Gerard Menuhin

Gerard (Smithy)[1] Menuhin (born 1948[2] in Scotland).[1][3] He is the son of the violinist Yehudi Menuhin and dancer Diana Rosamund Gould, and brother of pianist Jeremy Menuhin. He is a writer and Holocaust denier, whose book Tell the Truth and Shame the Devil was published in 2015.[4]

Background

Born in July[1][3] 1948[2] in Scotland, United Kingdom,[1][3] he is the son of Jewish parents, the violinist Yehudi Menuhin and dancer Diana Rosamund Gould. He attended Eton College, completing his studies at Stanford University in California. The brother of the pianist Jeremy Menuhin,[5] Gerard decided that he didn't want to follow in the footsteps of his father or brother and decided to enter into acting. In London's Mermaid Theatre, he landed a role in the Erich Kästner-piece "Emil and the Detectives ".[6]

In December 1970, at the age of 22, along with his father, they temporarily lost their American citizenship.[7] In 1983, Gerard married Eva Struyvenberg, daughter of Albert Struyvenberg.[8][9] In 1985, he published his first book, a novel, Elmer, but it was panned by critics.[10]

In 1990, he and Eva had one child together, Maxwell Duncan Menuhin, but later divorced.[8][9] He was, until November 2005, the CEO of the German chapter of the Yehudi Menuhin Foundation. He was representative of the Menuhin family on the Board of the Menuhin Festival Gstaad in Gstaad, Switzerland. In June 2007, he took up the post as president of the Yehudi Menuhin Foundation in Grenchen, Switzerland.[11] Since 2009, there is no indication to be found of Menuhin's continuing administrative position with the Menuhin Festival Gstaad.[12]

He works for Menuhin IP Management GmbH (Menuhin IP Management Ltd liab Co) (Menuhin IP Management Sàrl) in Schöfflisdorf[12] which owns the official Yehudi Menuhin website.[13] The content of the website, however, is controlled by two of Yehudi Menuhin's other children, Jeremy Menuhin and Zamira Menuhin Benthall, as directors of SYM Music Company Limited.

Controversy

Like his grandfather, Moshe Menuhin (the great great grandson of Shneur Zalman of Liadi, the founder of Chabad Hassidism),[14] he considers himself anti-Zionist. Until 2005, his political views had barely registered with the outside world even though he has a regular column in the Munich-based ultra-nationalist National Zeitung. Because of Gerard Menuhin's extremist or nationalistic utterances, he was relieved of his post as chairman on 12 November 2005 by the Yehudi Menuhin Foundation Germany. The London Times Berlin correspondent Roger Boyes reported a few days later, that Menuhin had "outed himself as a clear sympathiser with the neo-Nazi cause in two interviews he gave. In Deutsche Stimme" the NPD newspaper "he used classical anti-Semitic language while still staying within the boundaries of German law".[15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][15]

"Apart from a few curious comments about America, we weren’t really aware of his politics", Winfried Kneip, YMF's chief executive, said.[15] Alarmed by press reports, from the Spiegel website among others, the Foundation took notice, that Gerard Menuhin had given interviews to the National Zeitung, writing a column named "Menuhin and how he sees the world", and also in the newspaper of the far-right National Democratic Party of Germany's (NPD), Deutsche Stimme (German Voice).[17][24]

Menuhin joined in June 2007 as president of the Swiss Menuhin Foundation Grenchen with regard to the continued existence of the institution back. Gerard Menuhin told his brother Jeremy had promised to take up the post.[25]

In November 2014, Israeli media referred to him as an example of a "Jewish anti-Semite" and "anti-Israel extremist." Stating, "Gerard authored columns in the National-Zeitung, a paper infamous for its neo-Nazi and right-wing extremist ideas. He has also provided a fiercely anti-Israel interview with the pro-Iranian regime extremist German-language website, Muslim-Markt."[26][27]

Gerard Menuhin's book, Tell the Truth and Shame the Devil, was published in 2015. According to Menuhin, the Holocaust is "the biggest lie in history" and "Germany has no blame for the Second World War".[4]

Sources

  1. 1 2 3 4 , The Milwaukee Journal, 29 April 1949
  2. 1 2 Fragen & Antworten: Interview mit Gerard Menuhin
  3. 1 2 3 , Toledo Blade, 29 April 1949
  4. 1 2 Morrison, Richard (6 April 2016). "Yehudi Menuhin: The genius who put the fight for justice before his family". London. Retrieved 17 November 2016. (subscription required)
  5. ↑ "Another Son Is Born To Yehudi Menuhin". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. 3 November 1951. Retrieved 1 March 2013.
  6. ↑ Berufliches: Gerard Menuhin, Der Spiegel, 14 December 1960
  7. ↑ State Department Warning: Famed Violinist Told Citizenship in Danger, Tad Szulc, Eugene Register-Guard, 4 December 1970 (New York Times News Service)
  8. 1 2 Mosley, Charles, editor. Burke's Peerage and Baronetage, 106th edition, volume 2, page 1907. Crans, Switzerland: Burke's Peerage (Genealogical Books) Ltd, 1999.
  9. 1 2 http://www.thepeerage.com/p23823.htm#i238224
  10. ↑ Irony without humour, Ian Murray, Glasgow Herald, 20 April 1985.
  11. ↑ Menuhin president bows to pressure, Solothurn Tagblatt / Espace Media Groupe, 8 June 2007. Der unsichtbare Elefant im Raum by Gerard Menuhin
  12. 1 2 http://www.moneyhouse.ch/fr/p/Gerard-Menuhin
  13. ↑ http://menuhin.org/about
  14. ↑ Review by Henry G. Fischer of The Menuhin Saga, by Moshe Menuhin, in The Link – Volume 17, Issue 5, Americans for Middle East Understanding December 1984,
  15. 1 2 3 Boyes, Roger (15 November 2005). "Menuhin's son forced to resign over 'anti-Semitic' interviews". The Times. Retrieved 17 November 2016. (subscription required)
  16. ↑ Right-wing views troubles Menuhin, United Press International, 15 November 2005
  17. 1 2 Neonazi-Gesinnung: Yehudi-Menuhin-Stiftung trennt sich von Vorstand, Paul Nellen, Der Spiegel, 12 November 2005
  18. ↑ Tabubruch bei "Vanity Fair": Der Nazi, der Jude und das Prinzip Eitelkeit, Henryk M. Broder, Der Spiegel, 4 November 2005
  19. ↑ Der Schicksals-Vater, Joachim Kronsbein, Der Spiegel, 2005
  20. ↑ Menuhin Stiftung entläßt Gerard Menuhin, DPA, Die Welt, 14 November 2005
  21. ↑ Falscher Trost für Deutsche: Der Fall Gerard Menuhin, Thomas Assheuer, Die Zeit, 17 November 2005
  22. ↑ Sohn von Yehudi Menuhin veröffentlichte Texte in echtsextremen Organen, Editorial Staff, Der Standard, 13 November 2005
  23. ↑ Violinist’s son fired for remarks, Berlin (JTA), Cleveland Jewish News, 17 November 2005
  24. ↑ Deutsche und Juden – Zu den Ufern der Vernunft: Gerard Menuhin über Vergangenheit und Zukunft des deutsch-jüdischen Verhältnisses (cached), Deutsche Stimme, November 2005
  25. ↑ Menuhin president bows to pressure, Solothurn Tagblatt / Espace Media Groupe, 8 June 2007
  26. ↑ Analysis: Making sense of Germany’s anti-Semitic ‘Toiletgate’ scandal, Benjamin Weinthal, The Jerusalem Post, 16 November 2014
  27. ↑ Muslim-Markt interviewt Gerard Menuhin, ehemaliger Vorstandsvorsitzender der Yehudi Menuhin Stiftung, Muslim-Markt, 14 February 2006

External links

Bibliography

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