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Rainer Hardt (1905 – 1943) also known as Rainer Hass, has been for the last century something of an enigma. It is known that he was born in Dresden, Germany on the 16th of June 1905. Not much is known about his childhood or his background. We do know that he started playing guitar at the young age of seven and by the age of sixteen had formed his own jazz band. From then on, he went by the pseudonym Rainer Hass. From German, the English translation of this name means Pure Hate. It is more or less a play on words i.e. Rainer (Reiner means pure) is an actual first name and the last name Haas is transformed into Hass (Hate) giving us the name Rainer Hass. Although it seems strange that a young musician would want to use a name like this, it was generally accepted as the arts in Germany during the time of the Weimar Republic were often controversial. And controversial he was – but always indirectly. He sang most of his songs in English, which on the surface sounded perfectly fine to ...