14c. Curt Otto Rotter – Director of the Library of ”Reichshochschule für Musik Wien“ (University for Music in Vienna)

[Detailed catalog text in german]

Curt Otto Rotter (1881–1945) was the director of the library of the mdw* during the National Socialism and left a significant impact on Austrian folk song research.

His father, Carl Rotter (1850–1901), moved from Dresden to Vienna and worked as a  chief accountant in the brewery product industry. His mother, Maria Edle von Vacano (1854–1934), came from a long-established noble family from Tirol. Curt Rotter studied German studies, art history, and music history at the universities in Vienna, Berlin, and Leipzig. In 1909, he completed his studies at the University of Berlin with his dissertation on the rhythm of the Schnaderhüpfl, through which he filled a research gap in folk song research.

After completing an internship at the University Library of Vienna in December 1919, he initially worked as an assistant at the library of the State Academy of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna in 1920. In 1935, he was awarded the title of ‘Professor’. After the ‘Anschluss’ of Austria to the German Reich in March 1938, he took over the management of the mdw* library on 4 October 1938, assuming over the position from Gustav Donath (1878–1965). In September 1938, Donath was initially given a leave of absence and had later lost his job permanently. According to the Nuremberg Laws, Donath was classified as a “mixed race person first-degree” (“Mischling 1. Grades”) on account of his father’s religious affiliation. On 22 January 1943, Rotter was retrospectively admitted as a member of the Nazi Party from 1 October 1940, as he had expressed his support for National Socialism prior to 1938 and was a member of the German national fraternity Georg Ritter von Schönerer. Classified as “indispensable”, he was not drafted into the Wehrmacht until 1945 and remained head of the library until his death.

On 12 April 1945, Curt Rotter took his own life at the Jewish section of the cemetery in Döbling (19th district of Vienna) – one day before Vienna’s liberation by the Red Army.  According to the folklorist Kurt Conrad (1919–1994), “he couldn’t bear to see his beloved Vienna in the hands of the Russians.” (Kurt Conrad: Curt Rotter zum 100. Geburtstag, in: Salzburger Heimatpflege 3, November 1981, pp.145–146)