chest and left for dead. But he survived.
After liberation, Shony continued his music studies and graduated from the Mozarteum Academy of Music in Salzburg, Austria. In 1950, he and his wife Shàri, also a Holocaust survivor, immigrated to the United States, where he studied violin with Professor Josef Gingold at Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio. He was awarded a Master of Arts degree in Music.
References
- ↑ SANDOR (SHONY) ALEX BRAUN
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- ↑ Los Angeles Times - Obituary: Shony Alex Braun, 70; Violinist, Composer Survived Holocaust"
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Sources
Shony Alex Braun Shony Alex Braun with Emily Cavins, My Heart is a Violin, 1st Books, 2002
