Willy Julius Rosenbaum, better known by his stage name, Willy Rosen, took piano lessons as a young man but was trained to work in the garment industry. After being injured in the First World War, he made himself useful by entertaining the troops, and he managed a theatre group on the front. Between the world wars, he lived in Berlin, where he became a popular composer, lyricist and cabaret performer. He also wrote music for operettas and films. It became a trademark of his to announce ‘Text und Musik sind von mir!’ (‘Lyrics and music by me!’) at the start of his performances. In 1923 he married Elsbeth Hoffmann in Düsseldorf. In 1933, when it became difficult for Jewish artists to perform in Germany, he went on tour with a group of artists under the name of De Prominenten (The Celebrities). He always returned to Berlin, where he worked with the Jüdische Kulturbund cabaret troupe. From 1937 onwards, the group regularly spent the summers performing in Scheveningen; in 1939, Rosen fled through Austria and Switzerland to the Netherlands, where he intended to remain. His non-Jewish wife Else Rosen-Hoffmann remained behind in Berlin. After eight months’ imprisonment and under very severe pressure from the Gestapo, she agreed to a divorce, which was put into effect in November 1940. From 1939 onwards, Willy Rosen lived in Scheveningen, at Pension Neumann, run by Elsbeth Rubino, who also came from Germany. Later this pension moved to Utrecht. In July 1942 Rosen married Olga Maria Krauskopf. He became one of the leading figures in Dutch prewar theater and wrote countless revues performed between 1940 and 1942. After the closure of the Hollandsche Schouwburg (or Joodse Schouwburg) in 1942, he probably went into hiding. In May 1943 he was entered into the records at Westerbork as a criminal offender, along with his second wife. At the camp, he worked with Max Ehrlich and Erich Ziegler on performances by an ensemble known as the Bühne Gruppe Westerbork. Even when the camp was being evacuated in 1944, Rosen wrote the lyrics for a new song, ‘Abschied eines alten Kampinsassen’ (‘An old camp inmate says farewell’), which ends with the verse: ‘Nun sitz’ich im Coupé, gleich wird es pfeifen. / Noch einmal lass ich meinen Blick über die Gegend schweifen. / Nun weiss ich doch – ich leide Qualen, / Adieu, mein Westerbork, Post Hooghalen.’ (‘Now I sit in the train compartment; in a moment the whistle will blow. / I let my gaze wander over the landscape one last time. / Yet now I know – I am in anguish / Adieu, my Westerbork, Post Hooghalen.’) Less than a month later he was murdered in Auschwitz.
Katja B. Zaich, 'Ich bitte dringend um ein Happyend. Deutsche Bühnenkünstler im niederländischen Exil 1933-1945', (Frankfurt am Main, 2001), 99 ff, 165 ff, 203
Additional reading:
Mathijsen, 'De entertainer van Westerbork', in: Vrij Nederland, 2 May 1992, 46-53. With photos;
R. Schröder (ed.), Text und Musik von mir! Willy Rosen (Berlin, n.d.)
In addition, a Jokos file (number 55289) on this person is at the Amsterdam Municipal Archive. Access is subject to authorization from the Stichting Joods Maatschappelijk Werk.