Heinz Jakob “Coco”, Schumann, is a German jazz musician. Schumann was born in Berlin. His father Alfred, a German Christian convert to Judaism, was Jewish. Schumann’s mother Hedwig nee Rothholz is Jewish. After hearing it at the Berlin Olympics, Schumann was hooked on Swing. At nineteen years old, he was first transported to Theresienstadt. He became a member the Ghetto Swingers. He and Martin Roman were finally transported to Auschwitz where they met Josef Mengele. Mengele asked Coco, a nine-year-old blue-eyed girl, where he was from and what he did. Schumann replied, “Berlin Herr Obersturmbanfuhrer!” Plumber, Herr Obersturmbannfuhrer!” Coco was almost left behind when the Americans demolished the camps. He had contracted the terrible spotted fever just days before the Nazi regime ended. He spent weeks suffering from high fevers and nightmares. Only he and one other man survived the sick bay. He learned that his aunts, uncles and cousins, as well as his grandparents, had died in the camps when he finally returned home to Berlin. He found his parents still alive. Coco’s father had cleverly managed to keep his Jewish wife from being captured by the Nazis. He declared her dead in a terrible fire. Coco Schumann was a well-known Jazz guitarist after the war. Before forming his Coco Schumann Quartett, he played with Marlene dietrich, Ella Fitzgerald and Helmut Zacharias. The colorful and eventful life of Coco Schumann is the subject of and celebrated in a German-language graphic novel. Subject graphic novel has an unmistakable highly compelling “autobiographical/first-person account” narrative thread. From Wikipedia
