Gerard Menuhin
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Gerard Menuhin (born 1948 in Scotland) is a
Holocaust denier Holocaust denial is an antisemitic conspiracy theory that falsely asserts that the Nazi genocide of Jews, known as the Holocaust, is a myth, fabrication, or exaggeration. Holocaust deniers make one or more of the following false statements: * ...
and activist, associated with the
neo-Nazi Neo-Nazism comprises the post–World War II militant, social, and political movements that seek to revive and reinstate Nazism, Nazi ideology. Neo-Nazis employ their ideology to promote hatred and Supremacism#Racial, racial supremacy (ofte ...
movement in Germany. His book ''Tell the Truth and Shame the Devil'', published in 2015, argues that
the Holocaust The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; a ...
is "the biggest lie in history", that Jews are an "alien, demonic force which seeks to dominate the world", that "Jews are flooding Europe with non-white races", to create a "society of racial mongrels, under the rule of a 'new Jewish nobility, and plan to "create a one-world government". Menuhin argues that "the world owes
Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Nazi Germany, Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his death in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the le ...
an apology". He is the son of the violinist
Yehudi Menuhin Yehudi or Jehudi (Hebrew: יהודי, endonym for Jew) is a common Hebrew name: * Yehudi Menuhin (1916–1999), violinist and conductor ** Yehudi Menuhin School, a music school in Surrey, England ** Who's Yehoodi?, a catchphrase referring to the v ...
and dancer Diana Gould, and brother of pianist
Jeremy Menuhin Jeremy Louis Eugene Menuhin (born 2 November 1951) is a composer and pianist and the son of violinist Yehudi Menuhin. Early life Menuhin was born in San Francisco, California, the fourth son of his father Yehudi Menuhin and the second of his mot ...
.


Background

Born in July
,
The Milwaukee Journal The ''Milwaukee Journal Sentinel'' is a daily morning broadsheet printed in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where it is the primary newspaper. It is also the largest newspaper in the state of Wisconsin, where it is widely distributed. It is currently o ...
, 29 April 1949

Toledo Blade ''The Blade'', also known as the ''Toledo Blade'', is a newspaper in Toledo, Ohio published daily online and printed Thursday and Sunday by Block Communications. The newspaper was first published on December 19, 1835. Overview The first issue o ...
, 29 April 1949
1948Fragen & Antworten: Interview mit Gerard Menuhin
/ref> in Scotland, he is the son of violinist
Yehudi Menuhin Yehudi or Jehudi (Hebrew: יהודי, endonym for Jew) is a common Hebrew name: * Yehudi Menuhin (1916–1999), violinist and conductor ** Yehudi Menuhin School, a music school in Surrey, England ** Who's Yehoodi?, a catchphrase referring to the v ...
, who was Jewish and Diana Gould, an English ballerina who was a gentile. He attended
Eton College Eton College () is a public school in Eton, Berkshire, England. It was founded in 1440 by Henry VI under the name ''Kynge's College of Our Ladye of Eton besyde Windesore'',Nevill, p. 3 ff. intended as a sister institution to King's College, C ...
, completing his studies at
Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...
in California. The brother of the pianist
Jeremy Menuhin Jeremy Louis Eugene Menuhin (born 2 November 1951) is a composer and pianist and the son of violinist Yehudi Menuhin. Early life Menuhin was born in San Francisco, California, the fourth son of his father Yehudi Menuhin and the second of his mot ...
, Gerard did not want to follow in the footsteps of his father or brother and decided to enter into acting. In London's
Mermaid Theatre The Mermaid Theatre was a theatre encompassing the site of Puddle Dock and Curriers' Alley at Blackfriars in the City of London, and the first built in the City since the time of Shakespeare. It was, importantly, also one of the first new thea ...
, he landed a role in the
Erich Kästner Emil Erich Kästner (; 23 February 1899 – 29 July 1974) was a German writer, poet, screenwriter and satirist, known primarily for his humorous, socially astute poems and for children's books including '' Emil and the Detectives''. He received ...
-piece ''
Emil and the Detectives ''Emil and the Detectives'' () is a 1929 novel set mainly in Berlin, by the German writer Erich Kästner and illustrated by Walter Trier. It was Kästner's first major success and the only one of his pre-1945 works to escape Nazi censorship. The ...
''. In December 1970, when Menuhin was 22, he and his father temporarily lost their American citizenship after they were granted Swiss citizenship, as American law at the time did not permit
dual citizenship Multiple/dual citizenship (or multiple/dual nationality) is a legal status in which a person is concurrently regarded as a national or citizen of more than one country under the laws of those countries. Conceptually, citizenship is focused on ...
. In 1985, he published his first book, a novel, ''Elmer'', which was panned by critics. Menuhin 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 The Menuhin Festival Gstaad is a music festival founded by the violinist Yehudi Menuhin held every summer since 1957 in the Swiss alpine town of Gstaad, after being asked by the director of tourism to "enhance the summer season with some concerts" ...
in
Gstaad Gstaad ( ; ) is a town in the German-speaking section of the Canton of Bern in southwestern Switzerland. It is part of the municipality of Saanen and is known as a major ski resort and a popular destination amongst high society and the internatio ...
, Switzerland. In June 2007, he took up the post as president of the Yehudi Menuhin Foundation in
Grenchen Grenchen (french: Granges) is a municipality in the district of Lebern in the canton of Solothurn in Switzerland. It is located at the foot of the Jura mountains between Solothurn and Biel/Bienne, approximately north of Bern. With over 16,000 i ...
, Switzerland. Since 2009, there is no indication to be found of Menuhin's continuing administrative position with the Menuhin Festival Gstaad.http://www.moneyhouse.ch/fr/p/Gerard-Menuhin He has previously worked for Menuhin IP Management GmbH (Menuhin IP Management Ltd liab Co) (Menuhin IP Management Sàrl) in
Schöfflisdorf Schöfflisdorf is a municipality in the district of Dielsdorf in the canton of Zürich in Switzerland. Geography Situated in the Wehntal, Schöfflisdorf has an area of . Of this area, 43.2% is used for agricultural purposes, while 45.2% is f ...
which owns the official Yehudi Menuhin website. 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 over extremist views

A supporter of
Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Nazi Germany, Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his death in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the le ...
, Menuhin writes about Jews: "It remains for Jews only to imitate or destroy what they can never have or become, and to undermine the homogeneous social fabric via their political stooges, by civil-war-induced migrations and so-called anti-discriminatory legislation, including attacks on such core values as the traditional family, through contrived 'gender neutral' and radical feminist ideologies and 'movements.'" He considers himself
anti-Zionist Anti-Zionism is opposition to Zionism. Although anti-Zionism is a heterogeneous phenomenon, all its proponents agree that the creation of the modern State of Israel, and the movement to create a sovereign Jewish state in the region of Palestine ...
. Until 2005, his political views had barely registered with the outside world, even though he has a regular column in the Munich-based ultra-
German nationalist German nationalism () is an ideological notion that promotes the unity of Germans and German-speakers into one unified nation state. German nationalism also emphasizes and takes pride in the patriotism and national identity of Germans as one nat ...
''
National Zeitung The ''National-Zeitung'' (NZ, ''National Newspaper'') was a weekly, extreme right newspaper, published by Gerhard Frey, who also founded the far right Deutsche Volksunion (German People's Union) as an association in 1971, turning it into a politi ...
''. 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 Time is the continued sequence of existence and events, and a fundamental quantity of measuring systems. Time or times may also refer to: Temporal measurement * Time in physics, defined by its measurement * Time standard, civil time specific ...
'' Berlin correspondent
Roger Boyes Roger Boyes (born 7 August 1952 in Hereford, England) is a British journalist and author. He is the diplomatic editor for the London ''Times'' newspaper. He also has a column in the German newspaper ''Der Tagesspiegel'' entitled 'My Berlin'. Boye ...
reported a few days later, that Menuhin had "outed himself as a clear sympathiser with the
neo-Nazi Neo-Nazism comprises the post–World War II militant, social, and political movements that seek to revive and reinstate Nazism, Nazi ideology. Neo-Nazis employ their ideology to promote hatred and Supremacism#Racial, racial supremacy (ofte ...
cause in two interviews he gave. In ''Deutsche Stimme,''" the newspaper of the far-right
National Democratic Party of Germany The National Democratic Party of Germany (german: Nationaldemokratische Partei Deutschlands or NPD) is a far-right Neo-Nazi and ultranationalist political party in Germany. The party was founded in 1964 as successor to the German Reich Party ...
(NDP), "he used classical anti-Semitic language while still staying within the boundaries of German law".Neonazi-Gesinnung: Yehudi-Menuhin-Stiftung trennt sich von Vorstand
Paul Nellen,
Der Spiegel ''Der Spiegel'' (, lit. ''"The Mirror"'') is a German weekly news magazine published in Hamburg. With a weekly circulation of 695,100 copies, it was the largest such publication in Europe in 2011. It was founded in 1947 by John Seymour Chaloner ...
, 12 November 2005
"Apart from a few curious comments about America, we weren't really aware of his politics", Winfried Kneip, YMF's chief executive, said. Alarmed by press reports, from the ''
Spiegel Spiegel is German, Yiddish, and Dutch for "mirror". More specifically, it may refer to: Publications * '' Der Spiegel'', a weekly German magazine * Der Spiegel (online), the online sibling of ''Der Spiegel'' Political * Spiegel scandal, a 1962 ...
'' website among others, the Foundation took notice, that Gerard Menuhin had given interviews to the ''
National Zeitung The ''National-Zeitung'' (NZ, ''National Newspaper'') was a weekly, extreme right newspaper, published by Gerhard Frey, who also founded the far right Deutsche Volksunion (German People's Union) as an association in 1971, turning it into a politi ...
'', writing a column named "Menuhin and how he sees the world", and also in the newspaper of the far-right NDP's ''Deutsche Stimme'' (''German Voice'').Deutsche und Juden – Zu den Ufern der Vernunft: Gerard Menuhin über Vergangenheit und Zukunft des deutsch-jüdischen Verhältnisses
, Deutsche Stimme, November 2005
In November 2014, Israeli media referred to Menuhin as an example of a "Jewish anti-Semite" and "anti-Israel extremist". An article in ''
The Jerusalem Post ''The Jerusalem Post'' is a broadsheet newspaper based in Jerusalem, founded in 1932 during the British Mandate of Palestine by Gershon Agron as ''The Palestine Post''. In 1950, it changed its name to ''The Jerusalem Post''. In 2004, the paper w ...
'' asserted that he "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." 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".


Personal life

Menuhin married Eva Struyvenberg in New York in March 1983, the daughter of Albert Struyvenberg from Seattle.Mosley, Charles, editor. ''Burke's Peerage and Baronetage'', 106th edition, volume 2, page 1907. Crans, Switzerland: Burke's Peerage (Genealogical Books) Ltd, 1999. In 1990, he and Eva had one child together, Maxwell Duncan Menuhin, but later divorced.


Bibliography

* ''Elmer'', Hutchinson, 1985, . * ''Die Antwort'', FZ-Verlag, 2007, (German). * ''Tell the Truth and Shame the Devil'', Barnes Review, 2015, . * ''Lies & Gravy: Landmarks in Human Decay'', Castle Hill Publishers, 2019, . * ''Lived It Wrong: An Autobiography'', Reconquista Press, 2020, .


References


External links


Official website


Interview with Gerard in the National Gazette
Interview with Gerard Menuhin


{{DEFAULTSORT:Menuhin, Gerard 1948 births Living people 20th-century American non-fiction writers American autobiographers American emigrants to Switzerland American Holocaust deniers American people of Belarusian-Jewish descent British emigrants to Switzerland Far-right politics in Germany Antisemitism in Germany Scottish activists British Holocaust deniers British people of Belarusian-Jewish descent Naturalised citizens of Switzerland Naturalised citizens of the United Kingdom Swiss people of Belarusian-Jewish descent Sons of life peers