Film Screening: 'Wagner's Jews'

The German composer Richard Wagner was notoriously anti-Semitic, and his writings on the Jews were later embraced by Hitler and the Nazis. But there is another, lesser-known side to this story.

For years, many of Wagner’s closest associates were Jews—young musicians who became personally devoted to him, and provided crucial help to his work and career. 
Who were they? What brought them to Wagner, and what brought him to them?

These questions are at the heart of Hilan Warshaw’s new documentary Wagner's Jews, co-produced with WDR and ARTE and broadcast in Europe in 2013. Filmed on location in Germany, Switzerland and Italy, Wagner's Jews tells these remarkable stories through archival sources, visual re-enactments, interviews and musical performances.

The questions dividing Wagner's Jewish acquaintances still resonate today: is it possible to separate artworks from the hatreds of their creator? Can art transcend prejudice and bigotry, and the weight of history?

Documentary, 55 minutes, 2013 Produced and directed by Hilan Warshaw