Germany/Russia:
Was Hitler listening to ‘forbidden’ music?

The newspaper International Herald Tribune reports that a record collection possibly belonging to Adolf Hitler has been found in Russia.

The nearly 100 records were stored in the attic of a former Soviet intelligence agent who recently died. The agent left a note behind him, saying that he took the collection from Hitler’s chancellery when Berlin fell to the Red Army in 1945.

Musical works by Russians and Jews
Both Russians and Jews were considered to be ‘subhuman’ by Nazi ideologues. But nevertheless - the found collection includes works by prominent Russian composers and Jewish musicians, such as Feodor Chaliapin, Bronislaw Huberman and Artur Schnabel. If the records really belonged to Hitler – the International Herald Tribune suggests that this could be a sign of a contradictive secret musical passion, in contrast to his outward hatred of Jews and Russians.

The records were all stamped with ‘Führerhaubtquartier’ – indicating that they once belonged to Hitler’s headquarters. But it still remains to be proved whether the record collection really belonged to Hitler or not – and if he listened to them.