| Fritz Löhner-Beda | |
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| Born | Friedrich Löwy June 24, 1883 Wildenschwert, Bohemia |
| Died | December 4, 1942 (aged 59) Monowitz concentration camp |
| Occupation | librettist, lyricist, writer |
| Language | German |
| Nationality | Austrian |
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Fritz Löhner-Beda (June 24, 1883 – December 4, 1942), born Friedrich Löwy, was an Austrian librettist, lyricist and writer.
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He was born in Wildenschwert, Bohemia (now in the Czech Republic).
In the 1920s he became one of the most sought-after librettists and lyricists of Vienna. Together with Franz Lehár as composer, Ludwig Herzer as co-author and Richard Tauber as singer he produced the operettas Friederike (Frederica) (1928), Das Land des Lächelns (The Land of Smiles) (1929) and, with Paul Knepler as co-author, Giuditta (1934). Together with his friend Alfred Grünwald as co-author and Paul Abraham as composer, he produced Viktoria und ihr Husar (Victoria and Her Hussar) (1930), Die Blume von Hawaii (The Flower of Hawaii) (1931) and Ball im Savoy (Ball at the Savoy) (1932).
In mid-March 1938 Fritz Löhner-Beda was arrested and deported to the Dachau concentration camp on April 1, 1938. On September 23, 1938 he was displaced to the Buchenwald concentration camp. There he composed, together with his fellow prisoner Hermann Leopoldi, in the end of 1938 the famous anthem of the concentration camp, Das Buchenwaldlied ("The Buchenwald Song"):
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His initial hope for an intercession by Franz Lehár was deceptive. On October 17, 1942 he was deported to the Monowitz concentration camp near Auschwitz. The circumstances of his death have been described by Raul Hilberg in The Destruction of the European Jews: After an inspection by directors of the syndicate IG Farben at which the already diseased Löhner-Beda was denounced as working not hard enough he was beaten to death on December 4, 1942.[1][2]
Among the most famous songs for which he wrote the lyrics are: