Hans
Eisler was
born in Germany on 6th July, 1898. The
son of the Austrian philosopher Rudolf Eisler and Marie Fischer, the
daughter of a butcher.
In 1916 Eisler was recruited into the Hungarian regiment of the Austro-Hungarian
Army. He was wounded several times during the First
World War and when fighting ceased in 1918 he returned to Vienna.
A socialist, Eisler supported the failed
Spartacist Uprising in January, 1919.
Over the next few years Eisler studies with Anton von Webern in Vienna
and
composes Piano
Sonarto No. 1
(1923), Palmstrom
(1924), Zeitungsausschnitte
(1926), The
Red Megaphone
(1927), Songs
for the Struggle
(1928) and Song
of the Unemployed
(1929).
A committed Marxist,
Eisler worked with Bertolt
Brecht on the musical play, The
Measure Taken (1930).
He also wrote the music
for several German films including Hell
on Earth
(1931), Song
of Heroes
(1932), To
Whom Does the World Belong
(1932) and The
Song of the Street
(1933).
When Hitler gained power in 1933, Eisler he was forced to flee from
Germany. He settled in the United States where he wrote the music
for several Hollywood movies including: The
400 Million
(1939), The
Forgotten Village
(1941), Hangman
Also Die
(1943), None
But the Lonely Heart
(1944), Jealousy
(1945), A
Scandal in Paris
(1946) and Deadline
at Dawn
(1946).
In 1947
the House of Un-American Activities Committee
(HUAC), chaired by J. Parnell Thomas,
began an investigation into the entertainment industry. The HUAC interviewed
41 people who were working in Hollywood. These people attended voluntarily
and became known as "friendly witnesses". During their interviews
they named nineteen people who they accused of holding left-wing views.
Eisner was one of those named and like his left-wing
friend, Bertolt Brecht, was forced to
leave the United States. Eisler moved to East Germany where he continued
to write music for the cinema and the theatre. Hans Eisler, who wrote
the East German national anthem, Auferstanden
aus Ruinen, died on 6th February,
1962.
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