Frederick Block’s biography is possibly the most affecting of any of the musical exiles I have researched. A poignancy deepened by the solitude of his final years, and the almost total anonymity that followed his death. I first came across his name in the New York Performing Arts Library’s list of special collections…

When the Germans invaded Poland in 1939, Aleksander Kulisiewicz was a stripling law student. While his father hoped he would become a lawyer and cement the Kulisiewicz family in Krakow’s elite, all Aleks cared to do was perform at cabarets and nightclubs where he sang, whistled and played his guitar, feeding off the energy of his audiences…

This biographic article details the extraordinary life and career of Viennese born émigré Julius Burger (Bürger). He was poised for a successful career as a classical composer having studied and apprenticed with some of the masters of the early 20th century. However, his life was forever altered by the Nazi Regime’s anti-Semitic ideology…