November 9, Kristallnacht as a musical motif and political symbol

[Leopold N Friedman <apikoyros...>]

Kristallnacht: On November 9 it will have been 63 years ago that nearly
200 synagogues were set afire on November 9, 1938, in an officially
orchestrated evening of widespread violence and vandalism of Jewish
property. In addition to the burning of synagogues, Jewish businesses
and shops were severely vandalized throughout Germany. Josef Goebbels,
the propaganda minister under Adolf Hitler, masterminded this Night of
Broken Glass. 

(The preceding paragraph was taken from A Teacher's Guide to the
Holocaust
http://fcit.coedu.usf.edu/holocaust/timeline/KMap.htm) 


How is this image of Anti-Semitism and Jewish pain relevant to the topic
of 
Jewish music?  Several years ago, a musician whom I respect and whose
music
I enjoy, someone with considerable technical skills and exceptional
talent as a 
songwriter, wrote a song using Kristallnacht as a motif and symbol. I
don't want 
to identify this musician,  who is probably known to some on this list
and may 
even be a colleague or friend to some on this list. The identity of this
person is
not really relevant anymore.

The song drew an analogy between Kristallnacht in 1938 and the California
laws 
against illegal Hispanic immigrants, implying that what the Nazis did to
their Jews
will be what will be done to the illegal Hispanics in the US. My reaction
was that, 
however mean-spirited or even cruel the laws against the illegal
Hispanics might
be, they were a far cry from what the Nazis did to the Jews, starting in
1938. 

This seemed to be the only false note in a repertoire that I had come to
admire 
and hold in respect.  Knowing this songwriter's repertoire, I could be
certain 
that neither malice nor opportunistic insensitivity was the source of the
false 
note about Kristallnacht; It could only be this non-Jewish songwriter's
own lack
of understanding coupled with the similar ignorance or unwillingness of
this 
songwriter's Jewish colleagues and fellow performers to speak up and
inform
the songwriter that the analogy was, perhaps, not an appropriate one to
use.  
Perhaps someone closer to this songwriter did eventually.

Periodically over the years since then, I have continued to go to
concerts by this 
performer and have enjoyed them and the changing performance sets. To the

songwriter's credit, the Kristallnacht song, no longer timely, is no
longer performed,
at least not on the more than a few occasions when I was there. My
appreciation of 
the concerts was clouded, however, both by the memory of that false note
and the 
fact that, though the songwriter was approachable, I had never approached
to say 
"I had a problem with your song about Kristallnacht ..." Maybe I will,
gently,  the 
next time our paths cross.
Lee