Django Reinhardt

Django Reinhardt (1910 – 1953) was a pioneering virtuoso jazz guitarist and composer. Born in Belgium of Romani descent, Reinhardt achieved his greatest fame in France in the years before and after World War II, inventing an entirely new style of jazz guitar technique (sometimes called 'hot' jazz guitar) that has since become a living musical tradition within French gypsy culture.

Reinhardt was actually able to continue to perform in France during the Nazi-occupation, despite the Nazis' disdain for both Gypsies and jazz. He continued to perform after the war, until he retired in 1951. He died of a brain hemorrhage in 1953.

Django Reinhardt in The War That Came Early
In the aftermath of "the big switch" of 1940, which saw France and Britain join with Germany against the Soviet Union, Peggy Druce could help but wonder if the French government might decide to presecute the jazz-playing Gypsy Django Reinhardt as a sop to their new Nazi allies.