Composers persecuted in WWII

During the Second World War, many composers were persecuted by the Nazi’s, because they either had a Jewish background or refused to comply with Nazi rules. Their music was banned from all public performance. The Leo Smit Foundation, founded in 1996, is committed to regain this music.

In more than 200 concerts, we’ve brought to life music that was lost and forgotten. With this website, we share with musicians, programmers and music lovers worldwide what we’ve found, starting with music from composers who lived and worked in the Netherlands.

Here you can search for composers, works for various instrumentations or vocal repertoire. Find scores, look at manuscripts and listen to sound samples.