Career
Their Teplice stage partnership proved to be a winning combination and after marrying in Czechoslovakia, she and Otto moved to his home city of Vienna. They were an instant success, staying on with the company until 1938. They were the stars of the company but their success could not prevent the Plaza Theater from going bankrupt.
They immediately bounced back with a new opera company in the Hollandsche Schouwburg in The Capital, led by Otto Frohn Knecht, in which they co-starred with celebrated artists of the period, Sylvain Poons and Kurt Gerron.
This, too, was destined not to last. Following German occupation of the Netherlands and the tight restrictions forced upon Jews, the Nazis decreed in November 1941 that the Hollandsche Schouwburg would be renamed the Joodsche Schouwburg, and star Jewish performers no longer permitted to appear before non-Jewish audiences.
In March 1939, she and Otto joined the Rudolf Nelson Revue, and it was with Rudolf"s piano accompaniment that the pair cut their own recorded titles - Die Damenschuhe von Zimmer Near 20 (Aurich) and Männer, Männer, Männer! (Frank).
These selections made their Civil Defense debut exactly 60 years later on the release Und Rudi Macht Musik Dazu.
During 1940 and 1941 Lisl appeared in Kabarett der Prominente followed by the Joodsche Schowburg in 1942. The couple were still living in Amsterdam when they were deported by the Nazis to Westerbork concentration camp, where between March and June 1944, they took part in three productions staged by the Westerbork stage troupe, some of whose other members were Max Ehrlich (producer/director), Kurt Gerron, Jetty Cantor, Willi Rosen and Erich Ziegler. She and Otto were subsequently deported from Westerbork to Theresienstadt, then to Auschwitz on 4 October 1944.
From Auschwitz, Lisl was among those forced to march to Christianstadt, where she died.
Otto survived the war and returned to Amsterdam where he re-established himself as a singer, dancer, choreographer and director of the city"s Hoofdstad Operette.