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'BEAR FAMILY deserve the gratitude of jews all over the world. This is the most exhaustive collection of Jewish music from Nazi Berlin ever recorded.'' - Jewish Telegraph (2002)
''The whole idea behind 'Beyond Recall' is that nothing recorded should ever be totally beyond recall. This prodigious BEAR FAMILY boxed set is like a chunk of the planet Krypton crashing our atmosphere - and not just because the accompanying 500-page, German and English book weighs almost eight pounds.'' - J. Hoberman, Village Voice (May 28, 2002)

After Hitler's seizure of power in 1933, anti-Semitism became a state doctrine. The National Socialists' aim was the physical destruction of the Jews. Every memory of the sound and voice of Jewish artists was to be consigned to oblivion in the same way as the Yiddish language. On being liberated from Theresienstadt concentration camp, the Berlin Rabbi, Leo Baeck, stated his conviction that the 1,000 year history of the Jews in Germany had come to an irrevocable end. This documentation is proof of the victory of life over death - priceless sound documents have been rescued, then restored with a great expenditure of technological effort and, after sixty years, made available once more for all time.

Under constant surveillance by the Gestapo, the members of a Jewish Cultural League (J?discher Kulturbund) in Berlin were able to pursue their artistic activities and make and distribute records. Some of the titles recorded in Berlin were released in Palestine from 1934 to 1936 - forming part of the early history of Israel's record industry. These records that are scattered throughout the world for the most part exist only as single copies or test pressings. The repertoire is wide and includes classical music, Yiddish comedians, German cabaret, Palestinian folk songs and, above all, cantorial singing of enormous eloquence.

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