Posted on 02/06/2017 10:55:23 AM PST by nwrep
A personal statement issued today by the music director emeritus of the Cleveland Orchestra Christoph von Dohnanyi :
Four men in my family were executed by the Nazis. Hans von Dohnanyi, my father, honored in Yad Vashem, was killed in the Nazi concentration camp Sachsenhausen short before the Second World War ended. At the same time the world-renowned theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer, brother of my mother, my godfather, was executed in the concentration camp Flossenbürg. In 1930 Bonhoeffer began his studies in New York City at the Union Theological Seminary and learned to love and admire the United States of America.
I know today he would be extremely unhappy observing a tendency of religious intolerance in the country he once admired so much for its freedom and acceptance. He never could have imagined that this strong, great nation would find itself in the political and ethical crisis it now faces. A nation’s heart may race when it feels threatened, fearful, or even terrified. But this heart, no matter how “devout”, should never tolerate walls nor turn away those seeking help. People died at the Berlin Wall. Many people died in Hitler’s concentration camps for their unwavering beliefs in the value of their ethics and in their fellow man. These beliefs are now endangered in many Western nations including, sadly enough, the USA. This is unimaginable.
Also unimaginable, for instance: I should have a U.S. visa and move through passport control without incident. Next to me another musician would have the same kind of visa. He would be detained because he is a Muslim from Iran. He would be sent back after hours of interrogation. But Christians would be excepted from these new regulations. (By the way, Bonhoeffer – a fervent and prominent supporter of ecumenical Christianity – would have strongly opposed that.) Rising walls will unfortunately keep many talented, well educated and good people away from travelling to the U.S. this might be sad. But by far more relevant remains the question, whether walls will make anybody safer.
We all know, fear and aggression produce nothing but fear and aggression.What kind of world are we living in? A world of “Texas first!”, “California first!”, Asia, Africa, America, Europe or Australia “first!”? Or do we live in a world that puts human dignity, humanity, fearlessness and compassion above everything else? In it’s great days our much-loved USA was such a country.There is hope that the current political turmoil in the U.S. will, in fact, harm the extreme-rightwing parties in some upcoming, important European elections.(c) Christoph von Dohnanyi
Take it up with FDR, he stopped the German Jews from Immigrating to the United States.
Bonhoeffer would recognize the evil of Islam.
Are we really to the point of caring what orchestra conductors think about international politics?
I’m not. Shut up and wave your little baton.
Uh, Christoph, at the time your family was trying to get in to the US, FDR was turning away Jews by the boatload. And his reasons had nothing to do with screening for terrorism.
So this doofus thinks the guy NOT involved in rioting, burning, silencing speakers, and beating up others is the bad guy.
What an ignoramus.
I would bet anything that this POS’ ancestors would, after hearing he/she/it comparing Trump to Hitler immediately begin to beat the living shit out of this waste of life. Obviously this poofter has never met true adversity in its life. Oh! I skinned my knee! Wah! The sidewalk is a Nazi! Wah! So unfair! These days I truly wish that those who throw the Nazi crap around so easily would have to spend their last months alive in concentration camps at the hands of real Nazis. Odds on how many minutes it would take for them to realize the difference and cry out for President Trump to save their worthless asses.
You can always tell a person who has never studied the religions he is talking about, by implying all religions are the same, and upholding or banning one is the same as upholding or banning another.
This musician clearly does not understand why Islam is diametrically opposed to any of the major religions of any of the free nations, and is sworn to overtake and subdue any other system.
ML/NJ
This conductor is in his dotage. I went to a performance he gave with the NY Philharmonic a year ago (the Brahms Requiem) and he put me to sleep. Reminded me of Danny Kaye’s impersonation of a decrepit maestro.
You either LIE or are ignorant!
The U.S. Government Turned Away Thousands of Jewish Refugees, Fearing That They Were Nazi Spies
Read more:
The U.S. immigration system severely limited the number of German Jews admitted during the Nazi years to about 26,000 annually — but even that quota was less than 25% filled during most of the Hitler era, because the Roosevelt administration piled on so many extra requirements for would-be immigrants.
http://articles.latimes.com/2013/apr/07/opinion/la-oe-medoff-roosevelt-holocaust-20130407
Not only did FDR stop a boatload of Jews from coming to America, didn’t he have a number of Germans that came on our shores EXECUTED almost immediately??
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