How did a singer, a Holocaust survivor, receive a flight ticket of ten meters length?
For further Information:
https://www.luftgeshefte.com/belina
After 15 years of intensive research in archives all over the world and a crowd funding initiative the German director Mark Boettcher succeeded to release the biographical movie about the almost forgotten, remarkable singer called Belina – Music of Peace. He as well released a CD with 22 remastered multilingual songs of hers 50 years after her famous career called Belina (Unisono Records/ Edel) which climbed to nr. 3 of the Amazon charts within a few days.
Lea-Nina Rodzynek was born on 6. February 1925 in Sterdyn bei Treblinka, Polen. While Lea was working as a forced laborer for the Germans during World War II her parents and three brothers were killed. 1949 she married a survivor of Auschwitz in Bergen-Belsen. She gave birth to a son.
1953 she moved to Paris where she had an aunt, learned to become a cosmetician, and started to sing and perform in the Yiddish Theater and the Russian cabaret. And she became a French citizen. 1960 she moved to Cologne and worked as a singer and actress. She sang in Polish, Russian, French, English, German and – of course in her mother tongue – Yiddish. When she met the Berlin based guitarist Siegfried Behrend in 1963, the two performed folk music together very successfully and toured around the world. 1964 they performed in 120 countries within 252 days and gave 150 concerts. Belina sang in 17 languages. Her way of showing respect to the audience was to learn one song in the native language for a concert. Belina became the musical ambassador of post war West Germany. And she became the European queen of folk music.
Belina dedicated her life to reconciliation and building bridges. After all she had been through, she courageously pursued the path of connecting and mediation, understanding and tolerance.
She especially liked the dialogue with the young generation.
She said “I haven’t forgotten, but I have forgiven. What I wish for myself – what I wish for all of us – is peace”.
Does the fact, that the young German Federal Republic sent her into the world, mean that they had learned from the past? Were the people purified?
Did the young people, who had an encounter with her educated their children differently? From where does all the antisemitism we see today come?
After ending the fruitful cooperation with Sigfried Behrend, Belina moved to the South of France. 1993 she gave her farewell concert. She moved to the German city of Hamburg to live a quiet life close to her son and grand children and died in December 2006. May her memory be a blessing.
The film Belina - Music of Peace premiered in Berlin on 17.08. 2021 in honor of 15 years since her death.
English 19 min.
Technical support: Eli Jenka
Marc Boettcher https://en.boettcher-film.de/
Trailer of the movie https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1361Qpf9vD8
c) Luftgeshefte Podcast 2021
