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Kleiber Quits La Scala, Protesting Anti-jewish Bias

January 1, 1939
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Erich Kleiber, famous conductor, has canceled all engagements to appear at La Scala, Milan, because of Italy’s anti-Jewish campaign. In a letter to authorities of La Scala, Kleiber wrote: “I have just learned that the doors of La Scala Theatre will be closed to your Jewish fellow-citizens. Music is made for every one, like the sun and air. When this fountain of consolation, so necessary in these hard times, is denied to any human being -and that merely because he belongs to a different religion and race – I cannot collaborate either as a Christian or an artist.”

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