In his article Joodse dansleraren en muzikanten in Zuidlaren Jan Kraak writes about Jewish dance teachers with the name Herman Leviet. Kraak had met someone in Zuidlaren whose mother had learned dancing of a person called Herman Leviet: “that was I think in Stadskanaal. She was at that time only six years old. During a ball Leviet once took her on his arms and danced with her on the dance floor. That must have been around the year 1900 and it was not clear whether it was the same Herman Leviet.”
When Kraak did some research, he saw advertisements about dance teachers Leviet, “like from October 1908: Dancing lesson in Hotel Centraal by H. Leviet Azn., Veendam. Children 6-12 age, 12-16 age and ladies and gentlemen age above 16, 1914: Dancing lesson in Hotel Koops by H. Leviet Bzn., Veendam, 1927: Herm. Leviet, teacher dances and rhytmic gymnastics, Veendam, gives lessons in De Gouden Leeuw."
Kraak discovered “that there have been several Jewish dance teachers in Veendam with the name Leviet, probably all descendants of Heyman Henoch Leviet (1804-1860), merchant and musician. He had two grandsons, Heyman Leviet Azn and Heyman Leviet Bzn (1890-1942) who both were dance teachers. According to the tradition at that time the Levieten made their Jewish surnames Dutch. Heyman was changed into Herman, abbreviated to Herm. The Levieten regularly were adjudged bankrupt (failliet gaan), that’s why people in Veendam did not spoke of ‘failliet gaan’ but of ‘leviet gaan’.
Heiman Leviet Bzn died in 1942 with his wife Rachel Mozes and their son Bernhard in concentration camp Auschwitz (…).
The following song (in dialect) was sung about dance teacher Leviet:
1-2-3-4-5-6 Jeude Leviet geeft dansles (…).
An advertisement from 1917 shows which dances Leviet teached, between them were foxtrots and the rag time: In Hotel de Vries, Kerkstraat, Veendam, dance lessons by H. Leviet Azn. New dances like Two Two, Walk Away Walk, Rickertje Coo, New Dutch dances like De Nederlandse Draginaal step, The Tricks, Foxtrots, Hesselations Boutons, Rag Time a.s.o. In 1926 the Dance Institute H. Leviet junior in Groningen teached the following dances: Charleston, Tango, Paso Doble, English Waltz a.s.o. In Friesland there was in the twenties also a dance teacher from Leeuwarden who called himself Herm. Leviet, probably one of his two cousins from Veendam. My mother learned from him at the end of the twenties in Gorredijk the most modern dances like the charleston.”
Addition of a visitor of the website
This person is commemorated on a memorial in Veendam. More information on this memorial can be found (in Dutch) on the website of the Nationaal Comité 4 en 5 mei.