The Burning of The Reichstag

National Socialism had devised its own notion of the value of German art and culture. This was ruthlessly put into practice when the Nazis took over power in 1933. The more than 175 "degenerate" recorded musical items in this extraordinary 10-CD box set, 'Forbidden But Not Forgotten', relate to the shocking consequences due to that "cleansing". The burning of the Reichstag (7th April) provided the pretext for the prosecution of all who held other political opinions, for the burning of books (10th May) whose authors were on the index of disfavoured and banned writers, for the law that amended entry to the civil service (7th April) that excluded all non-Aryans and led to wholesale dismissals of Jews, especially in orchestras, the administration, among singers, conductors and instrumentalists. By means of the exhibitions "Degenerate Art" (Munich, 1937) and "Degenerate Music" (Düsseldorf, 1938) art and artists who were now to have no place in Nazi Germany were pilloried.

When these recording sessions began in the last week of May 2020, I hadn’t left my house to go anywhere other than the grocery store in over two months. I hadn’t taken a cab or subway.

Rare glimpses inside Hitler's inner circle. Hitler's Bodyguard tells the fascinating story of jealousy, betrayal and murder and what it was like to protect the biggest villain in history from bombs, snipers, plots, maniacs, poison gas and Allied assassination attempts. This is the detailed story of Hitler's survival from a very new angle. A dramatic and in-depth series analyzes the motives and methodology of the individuals and organizations that planned to kill Hitler.

The Holocaust is the term generally used to describe the genocide of approximately six million European Jews during World War II, a program of systematic state-sponsored extermination by Nazi Germany. Some scholars maintain that the definition of the Holocaust should also include the Nazis’ systematic murder of millions of people in other groups, including ethnic Poles, Romani, Soviet civilians, prisoners of war, people with disabilities, homosexuals, Jehovah’s Witnesses, and other political and religious opponents.