Barry Kosky to Berlin: Don’t finish what the Nazis started
NewsIn an impassioned open letter to the Senate not to cancel the Komische Oper renovation, its former Australian director – never knowingly unexaggerated – goes way over the top.
We reprint the relevant sections from his letter:
Dear Mayor Wegner, Dear Finance Senator Evers, Dear Culture Senator Chialo,
This open letter is not written to you by the former director of the Komische Oper Berlin, but by a – until now – proud citizen of the city of Berlin. Since you do not seem to be aware of the catastrophic artistic and financial consequences of your planned halt to construction at the Komische Oper Berlin, I think it is time to explain to you what significance the Komische Oper has for Berlin and its cultural history, in order to warn you of the dangers of your plans.
You are about to commit cultural vandalism on yourself, and that too on a building that houses one of the most important opera houses and musical theatre institutions in the world. …
The house owes its worldwide success largely to Jewish artists
As you may know, I strongly oppose the Bundestag’s appallingly ill-conceived anti-Semitism clause. In my opinion, this is a very dangerous, problematic resolution. One of its main themes is the need to remember and celebrate Jewish life in Germany, as it helped to shape Berlin’s cultural landscape.
What does this have to do with the Komische Oper, you ask? Do you know the Jewish history of this house? Did you know that the producers Alfred and Fritz Rotter saved and preserved this theater and made it the most important operetta and revue theater in all of Germany during the Weimar Republic? Did you know that both were chased out of Berlin in 1933 and died penniless in exile? Did you know that the greatest Jewish operetta composers of the 20th century all worked in this house? Leo Fall, Paul Abraham, Oscar Straus, Emmerich Kalman and their almost exclusively Jewish librettists all worked at this theater. Did you know that the greatest stars of the German-speaking operetta world were Jewish and all sang, danced and acted on the stage in Behrenstrasse? Richard Tauber, Fritzi Massary, Gitta Alpar, Rosy Barsony and many others were world champions in their field.
The house on Behrenstrasse owes its worldwide success largely to Jewish artists. The house was, so to speak, Berlin’s unofficial Jewish showbiz meeting place and an indispensable place of Jewish cultural life – a rare sign of what was possible in Germany and would have been possible in the future. A place where Jewish and German hearts met and could create a common coexistence. All of that ended in 1933.
Perhaps you can understand my indignation that, in the same month that a resolution is passed aimed at protecting Jewish life in Germany and preserving Jewish history and culture, the Berlin government is considering closing a theater where such important Jewish history actually took place.
The Nazis tried to erase the Jewish identity of this house, but it has survived. Until now.
Is the anti-Semitism resolution just empty talk or do you really not understand that a theater like the Komische Oper is a living example of the Jewish history that you so desperately want to preserve? Or is the Komische Oper just a series of numbers in a budget calculation, dispensable and merely a financially annoying issue?
The co-director of the Komische Oper has clearly explained to you the financial consequences of stopping construction. They are not the subject of this letter. My appeal relates to the building and its history. The building and its place in Berlin’s DNA.
I urge you to understand what you are doing and to realise the enormous consequences that stopping construction would have on this magnificent building. I urge you to reconsider the current decisions and allow the renovation to continue.
Please protect our beloved Komische Oper on Behrenstraße and do not finish what the Nazis started. Do not allow this to be your legacy.
Thank you, Barrie Kosky, for your open letter, pointing out the preeminent importance of the Komische Oper in Berlin’s cultural history since the 19th century. As you so succinctly point out, stopping the renovation of original building now would be in direct conflict with the resolution to preserve the contribution of Jewish history and culture, especially in Berlin. The entire Pergamon Museum, now UNESCO World Heritage, would not have been possible without the immense contributions of James Simon, a very prominent Jewish member of Berlin society in his day.
Impassioned, yes.
Over the top? No.
I suspect Kosky is correct in his belief that the government and the people of Berlin are not fully aware of the enormous cultural significance of the Komische Oper. He is right to try to correct that.