European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - May 11, 1947, Darmstadt, Hesse Volume two number fifteen weekend mat 1947 pianist cleared by Denali fiction prunes the fruit Trees in the Garden of his Home near Wiesbaden the Case history of an artist in Pokines by Betty Luros Walter who Playfu piano for the now finds himself the Center of an International controversy Over a artists responsibilities to his nation and his Art Wiesbaden the relationship Between pol j tics and Art has always been a sensitive there is no ten Section mov ing in its own Roughan Tumble orbit Art in its a rifled but in a Wighly centralized in any m ii often difficult to separate the functions of Art from the service of fee in hitlers Germany the ten shies of nazism reached out Anden doped every phase of the nations caught up in the political up was one of the worlds greatest jiving Walter had performed for the and he had played what they vetted to there appeared to be doubt that he failed to resist in Way the encroachments of politics his and for his obvious he was originally Black by american military govern Gieseking was eventually Given in Bill of health by and february he gave his first Public since his after a Ammer prosecutor had found Lent evidence to warrant a although it was the Case against Giese who claimed he had but one in play my chosen As Well As humanly not a simple matter of him Gushy or not Giese Kings was a test and the music control Branch of information control division had to decide once and for All How far an artist May go in his political concessions without endanger ing his artistic whether or not we defeat our Pur pose by admitting Art into by punishing an artist in the Normal Pursuit of his must be decided William chief of music control for land in we believe that most americans Are interested in keeping politics out of Art meanwhile the entire musical world sat in sent judgment on an artist who didst care whether he played for National socialist cultural communists or just As Long As it was great music and As such it was i believed then and i believe the towering Sinfo Otto Gieseking that it is much better to make music than to kill although he was never a member of the nazi Gieseking was accused of being a tool of the propaganda ministry in occupied and Neutral of be ing Good citizen of the third of following the party line in making up his concert selections and of never swerving from his allegiance to shortly after the end of the War and up until octo Ber Gieseking was Hans allowed to perform for occupation his last concert before the ban was imposed in bad As the Story someone in the audience asked him to play Tschai Kowsky As an encore and he the incident was magnified to huge proportions in press in a letter defending the pianist wrote a letter to the German news in which he denied remember ing the request to play the music of the composer whose music was for Bidden in Germany during the latter years of the As late As 1944 in he had played a Tschai Kowsky piano he to in trying to recall the incident which was instrumental in Black listing he it was prob ably a request for the Nutcracker suite or the 1812 if such a thing really neither of these is scored for the would be easy to classify i Gies Kingas an who in time became reconciled to the nazi because it offered him the Opportunity of making Money and appearing in numerous the original cd report on musician Gieseking was no moral Coward the report and like Mil Lions of his fellow he v accepted Hitler because he believed in because Hubman the who made his last appearance in the United states in april was never politically cd sought to measure the extent of his collaboration by three yardsticks by his support of party arranged musical programs inside his social and professional standing outside the Reich and whether his financial condition had improved during the Hitler in the cd report a consider Able amount of criticism was still permissible in and up to 1938 any artist of renown was perfectly free to without endangering his standing or Dro yot7 feel about the nazi state and its teachings the artist was asked in the original i agreed with their ideas of Mutual help and the socialistic part of their also the Way they brought music to the Why on november did you play at the German legation in the Hague this was shortly after hitlers blood and people All Over the world began to wonder about the True intentions of the nazi govern ment answered the the Ger Man minister was a Friend of mine prior to the most prominent american musicians sent an letter to protesting his treat ment of what did you think of that i believe continued on Page 19
