Music Historian Warns of Resurgence of Nazi Ideas in Song Lyrics

The Nazi era showed that, according to Germerdonk. If Nazi ideas “celebrate again today and take off, then we have to explain a lot in order to open young people’s eyes, ears and mouths to what they are hearing and singing,” warned the music historian on Tuesday evening at a lecture in Saarbrücken.

Anti-Semitic, misogynistic and homophobic lyrics

Germerdonk named the co-founder of the band Pink Floyd, the now 79-year-old Roger Waters, as well as the rappers Kollegah and Farid Bang, as examples of how right-wing anti-Jewish ideas are moving into society with song lyrics and shows. Rogers has often shown a pig’s head with a Star of David in his previous appearances. The rappers Kollegah and Farid Bang had explained their position with the controversial line of words about Auschwitz inmates and are still successful with anti-Semitic, misogynist and homophobic texts.

The anti-Semitism problem in music is international, but because of its past, Germany in particular has the task of initiating an enlightened pioneering role and counter-movement. The non-profit Forum Alma Rosé in Völklingen, directed by Germerdonk and directed against anti-Semitism, is planning a series of concerts, lectures and panel discussions, which will also be distributed with the help of a podcast series.

“But only texts can ever be anti-Semitic”

The forum is named after the director of the youth orchestra there, who was murdered in 1944 in Auschwitz. Germerdonk emphasized that anti-Semitism, both structural and Israel-related, is very broad. Anti-Semitism in music experienced its upswing above all during the Weimar Republic and after Adolf Hitler came to power. “But only texts can be anti-Semitic,” said the musicologist, not musical works such as Carmina Burana or Wagner’s operas themselves.