Renowned IU pianist returns to Germany

Menahem Pressler, an IU distinguished professor, has played concerts all over the world, but none were as significant as his performance at the Magdeburg Opera House on Nov. 22.

That night, Pressler received honorary citizenship from his hometown in Magdeburg, Germany. The performance was the 85-year-old renowned pianist’s first in his hometown since fleeing the country to escape the Nazis in 1939.

“I felt so special and honored to be awarded this,” he said of the honorary citizenship, which has only been given out four times in Germany since World War II.

Before the performance started, Pressler said he could feel the audience’s appreciation for his years of teaching and playing music.

“How the audience received me when I walked out was such warmth, such very overwhelming warmth,” he said. “There was something so exceptional there.”

As the governor of Magdeburg tried to give Pressler the award after the show, the stomps and applause from the audience interrupted him and led Pressler to perform an encore.

Pressler had last been to Magdeburg in 2005, when he received the German President’s Deutsche Bundesverdienstkreuz (Cross of Merit) First Class, Germany’s highest honor.

His latest trip back to Magdeburg also gave him a chance to honor his late relatives. The day after the performance, he took part in a Stolperstiene ceremony, a commemorative service for those who were deported or killed by the Nazis.

“I tried to forget my life in Germany, so this was like closing the circle,” he said.
Stolperstiene, which means “stones to trip over,” honors victims with stones engraved with the person’s name and dates of birth, deportation and death, which are placed in pavement in front of their last residence.

Pressler’s assistant, doctoral student Michael McQuay, said that Pressler sometimes mentions his life in Germany, but never goes into detail. He added that the ceremony and performance was very personal to Pressler.

“This brings some honor and some closure to his legacy and his family’s legacy,” McQuay said.

Pressler left Germany with his parents, sister and brother three weeks before the war began. He learned years later that his other relatives had been sent to Auschwitz.

“There was a place that I could think of them,” he said of the stones created for
his relatives.

The stones were paid for by current students of the school he was expelled from as a boy.

“I was very, very moved,” he said.

Pressler started teaching at IU in 1955, turning down higher pay and lighter workloads offered to him at other schools. He said he felt the university encourages him to do his best in teaching students, and after years of concerts around the world, he said he always enjoys coming home.

“Every time I came home, the troubles of the world felt somewhere else,” he said. “Not here.”

Senior Carlin Ma said that Pressler’s dedication to music and his students make him stand out as a teacher.

“He’s 85 and performing like he’s 30,” she said.

Pressler said that he still has the energy to play around the world and teach students internationally as he sells out shows and instills his love of music in others.

“I do feel young,” he said. “The brain feels young. The heart feels young.”