Stulen musik Stolen Music

Stolen Music tells the chilling stories of Jewish musicians Wanda Landowska, Arthur Rubinstein, Shony Braun, Alma Rosé, and Władysław Szpilman from the interwar period’s vibrant musical scene to the Nazis’ persecution. Parallel to these musicians’ fates is the story about music’s role in the Third Reich, and the wide-spread and systematic looting of tens of thousands of instruments, manuscripts, and books. Many of these are still lost to the world.

The special command Sonderstab Musik led the hunt for Europe’s foremost musical treasures, invaluable instruments and manuscripts from masters such as Bach, Mozart, and Beethoven. Headed by Herbert Gerigk, the aim of this musical looting was to obliterate Jewish influence over European music once and for all.

Stolen Music is not only a tale of the Nazis’ attempt to silence their opponents, but one about music as an act of resistance.

“[Stolen Music is] a book which paralyzes with its terrors and pleases with its high quality. It deserves great international attention. From the first 150 brilliant pages’ sharp exposé of the 19^th century’s antisemites in different shapes and Wagner’s fanaticism to a later time, the book is easy to read, concrete, nicely disposed – with gruesome examples not only from the camps but from the thorough looting of, for example, nearly seventy thousand Jewish homes in France alone. No matter how well-read I am about the history of Nazism, [Stolen Music] is, through its delineation, so convincing on every page that I will not be able to forget it. May it be recognized according to merit!”
–Per Wästberg, former president of PEN International and member of the committee for the Nobel Prize in Literature.

“[Stolen Music is] a fantastic book.”
–David Lagercrantz

Reviews

“It is about the people. To have to leave one’s violin. The deep violation of that (…). It is heartbreaking, and it says more than one hundred philosophies about the essence of music. The strength of Stolen Music is on the one hand the account of the extent – a large-scale robbery, as [Rydell] puts it (…). In a convincing way, Anders Rydell’s meticulous puzzling depicts that what he can convey is only the tip of an iceberg. We understand that there are many, many more untold tragedies. [Rydell] needs to sketch the big picture. But the reading experience is best when he gets close to the individuals.”

Svenska Dagbladet, Sweden
“In a light way, Anders Rydell shares impressive knowledge and analysis with his readers. There’s also an underlying drama and thrill in all the atrociousness, and an undeniable sense of music. [Stolen Music] is a piece of music history.”

Fokus, Sweden
“[T]he cultural-historical approach is dominating [in Stolen Music], with a string of interesting portrayals. /…/ Rydell has completed an impressive project.”

Göteborgs-Posten, Sweden
“Rydell writes in an essayistic manner and offers an intriguing and in-depth look into this atrocious event.”

BTJ, Sweden
“[Rydell] intersperses accounts and factual descriptions with his own work on the book. /…/ [I]t creates a rhythm in the storytelling which works surprisingly well and adds an extra dimension to the larger historical story. [Rydell] also makes meritorious retrospectives to the emergence of a new kind of antisemitism in later 19^th century Germany. /…/ [Stolen Music] is frighteningly relevant today. /…/ Five out of five. Highly recommend!”

★★★★★

Historievärlden, Sweden
“Anders Rydell gets close to his chosen musicians and follows them on their gruesome escape from evil. Herein lies the book’s strength and beating heart. /…/ Most important is how Stolen Music displays the many overlooked aspects of the Nazis’ predatory behavior.”

Dagens Nyheter, Sweden
“What Anders Rydell shows is that the Nazis essentially were nothing but bandits. Ideologically motivated and for a long time well-organized, sure, but bandits nonetheless. /…/ Stolen Music is first and foremost a story about a number of known Jewish musicians and their fates. /…/ Anders Rydell writes captivatingly and vividly. /…/ Fundamentally, Stolen Music is a very essential addition to our knowledge of the crimes of Nazism, and expansion to our knowledge about the power of music. A nice feature is that every chapter is equipped with a music reference – it heightens the reading experience to follow them.”

Jönköpings-Posten, Sweden
“The purely musical effect of the Holocaust is incomprehensible. Because, as Rydell writes, what could have become of a vital music scene like the one in Central and Eastern Europe, where the classical mixed with folk, jazz, and modernism, if it had been allowed to live on into our time? We will never know. The thought is overwhelming. And when it is, Rydell guides his reader back to the tangible. The actual stories become a wire to hold on to when stepping into the underworld. /…/ Stolen Music is a striking book.”

Sydsvenskan, Sweden