Questions and Answers

Up until now, the only time that Gertrude Stein was ever a presence at the White House, as far as I know, was on December 30, 1934 when she and Alice were invited to tea by Eleanor Roosevelt.  From what I’ve read, a good time was had by all.

Not sure if Barack or Michelle are aware of Gertrude in recent days, but someone on the presidential staff  may have taken a major step backwards into the era of the Salem witch trials or more recently Joseph McCarthy’s un-American  activities committee, when they felt the necessity to re-issue the May 1^st proclamation announcing  the 7^th annual Jewish Heritage Month.

 

The original proclamation urged people to visit the Jewish Heritage Month governmental web site  “to learn more about the heritage and contributions of Jewish Americans and to observe this month with appropriate programs, activities, and ceremonies.” It went on to state: “From Aaron Copland to Albert Einstein, Gertrude Stein to Justice Louis Brandeis, generations of Jewish Americans have brought to bear some of our country’s greatest achievements and forever enriched our national life.”

By the following day, someone on the White House staff may have gotten wind of the controversy that has been raging in New York City regarding Gertrude’s “Nazi” past and the STEINS COLLECT exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. This tempest was prompted by an op ed piece in the New York Daily News on April 29^th with the headline: “A Nazi collaborator at the Met.”  (More on this later after we finish with the scramble in the West Wing.)

On May 2^nd, the White House issued a revised proclamation this time leaving out not only Stein’s name, but also Copeland’s, Einstein’s and Brandeis’!  Were the composer, scientist and  justice not afforded this recognition because they just happened to end up on an arbitrary list of important Jewish-Americans including a self-proclaimed genius whose name has been in the news a lot? Or did some people think that there are too many prominent Jewish-Americans to single out these four?  I’m not sure what happened here, but my first response to the situation was that Gertie’s loose lips sank some ships!

I usually try to keep this blog on the humorous side partly because that’s just me and partly because humor played a big part in the personalities of GertrudeandAlice.

But with this post, I need to exchange the comedy mask for the other one (maybe not so much tragedy as tragi-comedy,) because of some of the events of the last few days and the past year.

Whether the White House action relates to the incident surrounding the Metropolitan exhibition, I don’t know, but one thing is certain,  Gertrude Stein has not only become more famous in the last twelve months, if not infamous.

Yes, there are the facts, many of which have been around a long time, but have, in the last five years become more broadly known largely because of the success of Janet Malcolm’s book TWO LIVES  and Barbara Will’s book UNLIKELY COLLABORATION: Gertrude Stein, Bernard  Faÿ and the Vichy Dilemma, published last fall :

–       Gertrude Stein in a New York Times interview in 1934 did say  some very complimentary things about Hitler and what he was doing in Germany and did, many insist jokingly, nominate him for the Nobel Peace Prize;

–       GertrudeandAlice, two American, lesbian Jews survived WWII in German- occupied France;

–       Their collection of art was also not confiscated while many other Jews in Europe lost major works of art;

–       They were friends with Bernard Faÿ who was friends with persons in high places in the Vichy government. At the end of WW II, Fay was sent to prison because of his collaboration with the Germans;

–       Gertrude admired General Philippe Pétain a hero of WWI and Vichy government leader and did begin translating the speeches of General Pétain into English since she felt some of his politics were relevant to the U.S.

Do these actions make Gertrude Stein a  Nazi or Nazi sympathizer and less of a significant literary icon of the 20^th century or likable, motherly Woody Allen star?  I and many other Stein fans would say ‘no,’ though there are some who would strongly disagree with us.

That this becomes a very emotional issue is understandable considering the horrors of WWII and the Holocaust. People often either vehemently defend Gertrude’s actions or find them despicable and inexcusable.  For someone who has had GertrudeandAlice as part of his life for almost thirty years,  I must confess that whenever people have asked me about GertrudeandAlice’s survival during WW  II , I cringe for a moment. This question was posed to me once by a Holocaust survivor and my answer to him and others is grounded in my knowledge of some of the facts relating to their years in Vichy France. The facts as laid out and interpreted in Barbara Will’s book do present a more politically involved Stein than I was previously aware of and it will still take me some time to think about that Stein and possibly reconcile her actions with the Stein I’ve known all these years.

My friend Renate Stendhal has done an incredible job following the Stein controversy in the last year. Go to the following link to review the chronology of events which help to put many things into perspective:

http://www.triviavoices.com/gertrude-stein-hitler-and-vichy-france.html

The Metropolitan Museum has agreed to add additional wall text to clarify Stein’s  life in Vichy France and her relationship with  Faÿ. This was  prompted not only by the op ed piece, but also requests by Manhattan’s borough president and a local assemblyman.  The museum further said that other visitors to the exhibition had already wondered why more information had not been  included about Stein’s WW II years.  A museum spokesperson  tried to put the whole thing into perspective: “We have been talking about it here for days.  It’s not an unreasonable request.”

Gertrude Stein was no saint, though Alice probably would be the first to call for her canonization so that the two could spend glory together! (The comedy mask is back.) But not many of us are saints and do and say things that we wish we hadn’t.  Gertrude was a strong-willed, independent, at times arrogant, industrious, creative artist.  And though I do not want or need to make excuses for her, anyone who comes to know her must try to understand her on many levels and then decide for themselves whether they would have wanted to join her in the salon for a cup of tea and some of Alice cake.

Tagged Barbara Will, Bernard Fay, Eleanor Roosevelt, Gertrude Stein, Janet Malcolm, Jewish Heritage Month, Renate Stendhal, Seeing Gertrude Stein:Five Stories, Steins Collect, Two Lives, Unlikely Collaboration