Herbert Gerigk

Who was Herbert Gerigk?

Herbert Gerigk was a German musicologist, notable for his co-authoring of the Nazi Lexicon of Jews in Music.

After graduation in 1928, Herbert Gerigk published in 1932 a thesis on Giuseppe Verdi. It was the first important musicological overall presentation of Verdi in Germany and appeared in the series "The Great Masters of Music."

Gerigk joined the Nazi Party in 1932 and joined the SA in 1933. From 1935 he worked in the National Socialist German Reich as "head the music section for the monitoring of the intellectual and ideological training and education of the Nazi Party". In 1935 he joined the SS.

Gerigk took over the planning of the music policy of Alfred Rosenberg and was responsible for its implementation in the Rosenberg's office. This policy was to suppress Jewish representation in musical life by removing Jews from their positions and stopping the spread of new music.

Gerigk's most famous work was the antisemitic concoction Lexicon of Jews in Music, which he edited in collaboration with Theophil Stengel, Speaker of the Reich Music Chamber.