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Adolph Busch, Famous Violinist, Dead: Defied the Nazis

June 12, 1952
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Adolph Busch, internationally famous violinist and founder of the Busch Quartet, who defied the Nazis in the early years of their rise in Germany and refused to play in a Brahms centennial celebration at Hamburg in 1933 because his pianist Rudolf Serkin, a Jew, was denied permission to participate in the celebration, died yesterday at his home in Guilford, Vt., of a heart ailment. He was 60 years old.

Mr. Busch, who was born in Germany, cancelled many engagements when the Nazis came to power there. This was his expression of protest against the Nazi persecution of Jews and “unjust treatment” of Jewish musicians. He left Germany in 1933 and became a Swiss citizen the same year. In 1937 he became the first soloist to be heard with the newly organized Palestine Symphony Orchestra at Jerusalem.

After several years residence in Switzerland, Mr. Busch settled in the United States, where he gave numerous concerts. He later became an American citizen and made his home in Guilford, where his daughter, the wife of Mr. Serkin, had settled previously.

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