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Selmar Cerini – the Polish/Jewish Jan Kiepura from Breslau

An installation by the American artist Kitty Hubbard, was unveiled in Breslau in 2016 as part of the “March of Mutual Respect”. It was dedicated to Selmar Cerini (1860-1923), the Breslau opera singer and Chief Cantor at the Breslau New Synagogue. Kitty Hubbard used a part of the wall that was the only remains of the New Synagogue. It is now a monument to the memory of the sacred building that was destroyed. Cerini and his family lived here from the end of the 19th century.

The ceremony was accompanied by recordings from the Cerini’s archive, and a song from his repertoire performed by Marek Belko, a singer from the Breslau opera house. This project revived the memory of an important personality in the Jewish history of Breslau. But who exactly was this unusually dramatic tenor

Selmar Cerini as cantor of the New Synagogue of Breslau, ca. 1895

selmarcerini.com

After the death of the Chief Cantor, Max Deutsch, the Jewish community decided to invite Cerini to be his successor. As a result he decided to give up his life as a famous soloist and accept the invitation. But new hurdles stood before him. Following an intrigue he was forced to leave the city, to which he would have only been allowed to return after receiving a certificate of naturalisation. Cerini then travelled to Strasbourg to accept an offer to work there. He quickly proved a success and as a result he was awarded German citizenship. Thanks to his extraordinary talents and stubbornness the poor Jewish boy from Wólka had finally fulfilled his dreams and won material security.

Cerini returned to Breslau in the mid-1990s to take up the post of Chief Cantor in the New Synagogue, where he remained until his death on 11th November 1923. He was laid to rest at the New Jewish Cemetery in the Frankfurter Chaussee, (now ulica Lotnicza). His gravestone can still be seen there with the following inscription.