Fritz Loener-Beda, popular Viennese writer and librettist-collaborator of the composer Franz Lehar, has committed suicide in the Buchenwald concentration camp, it was reliably learned here today.
The writer, who was 56 years old, had been held in the Nazi camp since the occupation of Vienna last year. Efforts by Lehar, who reportedly has influence with Chancellor Adolf Hitler, to secure his release were unsuccessful. Loener-Beda was greatly interested in Jewish sports activities, having for many years been president of the Vienna Maccabi, Jewish sports association.
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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.
