Roger Waters has spoken out about the investigation launched by German police regarding his use of a Nazi-style uniform during concerts in the country. Following the repercussions of the performances, the singer changed the show held in Frankfurt last Sunday, the 28th, and explained the performance.
The concert in the city only took place after Roger Waters' team won a legal battle to proceed with the performance, as local authorities had opposed it, alleging supposed anti-Semitic rhetoric on the part of the musician.
Before the performance, there were protests from people opposed to the show, since the performance took place at the Festhalle concert hall. According to The Guardian , it was in this location where more than 3,000 Jews were imprisoned and tortured by the Nazis in November 1938.
Last week, following Waters' first performances in Germany, Berlin police opened an investigation into "suspicions of inciting public hatred" on the part of the artist, since the performance could "glorify or justify the Nazi regime, disturbing public order.".
It all stemmed from a theatrical segment in Roger Waters' shows, staged for decades in the tracks "In the Flesh?" and "Run Like Hell," where he dresses as a Nazi officer as a form of social commentary. This is what the singer explained during the Frankfurt show, where the segment was deleted from the performance to respect those bothered by the "desecration" of historically significant sites related to the victims of the Holocaust.
“When I wrote those tracks, back in 1971, I wrote a theatrical piece where I dress up as a demagogue, a kind of Nazi demagogue, if we’re honest,” he said. “But if any of you read the news, (…) they used the fact that I was wearing a leather jacket as part of the narrative that explains to readers that I am an angry, anti-Semitic Jew. Which, friends, I can say here because we’re all together in the bar: I am not.”.
In addition to the Nazi attire, German and Israeli authorities were also bothered by the display of images of dead people on the screen, such as the Jewish girl Anne Frank and the Palestinian journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, who died in an Israeli operation in 2022. Learn more here .
See a subtitled excerpt of the statement below and the full video here .
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