Louis Treumann


Louis Treumann was an Austrian actor and operetta tenor. He was born Alois Pollitzer on 3 March 1872 in Vienna and died 5 March 1943 in Theresienstadt. He was the son of Jewish merchants. He spent his twenties working backstage and in smaller roles, before achieving his breakthrough in 1902 in Franz Lehár's opposite Mizzi Günther.
in The Merry Widow, 1906
In 1905 he created the role of Count Danilo Danilovitsch in Lehár's Die lustige Witwe.
During the second half of the 1920s he appeared in several films, such as Der Rastelbinder, Flucht in die Fremdenlegion, Spiel um den Mann, Trust der Diebe, Katharina Knie and Die Warschauer Zitadelle. During the 1930s, as a Jew, his opportunities to perform suffered, and his final appearance was in 1935.
In 1942 he was arrested and taken to a transit camp. His colleague, the actor Theo Lingen was able to get him released, but soon afterwards he was arrested again. Over the following years he was repeatedly scheduled for transport to a concentration camp, each time saved by influential friends such as Franz Lehár. However on 28 July 1942, aged 70 years old, Treumann was finally deported to Theresienstadt together with his wife Stefanie. She died just two months later, and her death plunged Treumann into a deep depression. A few months later, on 5 March 1943, still in the Theresienstadt concentration camp, he too died.
In 1955, Treumanngasse in Vienna's Hietzing district was named after him.

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