Buchholtz, Helen (eig. Charlotta Helena, also: Helen Geiger-Buchholtz)

Composer, pianist, singer

born: 24.11.1877 in Esch an der Alzette (Luxembourg)

died: 22.10.1953 in Luxembourg-Ville

Buchholtz received music lessons as a child and began to compose. In 1914 she married the German doctor Bernhard Geiger. The couple moved to Wiesbaden and lived at Taunusstrasse 25 from 1914-21. In Wiesbaden, she continued her music studies and compositions, which she published under her birth name Buchholtz. After the death of her husband in 1921, she moved back to Luxembourg.

During the German occupation, she dedicated the composition "U Letzeburg" (For Luxembourg) to her country. Her song composition "Do'deg Dierfer 1945" (Dead Villages) was published on February 10, 1945. The song was written in memory of the villages of the Ösling - a region in the north of Luxembourg - and their inhabitants that were destroyed in the final phase of the Second World War. In December 1944, German troops had reoccupied the Ösling after its liberation by the Western Allies. The subsequent battles between American and German troops resulted in enormous destruction and great suffering among the local population.

When she died, Buchholtz left behind around 140 compositions that seemed almost forgotten. Her works were only rediscovered by chance at the end of the 20th century and left to the "Euterpe-Frauenmusikforum Luxemburg im cid-femmes" by one of her descendants. The "Archive Helen Buchholtz im Cid-femmes" was opened in the fall of 2000. Buchholtz is considered the most important Luxembourgish musician of her time.