9. Music students: “domestic” - “blind”

[Detailed catalog text in german]

[…] And now a few words for the blind professional musicians, who will always be among us, since true talents always tend to prevail. Their training, especially that of future concert performers, should, in principle, take place at the Reichshochschulen für Musik. […]

These are the words of the mwd*-trained music educator Josef Bartosch (1879-1963) in his treatise, probably written in 1938 or 1939, “Zur Frage des Musikunterrichtes an der Blindenschule” (On the Question of Music Education at the School for the Blind). They clearly position him as an advocate of blind music students. In this treatise, Bartosch, a Nazi party member, argues against restricting music education for blind and visually impaired children and young people.

In fact, to date, four individuals have been identified who had completed their studies at the mdw* during the National Socialist era, whose student records indicated that they were “blind”: Helene (Hella) Sabeck, née Franzl (1916–1981), Wilhelm Graßmück (1916–1985), Josef Misar (1916–1985), and Leopold Tuschl (1917–2002). They all had previously attended the Wiener Blindenerziehungsinstitut, where Bartosch taught between 1903 and 1945.

Exclusion, disenfranchisement and expulsion of people persecuted as Jews also covered the blind and visually impaired immediately after the 'Anschluss’. Only few of them managed to escape from the Nazi-controlled territories. One such person was the music teacher Abraham Friedmann (1900–1949), who had studied at the mdw* in the 1920s. In July 1938, he was forced to leave his municipal apartment in Vienna. In May 1939, with the assistance of the Institute for the Blind of the Jewish community, he was able to flee to England.