Jewish author speaks of “suicide”: Bayreuth Festival cancels memorial service with Michel Friedman due to security concerns

According to the newspaper, Friedman was scheduled to give a speech at a memorial concert entitled “Silent Voices” on June 26th. But this event, which was planned before the premiere of the Richard Wagner opera “Rienzi”, has now been canceled.

The festival initially did not comment when asked, but the interim managing director of the Bayreuth Festival, Hans-Dieter Sense, told Bayerischer Rundfunk. justified the decision with safety problems: “Because you can’t manage the highest security level in the festival hall twice in a row. The period between the end of the morning event and the start of the afternoon event is too short. Given the current world situation, everyone is extremely careful. If no one can guarantee me that this can be carried out, then I can’t do the event.”

“Death by suicide”

The Jewish author Friedman does not accept this argument: “Cancelling events for security reasons is death by suicide in a democracy,” he told the “SZ”. There is a very simple answer to threats from extremists: “Then secure this event. And save all your Sunday speeches!”

The Bayreuth Festival is 150 years old and looks back on an eventful and dark history. Wagner fan Adolf Hitler was a welcome guest there at the time Festival director Winifred Wagner is an ardent admirer of the National Socialist dictator. And Richard Wagner’s own anti-Semitic attitude always casts a shadow over his work.

Festival director Katharina Wagner says the memorial concert is a matter of the heart, as she told BR: “For the 150th anniversary of the Bayreuth Festival, we not only want to celebrate, but also take a critical look at our history. The anniversary offers the opportunity to both honor the artistic achievements and openly address the problematic chapters of our past.” How exactly this should happen was initially unclear.