PORTLAND – Cantor Kurt Messerschmidt, 102 ½, an iconic and beloved figure in Portland’s Jewish community, died peacefully at Mercy Hospital on Sept. 12, 2017.
Kurt was born during World War I near Berlin, Germany. Despite being a prize student-athlete in high school, Kurt’s admission to Berlin University was forfeited because he was Jewish. Before emigration from Germany was closed to Jews by the Nazis, Kurt had a chance to go to China, but felt it was important for him to remain in Germany to teach Jewish children. He graduated from a teacher’s seminary and later taught at a Jewish school in Berlin where he met Sonja, his future wife.
Kurt and Sonja were deported to Terezin concentration camp in Czechoslovakia and were married there in the spring of 1944. Separated by the Nazis shortly after, each was sent to a succession of concentration camps, including Auschwitz-Birkenau.
Kurt miraculously escaped from a death march in the spring of 1945 by walking away in snow-covered terrain. Months later, in the chaos of post-war Germany, Kurt found a handwritten note Sonja had left weeks earlier on a bulletin board at a refugee center in Munich, a city neither had ever visited prior to the war. With the assistance of the American military, he secured transportation to find her and reunite.
Kurt was an accomplished musician and singer. He had a successful career performing opera, lieder and religious pieces with a professional choir on Radio Munich. However, in 1950 he decided to emigrate with his family to the United States to escape the Nazi influence still prevalent in Germany.
After living in the Bronx and working as a cantor in Lyndhurst, N.J., for a year, Kurt accepted a position as Cantor of Temple Beth El in Portland, where for the next 34 years he was a beloved teacher, mentor and spiritual leader. He led the congregation in prayer with his beautiful tenor voice, and trained decades of bar and bat mitzvah students.
He developed award-winning choirs, staged musical cantatas, provided pastoral support and engaged in interfaith services in the community. Such was his profound effect on people that former students from as long as 80 years ago and from around the globe have actively sought to maintain contact with him, and such contact was happily reciprocated.
Kurt received numerous honors, including an honorary doctorate from the Jewish Theological Seminary, a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Maine Jewish Museum, and a Key to the City of Portland.
He was fortunate to be married for 66 years to Sonja, the love of his life. A book about their love story and their journey together, entitled “Death and Love in the Holocaust,” was published by The Holocaust and Human Rights Center of Maine.
Kurt was predeceased by Sonja in 2010 and by his brother, Henry Oertelt, in 2011.
He is survived by his son, Michael (Doreen Athans); daughter, Eva Polisner (Duane); grandchildren, David Polisner (Jennifer), Sarah Weber (Thomas), Isaac Messerschmidt and Noah Messerschmidt; and great-grand-children, Daniel Polisner, Leah Weber, Joshua Polisner and Robert Weber.
The family would like to express their profound gratitude to the staff at The Cedars and Mercy Hospital, who provided love and care to Kurt over the past several months.
Funeral services will be held Friday, Sept. 15, at Temple Beth El, 400 Deering Ave., Portland, at 11 a.m., followed immediately by interment at Temple Beth El Memorial Park. All are welcome to join the family for a reception from 1-4 p.m. at the Atrium at The Cedars, 640 Ocean Ave., Portland. Shiva will be observed Saturday from 7:30-8:30 p.m., and Sunday from 4-5 p.m., at the Atrium. Arrangements are by the Portland Jewish Funeral Home.
In lieu of flowers, please consider a contribution to
The Cedars,
Temple Beth El, or
The Holocaust and Human Rights Center of Maine.