The Example of Adolf Busch

Terry Teachout reviews Tully Potter's biography of violinist Adolf Busch, a portrait in moral courage:

Mr. Busch's principled stand was motivated in part by the fact that many of his closest friends and colleagues were Jewish, including Mr. Serkin and Karl Doktor, the violist of the Busch Quartet. But the Nazis, who were keenly aware of the force of public opinion, were prepared to look the other way at such things in order to prevent prominent non-Jewish Germans from leaving the country in protest. As late as 1937, it was discreetly made known to Mr. Busch that if he returned, the Nazi government would let Mr. Serkin come back as well. "If you hang Hitler in the middle, with Goering on the left and Goebbels on the right, I'll return to Germany," he replied.