Ahn Eak-tai - Early Life and Education

Early Life and Education

Ahn was born into a wealthy family in the city of Pyongyang, now the capital of North Korea, on December 5, 1906 four years before Korea fell under Japanese rule in 1910. His family was a branch of the Ahn clan rooted in the region of Sunheung, part of Yeongju, North Gyeongsang province. The clan is renowned for having produced influential Korean figures such as An Jung-geun and An Chang-ho in the period. Ahn Eak-tai was the third son of his father, Ahn Deok-hun (안덕훈) and mother, Kim Jeong-ok (김정옥) Ahn Eak-tai had six siblings. His father, Ahn Deok-hun, ran a hotel business and wanted his children to receive advanced Western education. His eldest son, Ahn Iksam, was sent to Tokyo to study.

In the meanwhile, Ahn Eak-tai was drawn into music and sang hymns at a village church. Ahn Iksam was well aware of his younger brother's interest in music, and so bought him a Suzuki violin, a phonograph and records from Japan. Ahn Eak-tai started playing the violin and began to develop his musical talent early on. In 1914, he entered Pyongyang Jongno Elementary School (평양종로보통학교) and began to play the trumpet. In 1918, he was admitted to the Pyongyang Soongsil Middle School, where he played in the school orchestra. He received a cello from Iksam and the Rev. Dr. Eli Miller Mowry, the American principal of the school, as a congratulatory gift. introduced a music teacher at YMCA, Mr. Greg to him for a private cello lesson.

In 1919, the Rev. Mowry led the school orchestra in participating in the March 1st Movement, a nationwide effort among Koreans to protest against Japanese rule over the Korean peninsula. From this experience, Ahn developed a fervor for the Korean independence movement, and began a student-held movement to protest against pro-Japanese teachers; the school deemed Ahn's actions inappropriate, and punished him accordingly. Sometime in September, Ahn involved himself in an effort to raid a jail in order to rescue the March 1st Movement activists caught by the Japanese police. When the police raided one of the meetings, Ahn successfully fled to Dr. Mauri's. The doctor treated Ahn's injuries for a week, and, upon receiving requests from the police to surrender Ahn, made a personal visit to the local police station to discuss alternatives. Impressed with Dr. Mauri's character, the department head let Ahn forego imprisonment by forging papers that permitted Ahn to study music in Tokyo.