December 2, 2005
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Furtwangler’s relationship with and attitude towards Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party was a matter of much controversy. When the Nazis came to power in 1933, Furtwangler was highly critical of them. In 1934, he was banned from conducting the premiere of Paul Hindemith’s opera Mathis der Maler, and Furtwangler resigned from his post at the Berlin Opera in protest. In 1936, with Furtwangler becoming increasingly dissatisfied with the regime, he was offered the principal conductor’s post at the New York Philharmonic Orchestra, where he would succeed Arturo Toscanini. There is every possibility that Furtwangler would have accepted the post, but a report from the Berlin branch of the Associated Press, possibly ordered by Hermann Goring, said that he was willing to take up his post at the Berlin Opera once more. This caused the mood in New York to turn against him; from their point of view, it seemed that Furtwangler was now a full supporter of the Nazi Party. Although it is now widely accepted that this was not the case (Furtwangler always refused to give the Nazi salute, for instance), it was a view which prevailed until his death.
As part of his closing remarks at his denazification trial, Furtwangler said,
“Does Thomas Mann [who was critical of Furtwangler's actions] really believe that in ‘the Germany of 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.”
From Wikipedia, “Wilhelm Furtwangler”
