A Jewish orchestra in Nazi Germany

musical politics and the Berlin Jewish Culture League

Plot

"The book presents a lucid and carefully researched picture of [the Jewish Culture League], revealing the many challenges---practical, intellectual, and moral---faced by its leaders and members amidst the increasing tensions of life in Nazi Germany."---Shirli Gilbert, Journal of the American Musicological Society"Offers a clear introduction to a fascinating, yet little known, phenomenon in Nazi Germany, whose very existence will be a surprise to the general public and to historians. Easily blending general history with musicology, the book provides provocative yet compelling analysis of complex issues."---Michael Meyer, author of The Politics of Music in the Third Reich"Hirsch poses complex questions about Jewish identity and Jewish music, and she situates these against a political background vexed by the impossibility of truly viable responses to such questions. Her thorough archival research is complemented by her extensive use of interviews, which gives voice to those swept up in the Holocaust. A Jewish Orchestra in Nazi Germany is a book filled with the stories of real lives, a collective biography in modern music history that must no longer remain in silence."---Philip V. Bohlman, author of Jewish Music and Modernity"An engaging and downright gripping history. The project is original, the research is outstanding, and the presentation lucid."---Karen Painter, author of Symphonic Aspirations: German Music and Politics, 1900-1945The Jewish Culture League was created in Berlin in June 1933, the only organization in Nazi Germany in which Jews were not only allowed but encouraged to participate in music, both as performers and as audience members. A Jewish Orchestra in Nazi Germanyis the first book to seriously investigate and parse the complicated questions the existence of this unique organization raised. Why would the Nazis promote Jewish music when, in the rest of Germany, it was banned? What exactly is Jewish music? Who qualifies as a Jewish composer? And, if it is true that the Nazis conceived of the League as a propaganda tool, did Jewish participation in its activities amount to collaboration?