Heinrich Simon, famous anti-Nazi former editor of the Frankfurter Zeitung, co-founder of the Palestine Symphony Orchestra and fugitive from Hitler’s Germany, was brutally and mysteriously beaten on the way to his home here early today and died before noon in Garfield Hospital.
Police were unable to determine immediately whether he had been slain by robbers or whether his death was linked to his zealous anti-Nazi activities. But examination showed not only had his skull been fractured, but the killer or killers had smashed his face, kicked in his ribs and inflicted other terrible injuries.
The 61-year-old journalist and lecturer on musicology went for his usual walk at 10 o’clock last night. At three a.m. he staggered into his apartment at the Concord, blood streaming from a gash in his head.
Mrs Irma Simon, his wife, told police her husband was in a daze when he walked into their suite, but somehow he had managed to climb the stairs to their apartment. All he could tell his wife was that he had been attacked “in a little dark street or an alley” and he insisted that he would be all right after some sleep. When Mrs. Simon attempted to awaken him this morning he was semi-conscious and she called physicians.
Dr. Simon had been in this country since March 31, 1939, on a temporary visitor’s permit but last Feb. 25 he took the first step toward naturalization. Mrs. Simon and Josepha, his 7-year-old daughter, came here in May, 1940 from England, where the family had gone after the advent of the Nazi regime.
Dr. Simon was a grandson of the founder of the Frankfurter Zeitung and was a member of a family powerful in Germany before the advent of Hitler. Mrs. Simon’s family was equally prominent and wealthy, but her parents disinherited her when she married the journalist.
In the days before Hitler the Simons’ palatial hom in Frankfort was a rendezvous of great musicians from all over the world. Since they had been in Washington they had been hosts at many brilliant musicals.
Since he left Germany, in 1934, Dr. Simon had been devoted solely to music. Even during his Zeitung days he was known in Germany as a concert pianist and wrote and lectured on the subject. His first exile period was spent in London, where he lectured at the Academy of London and founded a music appreciation institute. Then he was called to Palestine to help Bronislaw Huberman found the Palestine Symphony. He stayed there two years as manager.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
