On November 16, 1942, cantor and world-renowned operatic tenor Joseph Schmidt passed away. Schmidt was an Austro-Hungarian and Romanian Jewish citizen, with a talent for both singing and acting. When Germany invaded Holland, he made a narrow escape to Switzerland, but once there, was placed in a detention camp where he would never make it out of. Joseph Schmidt was born on March 4, 1904, in modern-day Ukraine. His mother supported his music career, but his father did not. He began his singing career as a young alto in the Czernowitz Synagogue and was quickly recognized and praised for his unique voice. He learned piano and took formal singing lessons in Berlin at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Munich, Germany.But his triumphant success was overshadowed by the rise of Nazi Germany. Jewish artists and composers were prohibited from performing in Germany or any other Nazi-occupied territory. So, after a major tour of the United States, including a stellar performance at Carnegie Hall in New York City, Joseph returned to Europe but sought refuge in Holland, where the Dutch people welcomed him with open arms due to his immense popularity in both the Netherlands and Belgium. In 1939, Schmidt visited his mother in his hometown of Czernowitz, Ukraine, for the last time before the start of World War II. When the Nazis invaded Poland in September 1939, Schmidt was in Belgium and booked passage on a steamship setting out from Marseilles, France, to the United States. He was still in France when the Germans invaded the country, and tried to escape to Cuba but was unsuccessful. Schmidt made a run for the Swiss border where he was caught and detained in a refugee camp in Girenbad near Zurich in October of 1942. Schmidt contracted a severe throat infection while interned at the camp; he was treated at a local hospital and was discharged on November 14, 1942. But just two days later, he suffered a major heart attack and collapsed, passing away while attempting to recover at the Waldeg Inn. He was 38 years old. He is buried in the Israelitischer Friedhof Unterer Friesenberg in Zurich, Switzerland.