31 X 1883, Warszawa/Warsaw –
3 III 1943, Auschwitz-Birkenau
Biography
acob „Jac” Maliniak studied at the conservatory of music in Warsaw but had to flee to Norway. He worked for many years as bandmaster at the restaurant Palmehaven in Trondheim.
Jacob „Jac” Maliniak, son of Anna and Benjamin, was born in Warsaw, Poland. He studied at the Conservatory of Music in his hometown as a violinist and conductor. In 1909 he married Mathilde Halpern, and they had a daughter. In Warsaw he played in a symphony orchestra, where Edvard Grieg was a guest conductor. Jac also had intense discussions with Arnold Schönberg, the founder of the revolutionary twelve-tone scale, regarding the arrangement of compositions and orchestration.
Because of World War I, the family was forced to move, and they went to Norway in 1918. Maliniak had success in his career and worked from that same year as the very first conductor at Hotel Britannia’s restaurant, Palmehaven in Trondheim. The musicians entertained the restaurant’s guests three times a day.
On 6 October 1942, the occupying power declared a state of emergency in the Trondheim region. Jewish men were arrested, women and children were thrown out of their homes and gathered in two apartments. On 26 November, the arrested were sent by train to Oslo and imprisoned in Bredtveit prison. Jacob and Mathilde Maliniak were two of the 158 Jews from Norway who were deported on the ship MS Gotenland on 25 February 1943. When they arrived in Auschwitz, Jacob and Mathilde were sent straight to the gas chamber and killed. Their daughter Maryla succeeded in getting to Sweden after a dramatic escape. Like her father, she became a professional musician. She also had her own orchestra.
After the war, The Jac and Mathilde Maliniak Memorial Fund was established. The fund supports young violinists belonging to Trøndelag. During the opening of the exhibition Home. Gone. Holocaust in Trondheim at the Jewish Museum in 2019, Jac Maliniak’s violin was presented and played. Today, the violin is owned by his grandchildren”.
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Jacob Maliniak playing the violin. From the collection of Oslo Jewish Museum
Front page of the composition L’amour, quel délice! From the collection of Oslo Jewish Museum
Jacob Maliniak together with another violinist. From the collection of Oslo Jewish Museum
The Restaurant Palmehaven in Trondheim, Norway, where Jacob Maliniak played (National Library of Norway, Public Domain)
A composition in Jacob Maliniak’s handwriting. From the collection of Oslo Jewish Museum
Jacob „Jac” Maliniak studied at the conservatory of music in Warsaw but had to flee to Norway. He worked for many years as bandmaster at the restaurant Palmehaven in Trondheim.
Jacob „Jac” Maliniak, son of Anna and Benjamin, was born in Warsaw, Poland. He studied at the Conservatory of Music in his hometown as a violinist and conductor. In 1909 he married Mathilde Halpern, and they had a daughter. In Warsaw he played in a symphony orchestra, where Edvard Grieg was a guest conductor. Jac also had intense discussions with Arnold Schönberg, the founder of the revolutionary twelve-tone scale, regarding the arrangement of compositions and orchestration.
Because of World War I, the family was forced to move, and they went to Norway in 1918. Maliniak had success in his career and worked from that same year as the very first conductor at Hotel Britannia’s restaurant, Palmehaven in Trondheim. The musicians entertained the restaurant’s guests three times a day.
On 6 October 1942, the occupying power declared a state of emergency in the Trondheim region. Jewish men were arrested, women and children were thrown out of their homes and gathered in two apartments. On 26 November, the arrested were sent by train to Oslo and imprisoned in Bredtveit prison. Jacob and Mathilde Maliniak were two of the 158 Jews from Norway who were deported on the ship MS Gotenland on 25 February 1943. When they arrived in Auschwitz, Jacob and Mathilde were sent straight to the gas chamber and killed. Their daughter Maryla succeeded in getting to Sweden after a dramatic escape. Like her father, she became a professional musician. She also had her own orchestra.
After the war, The Jac and Mathilde Maliniak Memorial Fund was established. The fund supports young violinists belonging to Trøndelag. During the opening of the exhibition Home. Gone. Holocaust in Trondheim at the Jewish Museum in 2019, Jac Maliniak’s violin was presented and played. Today, the violin is owned by his grandchildren.