Israel’s state-owned radio broadcast its first German language play today, apparently ending what has been an almost total ban on the broadcasting of German language script and songs in existence since Israel was established. The play selected was “Andorra.” an anti-Nazi piece by Max Frisch which was recorded by the Zurich Playhouse Ensemble. The play was substituted for a previously scheduled program indicating to observers here that it was a deliberate gesture in response to reports that West Germany had made a gift to Israel of large quantities of arms.
The ban on German language material was relaxed somewhat in recent years. Brief passages for German plays and excerpts from speeches by German statesmen have been broadcast from time to time by Kol Israel. The ban, however, was mainly symbolic since a large segment of Israel’s population is German-speaking and German is second only to Hebrew in certain Israeli commercial and shipping enterprises.
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