Vienna Philharmonic asks historians to look into alleged Nazi
past Historian says orchestra demonstrated sympathy for
Austria's Nazi leadership during Holocaust. The Vienna
Philharmonic has asked three historians to research the
orchestra's alleged Nazi past. The announcement on January 22
came after Harald Walser, a historian and Parliament member for
the Austrian Greens, said in an interview that the orchestra
demonstrated sympathy for the country’s Nazi leadership during
World War Two. Historians Fritz Truempi, Oliver Rathkolb and
Bernadette Mayrhofer will look into the "politicization" of the
Vienna Philharmonic from 1938 to 1945, the fate of its Jewish
musicians during that time and its relations with Nazis
afterward, according to an orchestra statement, the French news
agency AFP reported. Their report is due in March. Walser has
called for forming a committee of inquiry into the role of the
philharmonic during those years and said the orchestra has not
released all its documents from the Nazi era or ha