Editing Wilhelm Furtwängler (section)

=== After World War II ===


In February 1946, Furtwängler met [[Curt Martin Riess|Curt Riess]], a German Jew who had fled Germany in 1933, in Vienna.{{sfn|Roncigli|2009|p=76}} Riess, a musician, writer, and journalist, later authored a book about Furtwängler. At the time, Riess was working as a correspondent for American newspapers in Switzerland. Initially, he viewed Furtwängler as a Nazi collaborator and opposed his conducting in Switzerland in 1945. However, when Furtwängler requested a meeting, Riess thoroughly examined the documents related to Furtwängler's case. This led to a complete change of heart: Riess realized that Furtwängler had never been a Nazi and had, in fact, helped many people of Jewish origin. Riess subsequently became Furtwängler's "denazification advisor" and devoted the next two years to securing his exoneration. As Roger Smithson concludes in his article 'Furtwängler's Silent Years (1945–1947)': "Ultimately Furtwängler's return to conducting was very largely the result of skill and stubbornness of Curt Riess. Furtwängler's admirers owe him a great debt."{{sfn|Smithson|1997|p=9}}

Furtwängler initially suggested that Riess write articles about him based on the extensive documentation he had provided, leveraging Riess's background as a journalist. However, Riess preferred to take a more direct approach and met with General [[Robert A. McClure]], who was responsible for Furtwängler's case.{{sfn|Riess|1953|page=16}} After reviewing the documents, which had been translated into English, and meeting with Riess, General McClure concluded that no serious charges could be brought against Furtwängler. He acknowledged that the conductor had been the subject of a mistake and described him as 'a very good man.' McClure requested that Riess advise Furtwängler not to speak to the press, as it might create the impression that pressure was being exerted on the Allied forces. He assured Riess that the case would be resolved within weeks. Although Riess sent a telegram to Furtwängler conveying this message, it arrived too late, having been delayed en route.{{sfn|Riess|1953|page=17}}

In the meantime, Furtwängler made a serious misstep by traveling to Berlin, which was under Soviet occupation at the time.<ref name="Roncigli, p. 77">{{harvnb|Roncigli|2009|p=77}}</ref> The Soviets welcomed him as a Head of State, as they sought to recruit the man described by Arsenyi Gouliga, the Soviet representative at Furtwängler's trial, as the "greatest conductor in the world" to lead a grand cultural initiative in Berlin. Specifically, they offered him the position of director of the Berlin State Opera, located in the Soviet zone. This development forced General Robert A. McClure to subject Furtwängler to the standard denazification process. McClure explained to Curt Riess, via telephone,<ref name="Roncigli, p. 77"/> that bypassing the procedure would create the impression that the Americans were conceding to the Soviets on Furtwängler's case. Although the American authorities were confident that the conductor would be cleared by the denazification court,{{sfn|Roncigli|2009|p=79}} the Soviet authorities dismissed the trial as "ridiculous"{{sfn|Roncigli|2009|p=78}} and meaningless. Against this backdrop of Cold War tensions, Furtwängler, who was determined to reclaim leadership of the Berlin Philharmonic in the British occupation zone, was compelled to undergo the denazification process.{{sfn|Roncigli|2009|p=131}}

Furtwängler was thus required to undergo the [[denazification]] process. The charges against him were relatively minor.<ref name="Smithson 1997">{{harvnb|Smithson|1997|p=7}}</ref> He was accused of conducting two official Nazi concerts during the period 1933–1945. Furtwängler countered by stating that these two concerts, which he claimed were "extorted" from him, had allowed him to avoid conducting sixty others. The first concert took place on 3 February 1938 for the [[Hitler Youth]]. It was presented to Furtwängler as an opportunity to introduce younger generations to classical music. However, as Fred Prieberg recounts: "When he looked at the audience, he realized that this was more than just a concert for schoolchildren in uniform; a whole collection of prominent political figures were sitting there as well... and it was the last time he raised his baton for this purpose."{{sfn|Prieberg|1991|p=226}}<ref name="Klaus Lang 2012, p. 55"/>

The second concert was the performance of Wagner's ''[[Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg]]'' with the Vienna Philharmonic on 5 September 1938, on the evening before the Nazi congress in Nüremberg.<ref name="Fred K. Prieberg 1991, p. 236"/> Furtwängler had agreed to conduct this concert to help preserve the Vienna Philharmonic, and at his insistence the concert was not part of the congress.<ref name="Fred K. Prieberg 1991, p. 236"/>

He was charged for his honorary title of "Prussian State Counselor" ({{langx|de|link=no|Preußischer Staatsrat}}) (he had resigned from this title in 1934, but the Nazis had refused his resignation) and with making an anti-Semitic remark against the part-Jewish conductor [[Victor de Sabata]] (see below).<ref name="Roger Smithson 1997">{{cite web|first=Roger|last=Smithson|title=Furtwängler's Silent Years: 1945–1947|url=https://furtwangler.fr/en/the-silent-years/|url-access=subscription|publisher=Société Wilhelm Furtwängler|year=1997|access-date=21 July 2007}}</ref><ref>{{cite book | first=David | last=Monod | title=Settling Scores: German Music, Denazification, and the Americans, 1945–1953 | publisher=University of North Carolina Press | isbn=978-0-8078-2944-8 | year=2005 | page=149 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Yx6UUD6M1LEC&q=%22de+sabata%22&pg=PA149}}</ref> The chair of the commission, Alex Vogel, known for being a communist,{{sfn|Riess|1953|page=188}} started the trial with the following statement:

<blockquote>The investigations showed that Furtwängler had not been a member of any [Nazi] organization, that he tried to help people persecuted because of their race, and that he also avoided... formalities such as giving the Hitler salute.<ref name="Roger Smithson 1997"/></blockquote>

The prosecution initially believed they had a stronger case when Hans von Benda, a former Nazi Party member and the artistic director of the Berlin Philharmonic during the Nazi era, expressed his willingness to testify against Furtwängler, accusing him of anti-Semitism.<ref name="Klaus Lang 2012, p. 79">{{harvnb|Lang|2012|p=79}}</ref> Von Benda claimed that during an argument with another German musician, he overheard Furtwängler say: "A Jew like Sabata cannot play Brahms' music." However, this accusation quickly unraveled. Furtwängler had frequently performed Brahms' music with Jewish musicians, particularly those in his own orchestra, making the claim either a mistake or a misunderstanding. It was far more likely that Furtwängler harbored no anti-Semitic feelings toward Sabata, who had been a close friend. Furthermore, Hans von Benda admitted that he had not been directly present when the alleged statement was made, which undermined the credibility of his testimony and led the prosecution to dismiss it.

The motivations behind von Benda's actions became clearer over time. He had been dismissed from his position as artistic director of the Berlin Philharmonic on 22 December 1939 due to numerous serious instances of professional misconduct.<ref name="Klaus Lang 2012, p. 79"/> Von Benda likely saw the lawsuit as an opportunity to exact revenge on Furtwängler, whom he blamed for his dismissal, believing that Furtwängler had supported Karajan as his successor—a claim strongly contested by Furtwängler and his wife.{{sfn|Lang|2012|p=80}} However, historian Fred Prieberg later revealed that, contrary to von Benda's accusations, Furtwängler had consistently opposed Nazi policies and actively assisted Jews. In fact, Prieberg demonstrated that von Benda himself had secretly provided information to the Nazis, denouncing Furtwängler's efforts to help Jews and resist their policies.

Two key figures who prepared Furtwängler's defense for his denazification trial were [[Berta Geissmar]] and Curt Riess, both German Jews who had fled the Nazi regime. Their backgrounds, however, were vastly different. Berta Geissmar had known Furtwängler personally and had witnessed firsthand his actions during the early years of the Nazi period. She left Germany in 1936 but returned from exile to assist with his defense. In contrast, Curt Riess had no prior acquaintance with Furtwängler and initially held a very negative opinion of the conductor.

Geissmar meticulously compiled hundreds of files to support Furtwängler's case, including a list of over 80 Jewish and non-Jewish individuals who claimed to have been helped or saved by him.{{sfn|Roncigli|2009|pages=171–194}} While the list was not exhaustive, it included cases for which Geissmar had found undeniable, concrete evidence. Among those Furtwängler had assisted were Communists, Social Democrats, and even former Nazis who had fallen out of favor with the regime.{{sfn|Roncigli|2009|page=103}}{{sfn|Prieberg|1991|page=344}} Geissmar sent these documents to General Robert A. McClure, who was overseeing the Furtwängler trial, but they mysteriously disappeared in Berlin while being transferred to the American occupation zone's authorities.{{sfn|Roncigli|2009|p=133}} Riess also searched unsuccessfully for the documents in Washington archives, leaving Furtwängler without a means to directly prove the extent of his assistance to others.

Despite this setback, three individuals of Jewish origin traveled to Berlin to testify at the trial. On 17 December 1946, the second day of proceedings, they attested to Furtwängler's bravery in risking his life to protect them. One of them was Paul Heizberg, a former opera director, and the other two were members of the Berlin Philharmonic. Hugo Strelitzer, one of the musicians, declared:

<blockquote>If I am alive today, I owe this to this great man. Furtwängler helped and protected a great number of Jewish musicians and this attitude shows a great deal of courage since he did it under the eyes of the Nazis, in Germany itself. History will be his judge.<ref>[http://www.furtwangler.net/man.html "In Memoriam Furtwängler", Tahra 2004].</ref></blockquote>

As part of his closing remarks at his denazification trial, Furtwängler said:

<blockquote>I knew Germany was in a terrible crisis; I felt responsible for German music, and it was my task to survive this crisis, as much as I could. The concern that my art was misused for propaganda had to yield to the greater concern that German music be preserved, that music be given to the German people by its own musicians. These people, the compatriots of [[Johann Sebastian Bach|Bach]] and [[Ludwig van Beethoven|Beethoven]], of [[Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart|Mozart]] and [[Franz Schubert|Schubert]], still had to go on living under the control of a regime obsessed with total war. No one who did not live here himself in those days can possibly judge what it was like. Does [[Thomas Mann]] [who was critical of Furtwängler's actions] really believe that in 'the Germany of [[Heinrich Himmler|Himmler]]' one should not be permitted to play Beethoven? Could he not realize that people never needed more, never yearned more to hear Beethoven and his message of freedom and human love, than precisely these Germans, who had to live under Himmler's terror? I do not regret having stayed with them.{{sfn|Ardoin|1994|p={{page needed|date=July 2023}}}}</blockquote>

The prosecution itself acknowledging that no charge of anti-Semitism or sympathy for Nazi ideology could be brought against the conductor, Furtwängler was cleared on all the counts.<ref name="Roger Smithson 1997"/> Even after Furtwängler's acquittal at the denazification trials, Mann still criticized him for continuing to conduct in Germany and for believing that art could be apolitical in a regime such as Nazi Germany, which was so intent on using art as [[Propaganda in Nazi Germany#Media|propaganda]]. In a drafted letter to the editor of ''[[Aufbau]]'' magazine, Mann praises Furtwängler for assisting Jewish musicians and as a "preeminent musician", but ultimately presents him as a representative example of a fatal "lack of understanding and lack of desire to understand what had seized power in Germany".{{sfn|Vaget|2006|pages=483–484}}

[[File:Wilhelm Furtwänger Grabstätte.JPG|thumb|left|Furtwängler's tomb in Heidelberg]]

The violinist [[Yehudi Menuhin]] was, with [[Arnold Schoenberg]], [[Bronisław Huberman]], and [[Nathan Milstein]], among the Jewish musicians who had a positive view of Furtwängler. In February 1946, he sent a wire to General [[Robert A. McClure]] in February 1946:

<blockquote>Unless you have secret incriminating evidence against Furtwängler supporting your accusation that he was a tool of Nazi Party, I beg to take violent issue with your decision to ban him. The man never was a Party member. Upon numerous occasions, he risked his own safety and reputation to protect friends and colleagues. Do not believe that the fact of remaining in one's own country is alone sufficient to condemn a man. On the contrary, as a military man, you would know that remaining at one's post often requires greater courage than running away. He saved, and for that we are deeply his debtors, the best part of his own German culture... I believe it patently unjust and most cowardly for us to make of Furtwängler a scapegoat for our own crimes.<ref name="The Furtwängler Record 1994, p.58">{{harvnb|Ardoin|1994|p=58}}</ref></blockquote>

In 1949 Furtwängler accepted the position of principal conductor of the [[Chicago Symphony Orchestra]]. However the orchestra was forced to rescind the offer under the threat of a boycott from several prominent musicians including [[Arturo Toscanini]], [[George Szell]], [[Vladimir Horowitz]], [[Arthur Rubinstein]], [[Isaac Stern]], and [[Alexander Brailowsky]].<ref name="Taubman-1949">{{cite news
 | first=Howard
 | last=Taubman|author-link=Howard Taubman
 | title=Musicians' Ban on Furtwaengler Ends His Chicago Contract for '49
 |work=[[The New York Times]]
 |date=6 January 1949
}} reprinted in {{cite book
 | first=Richard B. K.
 | last=McLanathan
 |author2=Gene Brown
 | title=The Arts
 |location=New York
 | publisher=Arno Press
 | year=1978
 | isbn=978-0-405-11153-2
 | page=349
 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dht-QrfdzIwC&q=0405111533&pg=PA349
}}</ref>

According to a ''New York Times'' report, Horowitz said that he "was prepared to forgive the small fry who had no alternative but to remain and work in Germany." But Furtwängler "was out of the country on several occasions and could have elected to keep out".<ref name="Taubman-1949"/> Rubinstein likewise wrote in a telegram, "Had Furtwängler been firm in his democratic convictions he would have left Germany".<ref name="Taubman-1949"/> [[Yehudi Menuhin]] was upset with this boycott, declaring that some of the main organizers had admitted to him that they had organized it only to eliminate Furtwängler's presence in North America.<ref name="The Furtwängler Record 1994, p.58"/>

Wilhelm Furtwängler died on 30 November 1954 of pneumonia, in Baden-Baden. He was buried in Heidelberg cemetery, the Bergfriedhof, in his mother's vault. A large number of personalities from the artistic and political world were present, including Chancellor [[Konrad Adenauer]].

After Furtwängler's death, the Jewish writer and theater director [[Ernst Lothar]] said:

<blockquote>He was totally German and he remained so, despite the attacks. This is why he did not leave his defiled country, which was later counted to him as a stain by those who did not know him well enough. But he did not stay with Hitler and Himmler, but with Beethoven and Brahms.{{sfn|Lang|2012|p=137}}</blockquote>

At the end of his life, Yehudi Menuhin said of Furtwängler, "It was his greatness that attracted hatred".<ref>Yehudi Menuhin, Le violon de la paix, Paris, éditions alternatives, 2000, p. 154.</ref>