Inge Ginsburg, 1922-2021. What an extraordinary woman.

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OP: I missed reading about her passing in July, so I'm copying today's Now This News Community Post on YouTube.

NowThis News
4 hours ago (edited)

Holocaust survivor.
Refugee.
Aide to the Allied forces during WWII.
Journalist.
Hollywood songwriter.
COVID-19 survivor.
Poet.
Heavy metal singer.

Inge Ginsberg, whose July 20 death was the subject of a recent NYT obituary, was many things in her 99 years of life. Ginsberg was born in Vienna, Austria, but fled to Switzerland with her mother to escape Jewish persecution by the Nazis in 1942. During the war, she & her family lived in refugee camps. She helped to pass on messages from Italian resistance fighters to American intelligence members, with the help of her then-boyfriend (who later became her first husband). After the war, Ginsberg and her husband worked as a songwriting duo in Hollywood, writing songs for several stars, including Dean Martin.

In her later years, Ginsberg kept busy by singing and writing heavy metal songs. She would later perform those songs on 'Switzerland's Got Talent' and the Eurovision Song Contest, as well as in numerous music videos. Her story was covered by the NYT in a 2018 documentary called 'Death Metal Grandma.'

'I don't have to do special things to prove that I am alive,’ Ginsberg said in the doc. ‘My concept of heaven and hell is that in the moment of death, you realize your life was full and good—that's heaven. And if you think, 'Oh, I should have done this or that,' I think that's hell.'’

According to The New York Times, the content of Ginsberg's songwriting caught the attention of future collaborator Pedro da Silva. 'She wrote these lyrics about worms eating your flesh after you die,' he told the NYT. From there, the idea of the heavy metal band bloomed. Much of her experiences from her time during the rise of the Nazis would later be featured in her 2017 song 'I'm Still Here,' where she remarked on the deaths of her grandmother and four cousins in concentration camps.

'It's important to stay active, and surround yourself with young people, and keep doing things you've never done before,’ Ginsberg once told the judges during a performance on ‘Switzerland’s Got Talent.' 'You may laugh at me but not until you do the same thing when you're 94.'



https://www.youtube.com/post/Ugz3G_21whXRiVA8iD54AaABCQ

[efhmc]

1. An amazing person.

[smirkymonkey]

2. K&R

RIP, Inge!