Nazis and music

[Alex Jacobowitz <alexbjacobowitz...>]

B"H Munich

Okay, here we go again.

Pay attention folks. 

Jews in Music, 1850.
Richard Wagner

Siegfried´s father (anti-Semitic caricature)

Beckmesser (Die Meistersinger) anti-Semitic
caricature, originally named Hans Lick,
word play on Hanslick, the foremost (Jewish)
Viennese critic, who happened to be pro-Brahms
and contra-Wagner.

No question about it, Wagner was an anti-Semite,
and Hitler (ymach shmo) cites Wagner as one of
the few great Germans. Like Martin Luther.

Sure, Carl Orff was a Nazi. Lived just  down
the street from me here in Munich. But membership
in the Nazi party doesn´t necessarily make someone
a war criminal, though for some there´s no difference.

But don´t forget the more serious case, Richard
Strauss, who actually took over administration
of music under the Nazi regime. Strauss, by the way,
was also taboo in Israel, along with Wagner.
So what if he worked with a Jewish librettist?

Von Karajan - Austrian, card-carrying Nazi party
member. Some would even call him a gold card member.
Most Jews wouldn´t appear with him on stage after
the war.

Then there´s Fürtwangler. Make your pick. Where does
it begin? Where does it end? Should we outlaw
Fania Fenelon´s book because she played for officers
at Auschwitz?

Draw your lines where you see fit. But if anyone in
the whole world deserves to get the hobbled boot,
it´s Richard Wagner.

Who´s up next? Nietzsche?

Alex Jacobowitz

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