Michael Haas

Dr. Michael Hass received a $15,000 BIAAS grant for “Discovering Karol Rathaus,” a film about a Jewish composer of classical music posed to become one of the most influential composers of his generation. With the rise of the Nazis he escaped Germany but failed to reestablish himself in the hostile cultural and political atmosphere of McCarthy America. Hiding behind the facade of ‘happiness’, Rathaus became one of the many unacknowledged casualties of the Holocaust.  The part of the film supported by the Botstiber Foundation will deal with circumstances of Rathaus’ life in Vienna as one of his several immigrations experiences.