Product Details

• Actors: Leo Blech, Karl Böhm, Wilhelm Furtwängler, Clemens Kraus, Herbert Von Karajan
• Format: Black & White, Classical, Subtitled, NTSC
• Language: German
• Region: All Regions
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Studio: Bel Canto Society
• DVD Release Date: March 8, 2005
• Run Time: 53 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B0007NFLYK
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #163,549 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Rare Footage Fuels Fiery Debate Over Furtwängler's Sympathies by David Patrick Stearns, USA Today:

"The intensity of the music-making is remarkable."

Product Description

GREAT CONDUCTORS OF THE THIRD REICH includes stunning newsreel footage showing that Böhm, Furtwängler, Karajan, Knappertsbusch and Krauss, among others, turned themselves and their art into Nazi propaganda. The Nazis wanted to be perceived as men of culture, so they crowned many of their victories with concerts, which they sometimes filmed. "We are bringing the world the greatest art," was their message.

On this DVD a newsreel presents panzers parading down the Champs-Elysées juxtaposed with Karajan conducting the Prussian Staatskapelle in occupied Paris. Other footage includes Furtwängler conducting in celebration of Hitler's birthday, also Hitler at Bayreuth. When women see Hitler they weep with joy. The performances are glorious, spiritual even--the greatest art in the service of the greatest evil.--Stefan Zucker

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

21 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Misleading - NOT a documentary - just clips!, May 3, 2009

By 

Book Reviewer "Carolyn" (San Francisco) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Great Conductors of the Third Reich: Art in the Service of Evil (DVD)

Although I was told (in the fine print) that this was documentary footage of conductors of the Third Reich, I had naively assumed - from the gaudy words "Art in the Service of Evil" - there would be some narration, some explanation, some background of what compelled great musicians to stay in the Nazi world and serve it with their music, etc. However, there was none of that. Except for one brief newsreel segment, this DVD was nothing but a pasted together compilation of conductors in the Third Reich playing music. That's it - they just played music - no explanation, no background, no voiceover, no subtitles, nothing. Literally, you simply watched newsreel footage of a conductor waving his baton in front of an orchestra and playing the music. Well, that told me nothing at all. (By the way, what WAS it with the Third Reich's obsession with 'Der Meistersinger'? That was played over and over again on this DVD as if there was nothing else available.)

This DVD is useless, a waste of money. If you want a true documentary of musicians in the Third Reich, don't waste your money on this - instead, buy "The Reichsorchester". THAT is a superb DVD of the Berlin Philharmonic during the Third Reich with interviews of musicians, newsreels, reading of diaries, reminiscences, facts, etc., that gives you an honest and thorough understanding of what it was like. But this DVD is a waste of money!

21 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars A Gratuitous Slander of Furtwaengler!, August 3, 2009

By 

Ralph J. Steinberg "Lover of German Music" (New York, NY United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Great Conductors of the Third Reich: Art in the Service of Evil (DVD)

Although I have not seen this video as such, I am acquainted with its contents from other sources. I will confine myself to commenting on the notes of Spotts, specifically the most outrageous attack I have ever seen in print on Wilhelm Furtwaengler.
I suppose controversy over the wisdom of Furtwaengler's decision to stay in Nazi Germany (encouraged by Jewish artists such as Arnold Schoenberg and Max Reinhardt) will always continue. But Spotts, like his predecessor Ira Hirschman, goes far beyond this, stating that Furtwaengler was an enthusiastic collaborator with Goebbels, profitted from the regime, and was virulently anti Semitic, objecting to the mistreatment of Jews only when it would harm Germany's image and cultural needs.
The facts speak otherwise. If Furtwaengler was an enthusiastic collaborator, why did he resign from all his posts after protesting the ousting of Jewish musicians and the ban on Hindemith? Yehudi Menuhin pointed out that in resigning, Furtwaengler gave up all benefits and pensions, and indeed was penniless after the war. He never resumed his posts during the regime, only remaining with the Berlin Philharmonic as a free-lance conductor. Any concessions that he made, such as conducting at the "Winterhilfe" concerts (a series of charity events) were done to wring from Goebbels the assurance that the Berlin Philharmonic would continue to be subsidized and that THEY WOULD BE EXEMPT FROM THE ARYANIZATION DECREE, ALLOWING THE JEWISH MUSICIANS TO CONTINUE AS BERLIN PHILHARMONIC MEMBERS. When the Jewish members finally did emigrate, Furtwaengler expressed his regret and continued to write to them. And of course, if Furtwaengler was such a loyal supporter of the Nazis, why did Himmler finally order the Gestapo to shadow the conductor, causing him to seek asylum in Switzerland to avoid assassination? Remember that Himmler wrote in Furtwaengler's dossier, "There is no Jew, filthy as he may be, for whom Furtwaengler does not stretch out a helping hand."
When Furtwaengler wrote his letter to Goebbels defending Bruno Walter and Otto Klemperer from dismissal, he stated that as an artist, his job was not to disrupt people, but to unite. He saw no difference between Jewish and non-Jewish art, only between good and bad art. In other words, the distinctions between religions and races meant nothing to him, only quality counted! Of course, he could not attack this from the standpoint of humanity, as this would hardly cause an anti Semitie like Goebbels to lend his ear to the plea.
The case of Arnold Schoenberg is very telling here. Furtwaengler was reported to have only intervened for him so that he would not be made into a martyr by the Nazis. As this was reported by the Nazi-controlled press, the veracity of this statement is very much in doubt. Frau Schoenberg tells a much different story: Furtwaengler visited them in Paris and offered to negotiate with the Nazis for the release of Schoenberg's assests. He expressed shame over what was being done to Schoenberg and asked them: "What shall I do now?" Schoenberg replied: "You must stay and conduct good music!" Max Reinhardt also urged him to remain.
I met a cellist who had played under Furtwaengler in the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra. He of course was a Jewish German refugee. When this man was about to emigrate, he had a conversation with Furtwaengler about the political situation. According to him, Furtwaengler said that he could not abandon his orchestra, as he regarded them as his children. One might add that Furtwaengler also had fears that the Nazis would imprison his mother if he emigrated (remember that they did in fact confiscate his passport after his resignations). Interesting that he did finally emigrate after learning that his mother had died.
Being Jewish AND German, I can appreciate the notion that there was another, truer Germany that existed along with the Nazis, and that men like Furtwaengler were needed to keep its values alive. (Only recently has a German Resistance been acknowledged).Had he not stayed and used his influence whenever he could, the Berlin Philharmonic might not exist today, and something like 108 people might not have survived the war. On a personal level, however, I now wish that he had left, for his own sake, and could have avoided the irresponsible vilifications that he still, posthumously, undergoes at the hands of people who won't look beneath the surface. But like Frau Schoenberg, I will hold Furtwaengler dear in my heart, no matter what slander is thrown in his way.

25 of 34 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Breaks my heart; beauty does not equal truth or goodness., May 31, 2008

By 

[e-mail] "[e-mail]" (Los Angeles, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

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This review is from: Great Conductors of the Third Reich: Art in the Service of Evil (DVD)

'Beauty is truth, truth beauty,--that is all
Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know.'

This DVD will prove that Keats was mistaken.

Some of the selections on this DVD are among the most beautiful and exciting performances of some of the greatest music ever written. Yet this beauty did not produce truth nor did it generate goodness.

That the Nazis treasured Beethoven and used the Ninth Symphony, with its history of celebrating freedom of the spirit, as one of their signature pieces, created such anguish in me that it was hard to watch and listen. And to see one of the most gifted and imaginative conductors of all time, Wilhelm Furtwangler, shaking hands with Josef Goebbels at a concert in honor of Hitler's birthday, made me want to cry.

Yet it is important that music lovers watch this DVD. It is of the greatest importance that we never confuse beauty with truth, or beauty with goodness, or talent with morality, or intelligence with wisdom. These performances, especially the Beethoven, show that beauty can be used in the service of evil, talent can be hijacked by the most vile murderers, intelligence and culture perverted by the wicked.

All my life I have had a problem with Wagner. He was the single most horrible person to produce sublime beauty whom I know. What does one do with this?

One friend of mine refused to buy Karajan recordings until after he died. I spent decades immersed in opera before I was willing to see my first performance of The Ring (which actually swept me away, to my great ambivalent dismay).

Some of these conductors were active and enthusiastic participants in the Nazi regime. Others convinced themselves that they were serving "art" and not the regime, but saw themselves contributing to the propaganda of the Nazis nevertheless.

The question of the relationship between beauty and goodness is hard to resolve. I guess I'm going to have to struggle with it for the rest of my life. Perhaps others will start a thread on this that will shed some light on the perplexing problem this DVD generates.