Bronislaw Huberman, world renowned violinist and founder of the Palestine Symphony Orchestra, died yesterday at his home at Vovey, on Lake Geneva. He was 64.
Born in Czenstochowa, Poland, Huberman was a famous concert violinist at the age of ten. His highly successful career in Europe was interrupted by the growth of Nazism. In 1936 he was forced to resign the directorship of the Violin Master School at the State Music Academy because of his open, vigorous opposition to the rapidly developing Nazi movement. Following Hitler’s assumption of power in Germany he publicly refused to appear with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra.
He was an ardent supporter of Zionism and in 1934 while making a concert tour of Palestine he decided to form a symphony orchestra composed chiefly of German Jewish refugees. Its first concert in 1936 under Arturo Toscanini was hailed as a success.
He made a number of concert tours of the United States, the first in 1896. In 1941 he came to America where he lived until the end of the war at which time he returned to Europe to offer his services for fund raising drives for the St. Thomas Hospital in London and the La Scala Opera House in Milan.
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
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.
