Musical Notes and Thoughts

One of the best ways to ask thought provoking and unsettling questions is through the media of film. I recently watched one such film, “Music under the Swastika,” a film that I’d highly recommend viewing.

A number of disturbing questions arise from the film. Two of them are: 1. When a nation or culture becomes corrupt how will I respond? 2. Will I resist that corruption or will I acquiesce and go with the flow?

These are not easy questions. We tend to think highly of ourselves, and that we would resist. But, as the pressures increase to go along, all the more as the consequences for resisting get higher, will we? Or, will we at some point give in?

“The film contrasts the response of one of the most famous symphony conductors of the time, Wilhelm Furtwangler, with the experiences of a young Jewish girl who just happened to play the cello. It is a German film/documentary, and while it can be watched in English, most of the interviews remain in German with English subtitles.

Furtwangler went along with the Nazis, only once offering any resistance at all to their cultural musical policies and actions in general. He more or less put his head down, continued conducting, saying nothing. In contrast, the famed Italian conductor Arturo Toscanini is briefly mentioned. After Hitler came to power, Toscanini refused to appear in Germany. In contrast, many of the leading German conductors chose to leave the country, including Otto Klemperer, to cite one example.

In contrast, the young girl survived the death camps—she is one of the key people interviewed throughout the film—solely because she happened to write down upon her arrival that she played the cello (and played it very well). Because of that, she became one of the musicians for the various orchestras in the death camps. She was forced more than once to play for leading Nazi officials, officials who knew the arts, but had long since sold themselves to implement Hitler’s evil agenda. Her parents, who had arrived a few days before her, were immediately fed to the gas chambers.

The film also discusses how the Nazis used the arts, and music in particular, as propaganda tools to manipulate others, including the Red Cross visitors to the camps. On a national level, most of the country’s artists went along with the Nazi policies.

Why does this matter? What is the point? As the United States, along with most of the West, and even some countries in the East, embrace DEI and the woke agenda, how will we respond; in fact, how are we responding? Both DEI and the woke agenda fall far outside the bounds of Scripture. But just as most of the German artists went along with the Nazis, we see most of Hollywood and the entertainment industry embracing and going along in lock step with the morays of our culture. Woe to any actor who isn’t “woke.” For example, think of all the changes that have taken place at Disney over the last thirty years. The fact that we are heading in a direction that will ultimately destroy us as a nation is besides the point. Sadly for many, that is precisely why those policies are being heartily embraced.

What about the church? How will the church of our day respond? Sadly, considering the church in its entirety, it looks like the response will be little different from how much of the German church responded to Hitler. We’ll turn to that question in the next post.

To reiterate: under those circumstances, how would we respond? Would we resist, or would we cave? As Christians, we tend to magnify Dietrich Bonhoeffer, one who courageously resisted the Nazis, ultimately at the cost of his life. But what6 about us?

As for the film, “Music Under the Swastika,” please watch it and ponder its lessons.