BU reviewing ‘connection to Eckhardt name’

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 11/01/2024 (715 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The director of the Eckhardt-Gramatté Conservatory of Music at Brandon University says officials there have started to review the name of the music school and annual music competition in light of revelations that Gramatté’s husband, Ferdinand Eckhardt, was a Nazi supporter.

Dianna Neufeld said the matter is worth looking into.

“Our university is beginning the process of examining its connection to the Eckhardt name, and will be engaging in meaningful work and discussions as a result of this relatively new information,” Neufeld wrote in an email to the Sun.

Meanwhile, Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew said that Ferdinand Eckhardt was a person who pledged an oath of allegiance to Hitler, and “has no place being honoured in the public sphere here in Manitoba.”

“I think we have to show the utmost of respect and reverence for Holocaust survivors, and for everyone who is impacted by this terrible human tragedy,” Kinew said during a news conference in Winnipeg.

The Eckhardt-Gramatté Conservatory of Music at BU was named after musician and composer Sophie-Carmen Eckhardt-Gramatté, during a dedication in 1992.

There is also an annual national music competition held at BU that bears her name, the Eckhardt-Gramatté National Music Competition (E-Gré).

She and Eckhardt moved to Winnipeg from Germany in 1953, when Eckhardt became director of the Winnipeg Art Gallery (WAG-Qaumajuq).

Last November, a Manitoba investigative journalist published an article with information he had uncovered about Eckhardt and his ties to the Nazi party, including letters and articles pledging his loyalty to Hitler. After the article appeared, WAG-Qaumajuq launched an investigation and has since removed Eckhardt’s name from the main entrance hall, the website and all other gallery materials.

Eckhardt-Gramatté was involved with Eckhardt during his Nazi period, but no direct link has been made between her and the Nazi party. While in Canada, she was one of the country’s leading women composers and a champion of new music and music education, said BU’s Neufeld.

Both Eckhardt-Gramatté and Eckhardt received honorary degrees from BU — Eckhardt-Gramatté in 1970, and Eckhardt in 1990.

The decision as to who receives honorary degrees is made by a committee within the Senate office, which is responsible for academic policy and programming, mission, and strategy.

Nothing is being made public as to whether there is discussion about rescinding either degree, the university’s director of communications told the Sun on Tuesday.

On Wednesday, Kinew said he revoked Eckhardt’s appointment to the Order of the Buffalo Hunt in Manitoba, which was given to him in 1982.

There is a leather-bound book that lists all the people who have received the honour, Kinew said. He didn’t erase Eckhardt’s name, but drew a line through it.

“The reason why I struck the name, rather than grabbing the White-Out or a black marker, is because in a situation like this, part of the way that we commemorate the impacts and ensure the continuation of the living memory of what happened during the Holocaust, is we have to let the stain remain,” Kinew said.

“So, it’s my hope that future generations of Manitobans will know that this person was not deserving of being honoured here in Manitoba — that there was a time when this person was allowed to come to Canada and was celebrated in the past, and then there was a time when a reckoning took place, and that injustice was corrected.”

The University of Manitoba’s music library, and a lecture hall and a library collection at the University of Winnipeg are named after Eckhardt-Gramatté.

“UM is conducting a full review into the naming of the space and all other associations with the name to determine next steps,” a U of M spokesperson said in an emailed statement to the Winnipeg Free Press on Tuesday. “In the meantime, any painting or plaque that bears the name will be covered until after the review.”

A spokesperson for the U of W told the Free Press in an emailed statement that although no campus facilities or programs are named after Eckhardt himself, the university takes “the recent information regarding Ferdinand Eckhardt very seriously” and is “reviewing” all names associated with the family.

Ferdinand Eckhardt died in 1995 in Winnipeg and Sophie-Carmen Eckhardt-Gramatté died in Germany in 1974.

» mmcdougall@brandonsun.com

» X: @enviromichele