Forbidden But Not Forgotten: Forbidden Music During the Third Reich (10-CD + Booklet)

by Various Artists

National Socialism had devised its own notion of the value of German art and culture. This was ruthlessly put into practice when the Nazis took over power in 1933. The more than 175 "degenerate" recorded musical items in this extraordinary 10-CD box set, 'Forbidden But Not Forgotten', relate to the shocking consequences due to that "cleansing".The burning of the Reichstag (7th April) provided the pretext for the prosecution of all who held other political opinions, for the burning of books (10th May) whose authors were on the index of disfavoured and banned writers, for the law that amended entry to the civil service (7th April) that excluded all non-Aryans and led to wholesale dismissals of Jews, especially in orchestras, the administration, among singers, conductors and instrumentalists. By means of the exhibitions "Degenerate Art" (Munich, 1937) and "Degenerate Music" (Düsseldorf, 1938) art and artists who were now to have no place in Nazi Germany were pilloried.

The people concerned either saved themselves by fleeing abroad or were arrested, deported to concentration camps and executed. With the 'annexation' of Austria, the process repeated itself there - and in every other country invaded by German troops.

The wide-ranging selection on these 10 CDs of original recordings provides examples from all types of this so-called 'Entartete Musik' - from cabaret and 'Schlager', opera, operetta, and concert music - that were forbidden, and the many composers, writers and performers who were persecuted - including Bert Brecht, Paul Hindemith, Otto Klemperer and Richard Tauber. They deserve not to be forgotten.