A few weeks ago, I received a phone call from a family in Boston, Mass. They heard of our accordion museum and wanted to donate their mother’s accordions and music. I gladly accepted the gift and planned to meet with them soon. Their mother, Rosemarie Hoffman Molitor, (they gave me permission to use her name), was born in 1929 and grew up in Germany. She spent the first year and a half of her life in an orphanage before she was adopted by Georg and Marie Molitor. She had numerous physical issues and for quite a while she could not walk. But her parents gave her the care she needed and she became healthy.
They delivered the accordions, two of them, along with four boxes of sheet music and history. I was very surprised to see that both machines were Hohner Morino chromatic button units, B system with a converter free bass adaptation on the more recently built accordion. They are both quite heavy and Rosemarie had a special harness made so she could stand while playing.
Rosemarie’s story came to me in bits and pieces but it is amazing. She learned how to play the accordion with some of the top teachers in Germany in the 1930’s. She continued her playing and began to win many competitions. She was ten years old when WW II began. During the war years she and her family had constant strife with the Nazis. She was asked on many occasions to play at Nazi party events, but she always bravely refused because she did not like what Hitler was doing to Germany.
The Nazi party did everything they could to “persuade” her to play for them. They made her father drive the bomb trucks (an extremely hazardous job) that contained the bombs needed in the war effort to the front lines. But Rosemarie, in her pre-teen years, remained firm in her refusal to play even though she and the family feared a reprisal from the Nazis. However, she and her family survived the Nazi threats.
She went on after the war to win many competitions in Germany and she studied with Prof. Hans Brehme, Rudolf Wuerthner, and Hugo Hermann all very prominent musicians at the time. Together they all pioneered the playing of classical music on the accordion. They wanted to expand the accordion repertoire to include classical music beyond just folk music. Rosemarie focused her playing on Bach’s music primarily.
She was asked to join the prestigious Hohner orchestra at age 17, the youngest member ever to play in that group. She stayed with them for over four years. Her list of musical accomplishments and German championship status is enormous. Her music was recorded and can still be heard on the web today.
While I was learning all of this from the family on their visit to me, I asked them when she had passed. They looked at me, smiled and said, “Oh no, she is very much alive and well!” I was stunned and I said, “She must be almost 100 years old!” To that they replied, “Yes, she is 96 years old. Would you like to speak with her? Or better yet we could face time her!”
So, there I was speaking to and looking at someone who lived through all those horrible years under the Nazi regime. I never dreamt I would have that privilege to talk with someone who survived all of that. What an amazing conversation that was…I will never forget it. She is not only a world class accordionist but also a brave hero for standing up to the Nazis at her and her family’s own peril.
It turns out that accordion players can be heroes too.
Paul Ramunni
New England Accordion Connection & Museum Co.
860-833-1374
Another amazing accordion story from our Happy Music Center Ambassador Angelo Paul Ramunni – March 23, 2025
