Conductor Christoph von Dohnányi warns against the dangers posed by Trump’s presidency in a personal statement.

Christoph von Dohnányi has written a blog post lamenting the religious intolerance and hatred President Trump has unleashed on the United States with his widely condemned Muslim ban.

^{Christoph von Dohnányi. Photo: ABC}

Dohnányi, 87, wrote unflinchingly about his family’s suffering under the Nazi regime. Four members of his family perished in concentration camps across Europe.

“Four men in my family were executed by the Nazis. Hans von Dohnányi, my father, honored in Yad Vashem, was killed in the Nazi concentration camp Sachsenhausen short before the Second World War ended. At the same time the world-renowned theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer, brother of my mother, my godfather, was executed in the concentration camp Flossenbürg.”

Dohnányi made clear that his uncle, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, would have been “extremely unhappy observing a tendency of religious intolerance in the country he once admired so much for its freedom and acceptance. He never could have imagined that this strong, great nation would find itself in the political and ethical crisis it now faces”. Bonhoeffer was a strong anti-Nazi dissident, executed after being accused of participating in the plot to assassinate Adolf Hitler.

With a long association with The Cleveland Orchestra, first as its Music Director and then as its Music Director Laureate, Dohnányi has made the US one of his artistic homes. Acknowledging that while any country may feel uncertain or afraid for its safety, he stated that this was not a reason to “tolerate walls nor turn away those seeking help”.

Drawing on his own family history, Dohnányi wrote: “people died at the Berlin Wall. Many people died in Hitler’s concentration camps for their unwavering beliefs in the value of their ethics and in their fellow man. These beliefs are now endangered in many Western nations including, sadly enough, the USA. This is unimaginable.”

He also criticised the injustice of President Trump’s legally dubious Muslim ban, stating, “rising walls will unfortunately keep many talented, well educated and good people away”. Dohnányi further challenged the logical premise of Trump’s ban, questioning whether “walls will make anybody safer. We all know, fear and aggression produce nothing but fear and aggression”.

He concluded his blog post by asking “what kind of world are we living in? A world of “Texas first!”, “California first!”, Asia, Africa, America, Europe or Australia “first!”? Or do we live in a world that puts human dignity, humanity, fearlessness and compassion above everything else? In its great days our much-loved USA was such a country.”

On a more hopeful note, Dohnányi signed off his plea for respect and humanity by hoping that “the current political turmoil in the U.S. will…harm the extreme right-wing parties in some upcoming, important European elections”.