Salzburg Böhm Hall to be provided with explanatory plaque
As the Austrian newspaper "Kurier" writes, the Karl Böhm Hall in the Salzburg Festival district will be provided with an explanatory plaque - with references to the conductor's role during the Nazi era.
According to the "Kurier" newspaper, Böhm succeeded Fritz Busch, who had been expelled by the Nazis, at the Semperoper in 1934 following Hitler's intercession. In 1938, shortly after the "Anschluss" of Austria, Böhm conducted at the Vienna Konzerthaus. He voluntarily greeted the audience with the Hitler salute and had the Horst Wessel Song played. In 1943, he became director of the State Opera at Hitler's request. After the war, the Allies imposed a performance ban on Böhm, which was only lifted in 1947.
Because of Böhm's "exceptional artistic merits", the festival directorate does not want to rename the Böhm Hall. The plaque that has now been agreed will refer to an Internet address "where Karl Böhm's personality is presented in German and English as what he was: a great artist, but a politically fatal misleader".
