Biography

Fritz Löhner-Beda

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Fritz Loehner-Beda was educated in law at the University of Vienna, and wrote poems for newspapers and books. Following World War I he was a staff writer, and he joined a music-publisher affiliated with AKM (Austrian Performing Rights Society) by 1935, where he became a vice-president by 1938. His stage scores include "Friederike" (Frederika), "Das Land des Laechelns" (Yours Is My Heart), "Viktoria und ihr Hussar", "Schen Ist die Welt", "Giuditta", "Ball im Savoy", and "Blume von Hawai". His chief musical collaborators included Franz Lehar, Paul Abraham and Alfred Gruenwald (his co-lyricist), and his popular-song compositions include "Dein ist mein ganzes Herz" (Yours Is My Heart Alone), "O Donna Klara", "Valenzia", "Sonja", "O Katherina", "Oh Maiden, My Maiden", "Schoen ist die Welt", "Meine Lippen sie kussen so heisse", and "Blume von Hawaii", all represented by ASCAP, where he was enrolled as a member posthumously in 1946.
- IMDb mini biography by: Lou Rugani

In 1918, Löhner-Beda was called up for military service in World War I, which he left as an officer and a convinced anti-militarist.
Although aware of his collaborator's fate, Lehár remained silent. (Despite his enormous popularity with Hitler, Lehár himself was in a precarious situation, as he was married to a Jewish woman. Nonetheless, his abandonment of his former friend is particularly tragic; the Viennese cultural counselor Viktor Matejka, who had known both men, believed that 'Löhner had to die because Lehár had forgotten about him'.).
Having passed his Matura exams, he began the study of law at the University of Vienna, where he became a member of the Jewish Kadimah student association. After he had obtained his doctorate, he worked as a lawyer from 1908 onwards. A dedicated football player, he was among the founders of the Hakoah Vienna sports club in 1909.
Murdered in Auschwitz III Monowitz concentration camp and nearly forgotten, many of his songs and tunes remained popular up to today.
The circumstances surrounding Franz Lehár possibly attempting to intercede with the Nazis on Löhner-Beda's behalf are clouded. Supposedly after World War II Lehár denied any cognizance of Löhner-Beda's concentration-camp imprisonment, but one source states that Lehár may have tried personally to secure Hitler's guarantee of Löhner-Beda's safety.

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