The Ring of Myths

This book examines the Israeli attitude towards Wagner in light of remembrance of the Holocaust and the shape of the new Israeli national identity. To many in Israel, Richard Wagner is a symbol of the concentration camps, or at least of a fierce socio-political controversy. Although the cancellation of a performance of the prelude to Wagner's Meistersinger von Nurnberg in 1938 was simply an impetuous response to the events of Kristallnacht in Nazi Germany, over the years this incident became part of a wider pattern as the Wagner boycott was extended to other composers suspected of collaborating with the Nazis.