Klarinet Archive - Posting 000115.txt from 2007/05

From: Audrey Travis <clr91nt@-----.ca>
Subj: [kl] A Deeper View of Wagner's Background
Date: Mon, 14 May 2007 11:09:49 -0400

Very good article, Joe. However, the author washes over the idea that
Wagner's ideas/ideology regarding Jews were part and parcel of a well
established political and cultural background of his time. A book I
mentioned about a week ago, The War Against The Jews 1939 - 1945 by
Lucy Davidovitch details the history of political parties in Germany
and Austria going back at least 200 years. She shows that there were
well established, mainstream parties with written language in their
party platforms that either:

(a) supported the idea that Jews were the cause of the evils/problems
in their society and should be barred from certain livelihoods and
parts of society (very well known in other countries as well)

(b) started with idea (a) and strongly advocated that Jews should be
expelled from their country (Judenrein - well known and acted upon
inother countries))

or (c) started with idea (a) and strongly advocated that Jews were
subhuman and should be physically exterminated (murdered)

All these ideas were well accepted in those countries well before
Wagner was even born. He grew up with these ideas as part of his
social education. Therefore, Wagner was NOT the source of Nazi
ideology, nor was Hitler himself. Because so many people do not know
history, Hitler is often thought of as an aberration of history with
wild and exceedingly deadly ideas/ideology that came out of nowhere but
his own tortured and insane mind. Not so. Both Wagner and Hitler were
products of the political and cultural background of their society.

It is the fact that Hitler and the Nazis used the music of such a
public figure as Wagner that has given rise to the ban of his music
being played in Israel.

Audrey

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