Special to the JTA Man Identified As a Former Nazi Musicologist Invited to Participate in a Music Co

A man who has been identified as a former Nazi musicologist has been invited to participate in a Mendelssohn-Schumann Conference to be held in North Carolina this April.

Thirty-one members of the Columbia University Music Department in New York City have protested the inclusion of Wolfgang Boertieher, an expert on Schumann, who now teaches at the University of Gottingen, West Germany, in the conference. They have sent a petition to the conference organizers, Prof. R. Larry Todd of Duke University and Prof. Jon Finson of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

ASSISTED ALFRED ROSENBERG

According to research by Prof. Piero Weiss of the Columbia Music Department, who has been instrumental in bringing the issue of Boetticher to public attention, and others in the field of musicology. Boetticher assisted Nazi war criminal Alfred Rosenberg, who was hanged in Nuremberg, in identifying Jews in the world of music.

In “Musik im Dritten Reich. Eine Dokumentation” (“Music in the Third Reich: A Documentation”) author Joseph Wulf quotes from the official Nazi “Lexikon der Juden in der Musik” (“Encyclopedia of the Jews in Music”):

“… the book in its present appearance could not have been written without the extensive assistance of the State Music Chamber and the State Administration for Ethnic Research. This is also the place to thank the Departments for Vital Statistics and administrative agencies that were good enough to furnish information and documents.”

The official Nazi encyclopedia then singled out specific Nazi collaborators who ferreted out Jews in German music for special persecution. The Nazi book said: “Cooperation of great value was provided by officials of the (Nazi) National Department, headed by Reichsleiter (Alfred) Rosenberg–namely Dr. Lily Vietig-Michaelis, Dr. Wolfgang Boetticher, and Dr. Hermann Killer …”

The 1938 encyclopedia was actually a witch-hunt compendium to implement the anti-Semitic Nuremberg laws of 1935, at which time the Nazis drove out every Jewish artist, composer, and performer of music, depriving them of livelihood.

Wulf’s published findings also state that Boetticher wrote in the March, 1938 issue of “Die Musik” (“The Music”), a book review highly critical of the author’s objective treatment of Jewish musicologists, replete with anti-Semitic tirades. Boetticher was also the author of an infamous 1941 monograph on Schumann, in which he identified all Jews with asterisks and distorted documentation to support the Nazi racist ideology, according to research by Weiss.

In response to letters from Weiss, Todd informed him that the invitation to Boetticher had been extended by Finson, who is organizing the Schumann side of the conference. Finson wrote to Weiss:

“The directors of the conference and the faculties of both institutions cannot serve as Professor Boetticher’s judges. The conference must deal with present reality, as must modern-day Schumann scholars who would be crippled without the sources under Professor Boetticher’s control. Participation in the conference will not serve to endorse the moral stance of any particular individual.”

In a telephone interview with Finson, he told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency: “Boetticher is a distinguished scholar on Schumann, which motivated our invitation. We had no idea of the (Lexicon der Juden in der Musik) book or his involvement in it when we invited him. I have yet to see a copy of that book or proof that he played an instrumental role in it. I’ve received innuendos and allegations but no proof. For 35 years, this man has been invited to other American universities, to Oxford and Cambridge and to other international conferences and there was never any complaint.

“I am puzzled about why the complaint was taken up now. The evidence is only on the fringes. Our feeling is we must stand by our American principles that a person is innocent unless proven guilty, to guard against the very thing that Boetticher himself is accused of.”

Asked by JTA if he would rescind the invitation if he had satisfactory proof that Boetticher is a Nazi war criminal, Finson said. “If there is such proof of his involvement as a war criminal, we will rescind the invitation.” Asked what he considered proof, he said: “Eye-witness testimony and very substantial documentation. We are caught in the middle. We can’t commit an injustice either way.”

PETITION CONDEMNS THE INVITATION

Upon receiving Finson’s letter, Weiss sent the Columbia Music Department petition to the presidents of Duke and the University of North Carolina, and to Finson and Todd. The petition states, in part:

“Since there can be no doubt in our minds that you are acquainted with Boetticher’s role in the persecution of the Jews under Hitler, we must conclude that you have decided to place his usefulness to you above any ethical consideration. We wish to be on record as condemning your decision as a blemish on the entire academic profession and wish to assure you that, unless the invitation to Boetticher is revoked, we shall work to inform the scholarly community of the facts in this case and to have your conference boycotted as widely as possible.”

Other prestigious musicologists from such universities as Brown and the University of Illinois have already given Weiss’ effort their support, and he is confident they will be joined by others. From Duke and the University of North Carolina, he has received only acknowledgements of receipt of the Columbia petition.

In a related development, author Charles Allen, Jr., who for some 20 years has been investigating war criminals living in the United States, told the JTA that under the 1978 Holtzman Law, a citizen of any country who has provably participated in the persecution of Jews during the Holocaust can be denied an entrance visa into the United States. The law was authored by Rep. Elizabeth Holtzman (D. N.Y.).

Allen indicated that thus far more than one individual who had a proven Nazi past involving persecution has been barred from entry. He said he would seek support to pressure the State Department to bar the entry of Boetticher under the provisions of the Holtzman Law. “The Boetticher controversy will undoubtedly become a national issue,” he said.