READ: Twisted Muse: Musicians and Their Music in the Third Reich by Mark H. Kater

What are the moral responsibilities of artists in repressive regimes? Is it possible to separate art from politics in environments such as Nazi Germany? Do artists promote the values of their governments simply by performing their art? Kater poses these questions while discussing the lives and careers of classical musician who remained in Germany during the Second World War, including conductors Wilhelm Furtwängler, Herbert von Karajan and Karl Böhm, composers Richard Strauss, Hans Pfitzner and Carl Orff (Carmina Burana), singer Elizabeth Schwarzkopf and others.

A very interesting film on the same subject is Taking Sides, available on DVD or complete on YouTube. Based on the play by Ronald Harwood, it’s a fictionalized account of the denazification inquiry brought against Wilhelm Furtwängler, considered by many to be the greatest conductor of the the last century. Starring Harvey Keitel as the American Lieutenant leading the 1945 investigation and Stellan Skarsgård as Furtwängler. Directed by István Szbró (Mephisto, Colonel Redl, Being Julia).