Whatever Happened to Friedl Braur?

February 1933 was a time of trouble in Germany: Adolf Hitler carried his first address to the nation in the Reichstag, Hermann Göring assigned 55,000 SA troopers to official police missions, the first Nazi concentration camp was established, pornography and homosexuality were outlawed, and much worse was to come. Meanwhile, in Jerusalem, a "dance ball" (neshef rikudim) took place on Sunday, February 26, 1933, arranged by the acclaimed dancer and dance teacher, Friedl Braur.

This "ball" – the common [Hebrew] term for ballet performances at the time – was not only mentioned but also received favorable reviews and recommendations in a number of local newspapers. In fact, the local press had already begun to sing Braur's praises two years earlier: "Dance balls in Eretz Yisrael are generally quite weak. I believe I've attended two of them this year and have no desire to do so again", wrote Dr. Wolfgang von Weisl on February 8, 1931 in Doar Hayom (The Daily Mail), "but the 'children's aid' [lema'an ha-yeled] ball was worth the price of admission. Not for the dancers, but for the performance of Shulamit Breuer [sic], the disciple of Mary Wigman, the greatest dancer of our generation."[1] ...