The Idea
"DO SOMETHING!"
British violinist Daniel Hope reminds the world of continuing dangers of political extremism and hatred, with concert and multi-genre arts event commemorating 70th anniversary of "Kristallnacht", prelude to the holocaust.
"Do something!", featuring Hope with Hélène Grimaud, Menahem Pressler, Thomas Quasthoff, Sol Gabetta, and other classical artists, will take place in the departure terminal at Berlin`s Tempelhof Airport on November 9th with support of German government and participation of other special guests, including actor Klaus Maria Brandauer and cabaret star Max Raabe.
"DO SOMETHING!", a collage of music, words, pictures, was conceived by Hope, who was inspired by distinguished British historian Sir Martin Gilbert, and his book Kristallnacht: Prelude to Destruction, a collection of personal reminiscences of the so-called "Reichskristallnacht" of late 1938. On the nights of November 9 and 10, 1938, Jewish homes and businesses were attacked and half of the synagogues and prayer houses in Germany and Austria were badly damaged or totally destroyed in an orgy of violence propagated by the members of the Nazi SA and SS units. The following day, over 30,000 male Jews were deported to concentration camps, before the eyes of the international press, continuing the Nazi reign of terror that ended in the cataclysm of the "final solution" and the Holocaust.
Daniel Hope comments
I came across Gilbert's book recently, and while I knew about the "Reichskristallnacht", it wasn't until I read the book that the historical consequences of that night's events became clear to me. The horrifyingly meticulous description of the violence against the Jews was utterly overwhelming. Since then the question as to what I would have done in such circumstances has begun to haunt me.
"Reichskristallnacht" took place 70 years ago and yet its consequences are still reflected in today's society. Situations that require civil courage, individual or collective, continue to arise, whether it's an individual attack on a defenseless fellow human being or the brutality of groups such as rightwing radical skinheads. Remembering the 1938 pogroms is a much-needed symbolic action in our society today. It echoes a call to all civilized people never again to ignore unacceptable violence by inaction.
For Hope, whose family was forced to flee Berlin and the Nazis, the event has urgent political importance as well as obvious personal significance. Throughout his career, Hope has advocated - both in live performance and with recordings - the music of the so-called "Entartete" composers - those composers deemed "degenerate" and subsequently destroyed by the Nazis.
The proceeds from the evening will be donated to the Freya von Moltke Foundation. Ms. von Moltke, now 97, was a participant in the Kreisau Circle, the anti-Nazi resistance group co-founded by her husband, Helmuth James Graf von Moltke. During World War II, her husband acted to subvert German human-rights abuses in territories occupied by Germany. With the Kreisau Circle, he discussed the future of a Germany founded on moral and democratic principles, such as could develop after Hitler, and was subsequently executed for treason by the Nazi government. Daniel Hope's great aunt, Marlene Maertens, worked closely with Freya von Moltke after the war, to help refugees who had been forced to flee Germany.
Although Berlin's Tempelhof Airport had an important place in the plans of architect Albert Speer's reconstruction of Berlin during the Nazi era, it is symbolically even more important because of its central role in the so-called "Luftbrücke", the Berlin airlift. The courageous deployment of individual pilots during that crisis therefore stands for civil courage in a divided city.
The Artists: Hope has brought together artists and friends from many disciplines for "Tu Was!" Classical, jazz, cabaret, and rock musicians, literary figures, and other artists will participate, including Klaus Maria Brandauer, Hélène Grimaud, Max Raabe, Thomas Quasthoff and Sol Gabetta. Menahem Pressler, who invited Daniel Hope to join the legendary Beaux Arts Trio as its youngest ever member, and who, as a Jewish musician living in Magdeburg in 1938, personally experienced Reichskristallnacht, will participate in the event.
The Performances: Klaus Maria Brandauer will read from Kristallnacht: Prelude to Destruction and other works; Max Raabe will present music from Berlin in the Thirties in his inimitable style; Menahem Pressler plays Beethoven, Sol Gabetta plays Ernest Bloch and Hélène Grimaud plays Bach; rock and jazz musicians will give us the here and now; and all will be joining in making a statement against violence and in favor of civil courage today.
These multifaceted perspectives will underline the message of the evening: "Tu was!" - "Do something".