Re: Germans and Klezmer

[Steven Fischbach <fischri...>]

It has been about a year since I took my "roots" trip to Berlin.  In
addition to flipping through the Nazi property seizure and deportation
records of my relatives at the Berlin Landesarchiv, I had the opportunity
to spend time with members of a Berlin based Klezmer group (thanks in part
to our esteemed List Owner).  I included the band on my itinerary as I was
as equally interested in finding out about this odd phenomenon of German
klezmer as I was in learning about my family's history in Berlin.
 
Although my experience with the band consisted of a series of brief
contacts during a short period of time, I came to understand that at least
these performers had a sincere love of the music, and that's why they
perform it.  They were conscious of the fact that their band could be
interpreted by some as a cheap attempt at reconciliation and were also
conscious that many Germans portray Jewish culture  in cliches.  I asked
about who came to their concerts and why they came, but the band couldn't
answer that question.     

Also, on my trip I had an exchange with a Jewish staff member of the Jewish
Museum Berlin about the Klezmer phenomena in Germany.  He was totally
revolted by it, and said there would be no Klezmer music in his museum.
Yes, the subject of Klezmer in Germany is controversial.

I hardly consider myself an expert on this subject, since my time in
Germany was so brief and it  the only time I have ever been outside the US.
 However, in any community there are good folks and bad folks and folks in
between.  People should be judged by what they do more than who they are.
I cannot dismiss or reject all Germans who play Klezmer.  I am glad that
the German, non-Jewish musicians on this list said what they said and I
thank them for their contribution to this discussion.  As far as I am
concerned, I welcome their participation in our culture and look forward to
hearing their music.  I hope that they will try to re-discover (and
perform) Jewish folk music that existed in Germany before the Shoah,
whether that music be Klezmer or otherwise (I am still trying to find out
more of what it actually was).

To those who cannot bear the thought of listening to any Germans performing
Klezmer, I think you need to re-evaluate your position.  Those born after
WWII (and even those who were born during the war) were not responsible for
the Shoah.  While I think it is okay for ethnic group members to ask
questions to the "outsider" as to why they perform ethnic music, I do not
think it is necessary to hold Germans who play Klezmer to any higher
standard than any other "outsider" who performs ethnic music, Shoah
notwithstanding.

So now I am up to four pfennig.

And, thanks Josh for sharing your essay with this list.






Steven Fischbach
Providence, Rhode Island  USA
fischri (at) gis(dot)net

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