THOMASTON — There are 32 swastikas on the ceiling of the Thomaston Opera House, put there at a time when they held a different meaning from the horror the ancient symbol is associated with today.
Now, people are asking why the symbols were preserved during last year's $3.5 million renovation of the 19th century theater and whether they should remain.
“No matter what you say about a what a symbol meant 140 years ago, the last 90 years, that is the single-most popular symbol of hate that you can find,” said Jeffrey Dunn, executive director of Landmark Community Theatre and the Opera House's primary tenant.
“So why do we want this in the ceiling?”
The swastikas are mixed with other similar-sized South Asian and Masonic symbols, each about 4- to 5-inches wide, painted a light army green color in four coffers — or rectangular panels that run from front-to-back of the 30-foot high ceiling. They were part of the original design when the Opera House was completed in 1884.
The symbols were painted over in the 1930s, because, at least partly, the swastikas could be mistaken for Nazi imagery and hatred of Jewish people, Dunn said.
Michael Burr, chairman of the Opera House Restoration Building Committee, defends the decision to restore rather than remove or hide the swastikas.
Burr said the committee thoroughly “vetted” the project and consulted with EverGreene Architectural Arts in New York, the restoration company that repaired and repainted the ceiling.
“We were very sensitive to it when we first uncovered it,” Burr said. “We did a lot of research and found there are buildings all over the country with swastikas, some facing in both directions.”
Burr said there are lots of swastikas in Washington, D.C., as well as churches, many that are etched in stone.
“Where’s the outrage?” he said. “We’re prepared. We did our homework. It wasn’t a decision that was made without consideration.”
The swastika-like symbol was intended in the 19th century to reference to the Sanskrit "svastika,” which means “good fortune” or “well-being,” according to the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Encyclopedia. The swastikas on the Opera House ceiling face the opposite direction of the Nazi symbol.
The committee ultimately decided to restore the symbols to their original design and use them as an educational opportunity. The committee put informative displays at the theater entrances which explain the historical context of the symbols.
But some are questioning whether that decision was appropriate.
Dunn, the director of the community theater who also serves as secretary on the building committee, said he recently received a letter by email from a patron who complained about the swastikas.
The patron, who Dunn would not identify without her approval, pointed out that the information displays are no guarantee that every patron will read and understand them, he said.
Dunn also said he would prefer not to have to start every production with a speech about what the symbols mean. “I’d rather talk about what’s going to happen on stage,” he said.
The Opera House was also supposed to host a wedding in May but when the family of the groom, which was Jewish, found out about the swastikas, the family canceled the wedding and held it elsewhere, Dunn said. If the Opera House does not remove or cover-up the swastikas, the theater risks more patrons being uncomfortable and that will hurt ticket sales, he said.
Rabbi Joseph Eisenbach of Chabad Lubavitch in Litchfield, when asked about swastikas at the Opera House, said with antisemitism on the rise again, they should not be there. He also said that a project like this should not receive state grants. The state has given the town a $3.5 million grant for the first phase of the three-phase project.
“A community institution supported by the state of Connecticut in no way should be funding something of this sort,” Eisenbach said. “It’s our tax dollars that are paying for Nazi symbols. This is not a private club, or entity.”
Rabbi Eric Polokoff at B’Nai Israel in Southbury has a different take. He pointed out that meanings and context change all the time.
“Things that were part of the Americana a long time ago would be very racially charged today and very inappropriate, like black face,” he said. “There’s always the question of how do we remember that? How do we understand that? How do we deal with that now?”
White-washing the swastika debate would be counter productive in the face of rising antisemitism, Polokoff said. He said if there were no context to explain what the symbols mean and why they were put there, that would be “troublesome.”
“I guess there’s an educational opportunity here,” he said.
But Lucia Dressel of Middlebury, who’s directing “Fiddler On the Roof” at the Opera House for an October performance, said she doesn’t see the need to inform people of what the swastika meant before the Nazis came along. “Fiddler on the Roof,” in part, depicts the increasing antisemitism in early 20th century Russia.
“We cannot ignore that this symbol was hijacked by the Nazi Party and that over 12 million people, especially Jews, were annihilated under the umbrella of this symbol,” Dressel said. “I can completely understand the history of the symbol. However, that history was erased the minute the Nazis took it over.”
Dunn said he cannot recall the committee making a decision about whether it supports removing or keeping the swastikas, nor can he find any indication that it did in the committee’s meeting minutes. He said he believes there was “a unilateral decision made on the fly” to keep the swastikas, “but never in a meeting setting.”
“I’m not saying there was any misrepresentation or intention to do anything,” Dunn said. “It’s just kind of the way the building process works. They just kind of did it, and it never came up at the meetings later.”
Burr, however, said the committee voted unanimously to keep the swastikas and the decision was made early on, through the State Historic Preservation Office. The mission of the project was to restore the art work to its original appearance, he said.
“That’s what they gave us the grant money to do,” Burr said. “Where do you draw the line? Are you going to change everything? It’s an historic restoration.”
He said the committee is open to discussing the issue again but doubts it would support spending another $100,000 on scaffolding and painting over the swastikas.
Late last year, EverGreene Architectural put the finishing touches on the theater's elaborate ceiling — the cost was $700,000 — literally 100 times what the town paid to paint the original ceiling in the 1880s.
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