Taking Sides (DVD)
February 28, 2005


This profound film, played by the very able actors, asks two important questions, which had been almost invariably played down and silenced for 60 years after the WWII -- until now. 1) If most of the Germans didn't know what horrors were perpetrated by the Nazis, how come the same innocent Germans knew very well, at the same time, that they had to save their favorite Jews? 2) A genius conductor, Wilhelm Furtwaengler, has never become a member of the Nazi party, and actually saved many Jewish musicians, apart from giving us the best existing performances of Beethoven and many other masters. Not a genius at all, Herbert von Karajan has been an enthusiastic Nazi party member and the favorite musician of the Nazi regime, he never saved anybody but his own precious skin, and bored to death generations of classical music lovers. How come the post-WWII crowd of anti-fascist communists, gays and atonalists, taking over all musical institutions, has boycotted Furtwaengler until his death and beyond, but immediately embraced and befriended von Karajan, making "little k" rich, famous, and one of their self-appointed elite? If you can find an answer to the second question, you know an answer to the whole of the 20th century. - Alexander Feht