Coco Schumann

Heinz Jakob "Coco" Schumann (14 May 1924 – 28 January 2018) was a German jazz musician of Jewish descent ^[1][2] and Holocaust survivor.^[3] He was born in Berlin. He became a member of the Ghetto Swingers while in Auschwitz. In the aftermath of the Holocaust, Schumann performed as a jazz guitarist, performing with Marlene Dietrich, Ella Fitzgerald, and Helmut Zacharias.

Schumann in September 2012

His autobiography The Ghetto Swinger: A Berlin Jazz-Legend Remembers was published in 1997.

Schumann died in Berlin on 28 January 2018 at the age of 93.^[4]

References

1. I got rhythm : das Leben der Jazzlegende Coco Schumann : eine Graphic Novel. Caroline Gille, Niels Schröder. Be.bra, Berlin-Brandenburg. 2014. pages 12-13.
2. Archive Archived 2013-01-17 at Archive.today. The Atlantic Times. May 14, 1924.
3. A Woman at War: Marlene Dietrich remembered; p. 157 J. David Riva, Guy Stern - 2006 "Jazz guitarist COCO SCHUMANN was born into a mixed Christian/Jewish family in Berlin as Heinz Jacob Schumann. Even as a child he became a devotee of swing music, which was outlawed by the Nazi regime. As a "half-Jew," he survived the concentration camps, including Theresienstadt (Terezien), where he became a member of the legendary "Ghetto Swingers."
4. "Heinz Jakob 'Coco' Schumann, German jazz musician, dies aged 93". BBC News. 29 January 2018. Retrieved 29 January 2018.