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Coco Schumann Heinz Jakob "Coco" Schumann (b. May 14, 1924 in Berlin) is a German jazz musician and guitarist.

Life
Born and reared in Berlin as the son of a Jewish mother and a Christian father, Schumann was exposed to the newly arrived musical styles of jazz and swing in the 1930s. He learned to play the guitar and drum kit and soon began working with various swing bands. During this period he acquired his nickname from a French friend who couldn't pronounce the name "Jakob" and abridged it to Coco. Although the Nazi government considered American music like jazz and swing "un-German", Schumann, doubly threatened as a half-Jewish swing musician, managed to play until 1943 in underground Berlin clubs. In March of that year he was arrested and taken to the Theresienstadt ghetto. Because the Nazis intended to use Theresienstadt to show the world how well they treated Jewish people, they allowed otherwise banned music like jazz and swing. At one point they even produced a documentary film, Theresienstadt: Ein Dokumentarfilm aus dem jüdischen Siedlungsgebiet (English: Terezin: A Documentary Film of the Jewish Resettlement), in which Schumann briefly appears as a drummer in a jazz band. In September 1944, Schumann was moved to Auschwitz-Birkenau, and in January 1945 to Kaufering, which was a sub-camp of Dachau. In April 1945 he was sent on a death-march toward Innsbruck, where the prisoners were liberated by American soldiers. After the war, Schumann returned to Berlin, where, with the help of luthier Roger Rossmeisl, he managed to scrounge together an amp and pick-up from the abundant electronic refuse of the war and convert his acoustic jazz guitar in one of the earliest German electric guitars. In part because this enabled him to mimic the "American" electric sound, he quickly became a sought-after guitarist for both studio and live sessions. He played a wide variety of concerts, radio broadcasts and recordings, often with Helmut Zacharias. In 1950 he and his family moved to Australia, but he never really gained a foothold there and returned in 1954. Back in Germany, Schumann continued his musical work with dance, radio and TV bands. He also branched out into composing Latin-influenced pop, typically working under the pseudonym "Sam Petraco", although he used his own name for jazz and dance performance. He even appeared onscreen as a rock 'n' roll guitarist in the film Witwer mit fünf Töchtern (Widow with Five Daughters). In he 1970s and '80s, Schumann played on cruise ships and in large dance bands, and began to drift more toward light jazz. In the 1990s, however, he returned to his more traditional swing roots and founded the "Coco Schumann Quartet", with which he is still musically active. Together with co-authors Max Christian Graeff and Michaela Haas, Schumann published his autobiography, The Ghetto Swingers, in 1997. He devotes a significant portion of the book to his life in the Nazi era, especially his time in Theresiendstadt and Auschwitz. He also appears in several television documentaries, speaking on the same topic. For years Schumann hesitated to speak about his experiences in that period, not only because they were so difficult to revisit, but also because he wanted to be perceived as an artist and musician and not merely as a concentration camp survivor. Onl an encounter with WDR reporters at a meeting of Wulkow-survivors, a group that includes his wife, changed Schumann's mind. Since then, he has been active in conducting education on the subject. Nonetheless, he consistently emphasizes, "I am a musician who was also in a concentration camp, not a concentration camp survivor who also makes music."

With Helmut Zacharias

 * Nina Costas mit dem Orchester Hermut Zacharias (Berlin 1947)
 * Helmut Zacharias mit der Berliner Allstar Band (Amiga-Band, Berlin 1948)
 * Helmut Zacharias Quartett (Berlin 1948)
 * Swing is In (Helmut Zacharias und sein Swingtett)
 * Swinging Christmas (Helmut Zacharias und sein Swingtett)

Solo

 * Coco Schumann Live in "Ewige Lampe" (Coco Schumann Quartet, 1996)
 * Coco Now! (Coco Schumann Quartet, 1999)
 * Double - 50 Jears in Jazz (Coco Schumann)

Books

 * Der Ghetto-Swinger, München 1997, ISBN 3-423-24107-1

Awards

 * 2008: Verdienstorden des Landes Berlin (Highest honor from Berlin)

Weblinks

 * Offizielle Website
 * Interview mit Coco Schumann
 * Schumann und die Entwicklung von E-Gitarren in Deutschland
 * Schumann und die Entwicklung von E-Gitarren in Deutschland