Michel Schwalbé was a polish violinist with jewish roots. He has been the concertmaster of the Berlin Philharmonic for about 29 Years. Michel Schwalbé was born on October 27th 1919 in Radom, Poland. He studied in Warsaw until the age of twelve. Afterwards, he got lessons from Jules Bucherit (Violin), George Enescu (Interpretation) und Pierre Monteux (Chamber music and conducting) in Paris. 1940 he escaped to Lyon and became the concertmaster of the local Symphonic orchestra. In 1944 he fled to Switzerland once again. Ernest Ansermet engaged him in 1944 as the first concertmaster of the Orchester de la Suisse Romande. In Switzerland, he founded the Geneva Trio and the Schwalbé Quartet (1946-48), received a professorship at the Geneva Conservatoire as a successor to Joseph Szigeti and was also a concertmaster of the Lucerne Festival Orchestra. When Herbert von Karajan took him to the Berlin Philharmonic in West Berlin, Schwalbé, as the only survivor of his family - his mother and sister were murdered at the Treblinka extermination camp, perceived it as an "act of reconciliation with the Germans." In 1957 he became the concertmaster for the Philharmonic Orchestra and coined the famous string orchestral sound of the orchestra over several decades until he stepped back of his work in 1986, when the Polish violinist Daniel Stabrawa became his successor. Michel Schwalbé has appeared in many countries as a soloist, with chamber music ensembles such as the Philharmonic soloists and as a conductor. He died in the night of October 9, 2012 in Berlin. (Source: de.wikipedia.org/wi...)