Born on July 21, 1906, in Vienna, Else Fink received her vocal training in Berlin and, in the 1920s, mostly appeared as a concert singer and in smaller opera roles on stages in Vienna. In 1931, she was engaged as a soprano for minor roles at the Berlin State Opera and also appeared as an actress in film productions.
Her name was on the list of Jews circulated by the Nazi factory cell at the State Opera in the spring of 1933, leading to her dismissal in June of that year. She was initially engaged at the Stadttheater Saarbrücken, where critics praised her “dramatic intensity and vocal purity,” but the singer fled Germany shortly afterward. From 1935 to 1937, she worked at the German Theater in Brünn (present-day Brno) and continued to appear in radio performances until 1938.
How Else Fink spent the years that followed remains unknown. After the war, she gave guest performances, including at the Stadttheater in Zurich, and from 1957 she taught at Temple University in Philadelphia, where she founded the school’s opera workshop. The singer retired in 1973. Else Fink died on September 6, 1975.
1906 Vienna
1975 Philadelphia