On 24/1/05 6:35 AM, "Mark Weiss" <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> Everyone who didn't leave or go into self-imposed retirement carries a
> stain, those who toadied more so. But what does that leave us? There were a
> lot of Germans--do we dismiss them from consciousness? To what extent does
> Furtwangler get a pass for resisting the murder of his Jewish musicians,
> but of no one else? To what extent do we condemn those without the means or
> courage to leave and with no other way to feed themselves and their
> children than to conform publicly?
Very difficult questions, Mark, because they are real questions. Last night
I read Orwell's defence of PG Wodehouse, who made some broadcasts for the
Nazis. (Also his very interesting and somewhat prescient essay on
anti-Semitism in Britain, and his speculations on its connections to
nationalism - made me think I ought to go back and read Kristeva again, whom
he was, in some ways, anticipating). He asks why Wodehouse, who from what
he says was completely naïve politically and whose crime was no worse than
gross stupidity, was so roundly condemned, when people in high places who
were all for Hitler _before_ the war, who never said a peep about the camps
and were very happy to intern Jews as suspicious aliens who were fleeing the
Nazis &c, got off scot free. He puts his finger squarely on a bad
conscience which has not, I think, yet been fully exposed. In a way, it's
become trickier, since anti-Semitism has become a trait that everyone agrees
is a shocking thing, but that doesn't mean it doesn't exist. A bit like men
who think not pinching women on the bum means they're not sexist.
Best
A
Alison Croggon
Blog: http://theatrenotes.blogspot.com
Editor, Masthead: http://masthead.net.au
Home page: http://alisoncroggon.com
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