Shortly after Adolf Hitler took charge in Germany, a law was passed that forbid the hiring of foreign artists, composers, writers and performers. As the attached article clarifies, there were exceptions, but all concerned recognized that it was a new day in Germany but not necessarily a better one:
“Among the theater personnel, actors, magagers and directors who are foreigners are now just as rigorously excluded as the German Jews.”
There are exceptions:
“Men like Walter, Klemperer, Horenstein, Rosentock and a few others can retain their places. But a large number of excellent musicians have no positions, and the young people, the new generation of actors, singers, managers, and directors are still worse off.”
Writing for the New York-based magazine, Modern Music, German arts critic Hans Heinsheimer (1900 – 1993) wrote:
“The aim of the National Socialist is to push us back into the Middle Ages. Their politico-culture demands are radical… They set us up as the German Superman against the ‘inferior foreigners.'”
