Germans mourn rebel sax

In 1943, a clarinet student at the Frankfurt conservatoire was hauled in by the Gestapo for secretly playing jazz saxophone with friends. He was sent to the eastern front and held prisoner by the Russians for four years.

Emil Mangelsdorff, who has died in Frankfurt aged 96, has been extolled in recent years as a resistance hero.

Culture minister Claudia Roth said: ‘With the German jazz scene, I mourn the loss of one of their most distinguished and renowned soloists. He and his brother discovered their love for jazz early on – at a time when anyone who listened to jazz or even played it themselves risked severe penalties.’

The Prime Minister of Hesse, Volker Bouffier sais Emil had ‘not only made a contribution to culture in Hesse, but also did valuable work to commemorate the darkest hours of German history’.