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Historian Probes Conductor Von Karajan's Nazi Past
Arutz Sheva ^ | 17/12/12 | Rachel Hirshfeld

Posted on 12/16/2012 3:44:58 PM PST by Eleutheria5

Austrian conductor Herbert von Karajan, a major figure in 20th-century classical music, was a more adamant Nazi supporter than previously believed, according to a historian who has unearthed previously unseen documents.

"It is time to probe scientifically the claims that Karajan constructed and cobbled together... and which in the end he really believed himself," said Oliver Rathkolb from Vienna University, according to AFP.

Presenting his findings at a seminar on Friday, Rathkolb cited anti-Semitic comments from letters written by Karajan (1908-1989) in his youth and said that at school the legendary maestro had belonged to an ultra-nationalist, pan-German youth group in Salzburg.

Rathkolb also questioned Karajan's claims after World War II that he only joined the Nazi party in order to be able to pursue his musical career, citing his application to join in April 1933, five years before the annexation of Austria by Nazi Germany.

.....

(Excerpt) Read more at israelnationalnews.com ...


TOPICS: Books/Literature; History; Music/Entertainment; Society
KEYWORDS: documents; incriminating; nazi; vonkarajan
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Zum ersht Gunter Gras, itzt Von Karajan. In wemen ken men glueben? (OK. I don't know German spelling; just guessing from Yiddish) What is it with the arty farty, anyway? Ezra Pound, TS Eliot and even HL Mencken were all enamored with fascism.
1 posted on 12/16/2012 3:45:11 PM PST by Eleutheria5
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To: Eleutheria5

Karajan’s Heidegger moment, perhaps.....I sure hope not, though.


2 posted on 12/16/2012 3:48:57 PM PST by ConservativeDude
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To: ConservativeDude

Eyew....His renditions of Beethoven’s Symphonies were among my favorites, but now my enjoyment of them has been sullied.


3 posted on 12/16/2012 3:52:27 PM PST by left that other site (Worry is the Darkroom that Develops Negatives.)
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To: left that other site

Listen to them with your boots off.


4 posted on 12/16/2012 3:57:14 PM PST by Misterioso ( "Those who grant sympathy to guilt, grant none to innocence." - Ayn Rand)
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To: left that other site

I agree entirely on his Beethoven interpretations. They are for me, definitive. Karajan introduced me to Bruckner, as well, and for me, Karajan’s Bruckner is also definitive.

(Not to imply that I am more knowledgeable than I am...I’m just saying, “I like what I hear” and everytime I say that, it seems like Karajan is at the podium...)


5 posted on 12/16/2012 3:58:43 PM PST by ConservativeDude
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To: left that other site

Why? What has his conductorship have to do with his political ideology?

Feeeeeeeeeeelings is what often gets us into trouble.

Genius, whether communist or fascist or whatever, is still genius.


6 posted on 12/16/2012 4:08:49 PM PST by 353FMG
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To: Eleutheria5

Beethoven wrote the Eroica for Napoleon, and Shostakovich’s 5th is dedicated to the Russian communist revolution of 1917. Both are beautiful.


7 posted on 12/16/2012 4:13:57 PM PST by combat_boots (The Lion of Judah cometh. Hallelujah. Gloria Patri, Filio et Spiritui Sancto!)
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To: 353FMG

Art, especially music and poetry, are about feelings. Music without feeling is just mathematically measurable noise. So why do people with such venal feelings as Wagner and Von Karajan become great musicians? Why were the two greatest influences on modern poetry, Pound and Eliot, fascist sympathizers? It makes one wonder about the validity of art. Is it just some pagan venting of feeling?


8 posted on 12/16/2012 4:21:38 PM PST by Eleutheria5 (End the occupation. Annex today.)
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To: sitetest

Ping.


9 posted on 12/16/2012 4:30:05 PM PST by SunTzuWu
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To: 353FMG
Does this mean we can't watch YouTubes of Von Karajan conducting the Radetzky March?

Of course Field Marshall Radetzky is politically incorrect anyway, since he won victories for the Habsburgs over the Italian revolutionaries in 1848.

10 posted on 12/16/2012 4:38:33 PM PST by Verginius Rufus
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To: 353FMG

Just as we at FR get unhappy when artist like Speilberg endorse obama, it makes me unhappy when artists like Von Karajan endorsed hitler.

Artistic Genius does not guarantee political or even moral rectitude.


11 posted on 12/16/2012 4:48:23 PM PST by left that other site (Worry is the Darkroom that Develops Negatives.)
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To: Misterioso

My Motorcycle Boots?


12 posted on 12/16/2012 4:51:19 PM PST by left that other site (Worry is the Darkroom that Develops Negatives.)
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To: ConservativeDude

Especially the 6th.


13 posted on 12/16/2012 4:52:48 PM PST by left that other site (Worry is the Darkroom that Develops Negatives.)
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To: Eleutheria5

Not being an English Lit major mind you but just my two cents of what I remember from my high school days, most of what these three wrote was crap. Pound most especially. Yeah, Mencken was a social critic but the love of fascism for failed artists(Hitler considered himself one) and writers who suck otherwise is that as long as they glorify the fascist leader, they’re a success and no one can criticize them in a fascist system.


14 posted on 12/16/2012 5:30:47 PM PST by jmacusa (Political correctness is cultural Marxism. I'm not a Marxist.)
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To: Eleutheria5

With regard to truly creative artists, if I didn’t separate their work from their personalities, politics, whatever, I’ve have a small palette. Heck, Brecht angered Hitler and was close to being arrested when he escaped Germany but, on the other hand, he was a committed Marxist and returned to East Germany after the war.

As for actors and the like, they are pretty low on my list as far as talent goes and I have a hard time separating their talent from their personal life and beliefs.


15 posted on 12/16/2012 5:43:31 PM PST by NewHampshireDuo
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To: Eleutheria5

He’s been dead for 23 years or so. Time to move on.


16 posted on 12/16/2012 5:47:12 PM PST by PapaBear3625 (You don't notice it's a police state until the police come for you.)
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To: Eleutheria5

When he conducted the Horst Wessel Song in occupied Paris, that sealed my opinion of him.


17 posted on 12/16/2012 8:31:29 PM PST by InMemoriam
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To: Eleutheria5

You can’t judge the Thirties by what happened during the Forties. Let’s instead judge our own Communist sympathizers AFTER the horrors during the Thirties.


18 posted on 12/16/2012 8:34:29 PM PST by Revolting cat! (Bad things are wrong! Ice cream is delicious!)
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To: SunTzuWu; .30Carbine; 1cewolf; 1rudeboy; 2nd Bn, 11th Mar; 31R1O; ADemocratNoMore; ...
Dear SunTzu,

Thanks for the ping!

Classical Music Ping List ping.

If you'd like on or off this list, let me know via FR e-mail.

Thanks,

sitetest

19 posted on 12/17/2012 3:46:30 AM PST by sitetest (If Roe is not overturned, no unborn child will ever be protected in law.)
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To: SunTzuWu; .30Carbine; 1cewolf; 1rudeboy; 2nd Bn, 11th Mar; 31R1O; ADemocratNoMore; ...
Dear SunTzu,

Thanks for the ping!

Classical Music Ping List ping.

If you'd like on or off this list, let me know via FR e-mail.

Thanks,

sitetest

20 posted on 12/17/2012 3:47:34 AM PST by sitetest (If Roe is not overturned, no unborn child will ever be protected in law.)
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