Book on Berlin Philharmoic's Nazi Ties

Book tells of Philharmonic's Nazi ties

By DAVID McHUGH, Associated Press Writer 58 minutes ago

The Berlin Philharmonic became a privileged servant of Nazi propaganda after Adolf Hitler's 1933 takeover, striking a deal with the new regime that won it financial security and perks such as fine instruments and draft exemptions for the musicians.

That's according to a new book recounting how the orchestra — then and now considered one of the world's best — lent its gloss to the Nazis. The arrangement saw the orchestra touring abroad as an example of supposed German cultural superiority and serenading Hitler on his birthday.

In "Das Reichsorchester," or "The Reich's Orchestra," Berlin-based Canadian historian Misha Aster writes that the relationship between the Nazis and the orchestra was a complex one in which each side exploited the other — although Nazi propaganda chief Joseph Goebbels held the upper hand over the orchestra and its star conductor, Wilhelm Fuertwaengler.

The Philharmonic's predicament began with its financial woes in the depressed German economy of the 1920s and 1930s, Aster says.

As a private company owned by its musicians, the fiercely independent, democratic-minded orchestra was reduced to begging for government subsidies even before the Nazi takeover in January 1933. Then, the orchestra and Fuertwaengler suddenly found an eager partner in Goebbels, who saw music as a political tool. The Nazi government simply bought out the musicians' shares and turned them into civil servants, guaranteeing steady and generous government support.

The Berlin Philharmonic had been unwilling to cut musicians' salaries or reduce its size, so Nazi financing meant it could continue to hire topflight musicians and play works demanding a large orchestra, thus preserving its elite role at the top of the German musical world.

"The pact with the Nazi regime resulted from the terrible financial situation of the orchestra since the middle of the 1920s, a certain feeling of superiority on the part of the orchestra collective and Goebbel's vision of cultural propaganda," Aster writes.

There was a price to be paid. Services to the regime included blocking out every April 18-21 for celebrations surrounding Hitler's birthday.

The musicians also played for Hitler Youth gatherings and joined forces with the Nazi cultural organization Strength Through Joy, giving concerts in sports halls to introduce classics to the masses, with swastikas prominently on display.

From his side, Fuertwaengler used his ties to Goebbels — who was eager to keep the temperamental conductor in Germany — to defend the orchestra's four Jewish musicians after the Nazi takeover. He rebuffed demands from the few Nazi party members in the orchestra ranks to fire the Jews.

But the four Jews, including concertmaster, or lead violinist, Szymon Goldberg, all fled Germany by the beginning of the 1935-36 season amid the intense anti-Semitism of Nazi rule. One, cellist Nicolai Graudan, left after getting an insulting contract renewal offer that omitted his premium as a soloist and section leader. He was apparently unprotected after Fuertwaengler temporarily left the orchestra in 1934 in a dispute with authorities over what works he could perform.

The Philharmonic's privileges included a rare draft exemption that held even until the end of World War II, when the collapsing regime sent children to die fighting approaching Soviet forces — but kept the orchestra playing. It performed Bruckner, Wagner and Beethoven — all Nazi favorites — at a private concert for armaments chief Albert Speer on April 11, 1945, less than a month before the war ended.

The players were also offered fine old string instruments. Hitler had complained that musicians in Vienna all seemed to have old violins and cellos — which generally sound better than new ones — while only a few of the Berliners had them.

The origins of the instruments were kept unclear, but Aster assumes some were purchased while others were probably stolen. Concertmaster Erich Roehn received a 1750 violin made by Italian master Pietro Guarnieri, while another violinist got a valuable Guadagnini.

Fuertwaengler and the musicians were far from alone. Some non-Jewish artists, such as conductors Fritz Busch and Arturo Toscanini, shunned the Nazis, but countless other musicians and famed conductors such as Karl Boehm and Herbert von Karajan kept working under Nazi rule.

The book is being welcomed by the orchestra, which will put on a historical exhibit about its role in the Nazi years starting Saturday in the lobby of its Berlin concert hall in conjunction with publication. Today, people of 19 different nationalities play with the Berlin Philharmonic, including an Israeli concertmaster, Guy Braunstein, and a British conductor, Sir Simon Rattle.

Aster, whose sources included state, orchestra and private archives, said he received financial support during his research from the Friends of the Berlin Philharmonic, the orchestra's donor organization, but that he had a contract for the book on his own with the publisher, Siedler, part of Random House.

"Neither the orchestra nor the foundation had any control over the contents," he said.

The Philharmonic's Nazi ties were not secret and parts of its story have been told in histories of Nazi cultural policy. Much historical writing, however, focused on Fuertwaengler, while Aster emphasizes the orchestra as an institution, using private archives of former musicians.

Aster said that one reason a general history of the orchestra's experience is being written only now, more than 60 years after the end of the regime, is that questions about the Nazi era were not welcome at the Philharmonic during the 1955-1989 reign of conductor Karajan, a former Nazi Party member.

The Berlin orchestra's compromises with the Nazis reflected those of the larger German society, Aster told The Associated Press.

"The even sadder truth is, it was symptomatic of what became of Germany and German society as a whole — how easy it was to be seduced," he said. "The moral compromises that started it seemed to be small prices to pay."