Prolog
Antwort der Betroffenheit und von der Festigkeit des Glaubens
Aleppo 2016
“I don’t know why everyone is still trying to find out whether heaven and hell exist. Why do we need more evidence? They exist here on this very Earth. Heaven is standing atop Mount Qasioun overlooking the Damascene sights with the wind carrying Qabbani’s dulcet words all around you.
Yasmeen Kanuz [seven years of age], Aleppo, 15th December 2016: “This may be the last time you see me or hear my voice. I have been living here for two years with my parents, who were killed by Syrian warplanes. I appeal to human rights organisations all over the world to help us get out of Aleppo right now.” Yasmeen, joined by babies and toddlers, found 47 children in the only surviving orphanage. Their parents were victims of the relentless bombing campaign by regime forces.
“Die Rückkehr zu klaren sittlichen Grundsätzen, zum Rechtsstaat, zu gegenseitigem Vertrauen von Mensch zu Mensch, das ist nicht illegal, sondern umgekehrt die Wiederherstellung der Legalität. Ich habe mich im Sinne von Kants kategorischem Imperativ gefragt, was geschähe, wenn diese subjektive Maxime meines Handelns ein allgemeines Gesetz würde. Darauf kann es nur eine Antwort geben: Dann würden Ordnung, Sicherheit, Vertrauen in unser Staatswesen zurückkehren. Jeder sittlich Verantwortliche würde mit uns seine Stimme erheben gegen die drohende Herrschaft der bloßen Macht über das Recht, der bloßen Willkür über den Willen des sittlich Guten.” (Kurt Huber [1893-1943], Professor für Philosophie und Psychologie an der Universität München: Aus seinem Schlussplädoyer vor dem Volksgerichtshof am 19. April 1943 – am 13. Juli 1943 hingerichtet)
“Mir ist alles abgesprochen: mein Heim, meine Ehre, mein Leben. Als Gabe trage ich zur Krippe: Hunger und Kälte, Einsamkeit und Verlassenheit. Wie schön muss es doch sein, wenn die Tore der Ewigkeit sich öffnen!” (Alfons Maria Wachsmann [1896-1944], Pfarrer in Greifswald)
“Wir müssen sehr erschüttert sein, wenn wir plötzlich erkennen, dass er (Gott) ein ganzes Leben hindurch am Tage als Wolke und bei Nacht als Feuersäule vor uns hergezogen ist, und dass er uns erlaubt, das plötzlich in einem Augenblick zu sehen.” (Helmuth James von Moltke [1907-1945])
James Ramsay MacDonald [1866-1937], englischer Premier, sagte 1914: “Es gibt wohl keinen Krieg, auch den verbrecherischsten nicht, bei dem nicht Staatsmänner sich auf die Ehre ihres Landes berufen hätten. So war es mit dem Krimkrieg 1853-1856, so mit dem Burenkrieg 1899-1902, und so ist es jetzt wieder.”
Die Kriegsschuld der deutschen Fürsten wurde in Versailles umgewandelt in die Kriegsschuld des deutschen Volkes. Was für ein unfürstliches Verhalten, das verzehrte Volk, das in Armut und Elend versank, noch mit diesem Koloss der Lüge und Gemeinheit zu schlagen.
Wilhelm Furtwängler [1886-1954]: In June 1933, for a text which was to be the basis for a discussion with Goebbels, Furtwängler went further, writing, "The Jewish question in musical spheres: a race of brilliant people!" He threatened that if boycotts against Jews were extended to artistic activities, he would resign all his posts immediately, concluding that "at any rate to continue giving concerts would be quite impossible without [the Jews] - to remove them would be an operation which would result in the death of the patient.
Because of his high profile, Furtwängler's public opposition prompted a mixed reaction from the Nazi leadership. Heinrich Himmler wished to send Furtwängler to a concentration camp. Goebbels and Göring ordered their administration to listen to Furtwängler's requests and to give him the impression that they would do what he asked. This led him to believe that he had some positive influence to stop the racial policy. He subsequently invited several Jewish and anti-fascist artists (such as Yehudi Menuhin, Artur Schnabel, and Pablo Casals) to perform as soloists in his 1933/34 season, but they refused to come to Nazi Germany. Furtwängler subsequently invited Jewish musicians from his orchestra such as Szymon Goldberg to play as soloists.
The Gestapo built a case against Furtwängler, noting that he was providing assistance to Jews. Furtwängler gave all his fees to German emigrants during his concerts outside Germany. The Germanliterary scholar Hans Mayer was one of these emigrants. Mayer later observed that for performances of Wagner operas in Paris prior to the war, Furtwängler cast only German emigrants (Jews or political opponents to the third Reich) to sing. Georg Gerullis, a director at the Ministry of Culture remarked in a letter to Goebbels, "Can you name me a Jew on whose behalf Furtwängler has not intervened?"
Furtwängler never joined the Nazi Party. He refused to give the Nazi salute, to conduct the Horst-Wessel-Lied, or to sign his letters with "Heil Hitler", even those he wrote to Hitler. However, Furtwängler was appointed as the first vice-president of the Reichsmusikkammer and Staatsrat of Prussia, and accepted these honorary positions to try to bend the racial policy of Nazis in music and to support Jewish musicians. For concerts in London and Paris before the war, Furtwängler refused to conduct the Nazi anthems or to play music in halls adorned with swastikas. During the universal exposition held in Paris in 1937, a picture of the German delegation was taken in front of the Arc de Triomphe. In the picture, Furtwängler is the only German not giving the Nazi salute. This picture was suppressed at the time.
In 1933, Furtwängler met with Hitler to try to stop the new antisemitic policy in the domain of music. He had prepared a list of significant Jewish musicians: these included the composer Arnold Schoenberg, the musicologist Curt Sachs, the violinist Carl Flesch, and Jewish members of the Berlin Philharmonic. Hitler did not listen to Furtwängler, who lost patience, and the meeting became a shouting match. Berta Geissmar wrote, "After the audience, he told me that he knew now what was behind Hitler's narrow-minded measures. This is not only antisemitism,
