Richard and Adolf.
Did Richard Wagner incite Adolf Hitler to commit the Holocaust?
By Christopher Nicholson

"...a most scholarly, lucidly written account, capturing very starkly and eruditely the awful ambiguity of Wagner"

"Wagner's story is a frightening one, and ultimately tragic - great art should be ennobling, and usually is, but that shadow of the swastika will always lie over even his greatest works. It is a very thorough and clear appraisal."
-David Saks,
Senior researcher at the Jewish Board of Deputies in Johannesburg,
Editor of the cultural journal 'Jewish Affairs'.

The music of composer Richard Wagner is banned in Israel, as he is regarded as a precur-sor of the Nazi ideology. In Richard and Adolf, Nicholson explores the anti-Semitic elements of Wagner’s polemical works and his music, and the immense influence this had on the man who was to become Germany’s Fuhrer. Reference is also made to the texts of the major operas, reckoned by many to be the greatest works of art of all time.

Biographers have often avoided delving into the uglier elements of both of the subjects’ personalities.Without seeking sensationalism, this book does not shrink from exploring their seedier side, including their sexual dalliances
and perversions, in its quest to understand the full range of factors that led to Hitler’s pursuit of the Holocaust.

about the author
Christopher Nicholson has lived all his 61 years in
KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa. He practiced as a human rights lawyer, assisting victims of apartheid, before majority rule was won in 1994. His efforts were recognized with two awards and he was appointed a high court judge in 1995. He has published two books: Permanent Removal: Who Killed
the Cradock Four? and Papwa Sewgolum: From Pariah to Legend. Both were nominated for the Alan Paton prize for non-fiction.

He is married with two daughters and a grandson.