There seems to be no end to the absurdity of the Nazis in their rage against anything that even remotely savors of Jewishness, even if it is only the suggestive sound of a name. Some of the most rabid are turning against even Johann Brahms, one of the greatest composers of German music, in song and symphony, of all time, on the ground that he is of Jewish origin.
The entire cultural world celebrated this month the hundredth anniversary of Brahms, who was born May 7, 1833, in Hamburg—the entire world, but not all of the Nazis. The basis of the suspicion against Brahms lies in the possibility that Brahms’ name was, in a previous generation, Abrahams.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
