Premium Only Content

Music in Nazi Germany - The maestro and the cellist of Auschwitz
Why was classical music so important to Hitler and Goebbels? The stories of Jewish cellist Anita Lasker-Wallfisch, who survived Auschwitz, and of star conductor Wilhelm Furtwängler, who worked with the Nazis, provide insight.
The film centers around two people who represent musical culture during the Third Reich - albeit in very different ways. Wilhelm Furtwängler was a star conductor; Anita Lasker-Wallfisch, the cellist of the infamous Women’s Orchestra of Auschwitz. Both shared a love for the classical German music.
The world-famous conductor made a pact with Hitler and his henchmen. The young woman, brought to Auschwitz for being Jewish, was spared death for her musical talent. While Furtwängler decided to stay in Germany and make a deal with the devil, Lasker-Wallfisch struggled to survive the brutality of the death camp, with a cello as her only defense. Why did gifted artists like Furtwängler make a pact with evil? Why was classical music played in extermination camps? And how did this change the way victims saw music?
German music was used to justify the powerful position the Third Reich claimed in the world, and to distract listeners from Nazi crimes. In addition to Beethoven, Bach and Brucker, Richard Wagner was highly valued, because he was Hitler’s personal favorite. Hitler understood the power of music, and his chief propagandist Joseph Goebbels was in charge of music in the Nazi-controlled state.
This music documentary by Christian Berger features interviews with musicians like Daniel Barenboim and Christian Thielemann; the children of Wilhelm Furtwängler; and of course 97-year-old survivor Anita Lasker-Wallfisch. Her memories are chilling. Archive film footage, restored and colorized, brings the story to life, and bears witness to an agonizing chapter in history.
-
26:00
DeVory Darkins
1 day ago $11.62 earnedDemocrat Mayor HUMILIATES himself during painful interview as Trump makes SHOCKING Announcement
35.4K93 -
22:14
Ohio State Football and Recruiting at Buckeye Huddle
1 day agoOhio State Football: Everything Steve Sarkisian Said About the Buckeyes This Week
19K -
1:19:55
TruthStream with Joe and Scott
1 day agoLisa, Michelle and Carole join Joe for Healing and Inspiration. Next healing will be on Aug 28th at Noon and 4pm eastern https://www.balancingbodyandsoul.com/?ref=TRUTHSTREAMSHOW
12.1K1 -
10:32
Nikko Ortiz
17 hours agoFunniest Fails Of The Month
36.9K4 -
28:59
The Jack Brewer Show
14 hours agoThe Jack Brewer Show S1 EP5 Charles Duke Tanner on Redemption, Fatherhood & Second Chances #podcast
6.37K -
15:33
Bearing
1 day agoSEPTUM RING THEORY 💥 Are Nose Ring Girls ALL INSANE LIBERALS?! 💀🤣
12K57 -
1:18
WildCreatures
2 days ago $1.22 earnedTourists unintentionally come face to face with jaguar in Brazil's Pantanal
8.24K16 -
40:36
State of the Second Podcast
19 hours agoWhy Training Is an Investment in Your Life (ft. Tre’Von Barber)
10.2K -
1:03:43
Dialogue works
1 day ago $3.11 earnedCol. Larry Wilkerson: Warning Signs Everywhere: U.S. on the Verge of Disaster
26.6K12 -
1:09:42
Mike Rowe
7 days agoHow Did THIS Dirty Job Make Tommy Mello A Billionaire?! | #447 | The Way I Heard It
97.2K23