Lin Jaldati

{{Infobox person

| name = Lin Jaldati

| image = Henk Wanink 1930-1939 Lin Jaldati.jpg

| caption = Lin Jaldati (ca. 1938)

| birth_name = Rebekka Brilleslijper

| birth_date = 13 December 1912

| birth_place = Amsterdam, Netherlands

| death_date = {{death date and age|1988|8|31|1912|12|13|df=yes}}

| death_place = East Berlin, German Democratic Republic

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| occupation = Singer

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| spouse = {{marriage|Eberhard Rebling|1942}}

| children = Kathinka Rebling
Jalda Rebling

| parents =

| relatives = Janny Brandes-Brilleslijper (sister)

}}

Lin Jaldati, known to her family as Lientje, (born Rebekka Brilleslijper; 13 December 1912 – 31 August 1988) was a Dutch-born, East German-based Yiddish singer. She was a Holocaust survivor, and one of the last people to see Anne Frank. After the war she published an article, "Memories of Anne Frank," in Joachim Hellwig and Günther Deicke's book A Diary for Anne Frank. A self-professed socialist, she performed in Yiddish in the Soviet Union, China, North Korea and Vietnam from the 1950s to the 1970s.

Life and career

Lin Jaldati was born as Rebekka Brilleslijper on 13 December 1912 in Amsterdam, Netherlands, the eldest of three children of Fijtje (née Gerritse) and Joseph Brilleslijper.{{cite news|last1=Shneer|first1=David|title=When Yiddish Came to North Korea|url=http://forward.com/the-assimilator/139725/when-yiddish-came-to-north-korea/|access-date=June 21, 2016|work=Forward|date=July 12, 2011}} Her younger sister was Janny Brandes-Brilleslijper. Her sister called her Lientje.

In Amsterdam she learned Yiddish in order to participate in the culture club of the Jewish immigrants.David Schneer, 'Forward,' July 12, 2011 "When Yiddish Culture Came to North Korea" Accessed April 20, 2025 From 1930 she danced in the Dutch National Ballet and from 1934 she participated in the Revue of Bob Peters and the Bouwmeeser Revue. After the start of the Spanish Civil War in 1936, she joined the Communist Party of the Netherlands. In 1937, she met the pianist Eberhard Rebling (1911–2008), who had emigrated from Berlin and married in 1942. From 1938 onward, she gave her own evenings with him featuring Yiddish songs, including dance performances. She also studied dance with Olga Preobrazhenskaya in Paris and singing with Eberhard E. Wechselmann in The Hague.Joodsamsterdam, 'Lin Jaldati,' https://www.joodsamsterdam.nl/lin-jaldati/ Accessed April 20, 2025David Schneer, 'Forward,' July 12, 2011 "When Yiddish Culture Came to North Korea" Accessed April 20, 2025

During World War II, she was deported to the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp and the Auschwitz concentration camp, and she survived. She was one of the last people to see Anne Frank.

She continued to pursue a Yiddish singing career.{{cite book|last1=Wood|first1=Abigail|title=And we're all brothers : singing in Yiddish in contemporary North America|date=2013|publisher=Ashgate|location=Farnham, Surrey|isbn=9781409445333|oclc=812018049|page=106|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BS7tCwAAQBAJ&q=Lin+Jaldati&pg=PA106}} After the war she sang along with her husband Eberhard Rebling accompanying on piano. In 1952 the couple emigrated from the Netherlands with their two daughters, to East Berlin. In the GDR she was for a long time the only interpreter of Yiddish music and she often performed on the East German radio.David Schneer, 'Forward,' July 12, 2011 "When Yiddish Culture Came to North Korea" Accessed April 20, 2025 She also performed in Moscow in the late 1950s.'Berliner Woche', "Tafel erinnert an bekannte jüdische Sängerin" https://www.berliner-woche.de/schmoeckwitz/c-leute/tafel-erinnert-an-bekannte-juedische-saengerin_a74931 accessed=2019-12-24 By 1965, she performed in China and North Korea. She performed in Indonesia, Thailand, India and Vietnam in the 1970s.

Jaldati was married to Eberhard Rebling, a German pianist and musicologist who emigrated to the Netherlands in 1936. They had two daughters, Kathinka Rebling (born 1941) and Jalda Rebling (born 1951).{{cite book|last1=Ostow|first1=Robin|title=Jews in Contemporary East Germany: The Children of Moses in The Land of Marx|date=1989|publisher=St. Martin's Press|location=New York|isbn=9780312031183|oclc=19267374|page=[https://archive.org/details/jewsincontempora0000osto/page/61 61]|url=https://archive.org/details/jewsincontempora0000osto/page/61}} From 1952, they resided in East Berlin. She was a proponent of socialism.