Erich Liffmann

Who was Erich Liffmann?

Erich Liffmann was a classically trained musician who began his working career as a sign writer in Germany. He was "discovered" when overheard singing in a shop window by Erwin Palm, then a conductor of the Darmstadt National Opera, who beckoned him to come out into the street by saying "Do you mean to tell me, with a voice like that, you are working as a window dresser?". He received subsequent training with the oratorio singer Ruth Kisch-Arndt.

Being Of Jewish background he managed to escape from Nazi Germany to England in 1939 by obtaining a trainee permit. Unfortunately he lacked a Work Permit and, despite a contract with Gaumont British, was prevented from working by the British Musicians Union.

At the start of the Second World War he was classified as an "enemy alien". Nine months later, he was rounded up with 2,500, mainly Jewish, enemy aliens and deported to Canada. Due to submarine activity his ship, the HMT Dunera, was diverted to Australia. During this eight-week voyage, he and his refugee colleagues were herded into cramped, filthy conditions and were subjected to significant ill treatment from their guards.