Anti-Semitic Superstar

Chris Korda and his Church of Euthanasia use a lot of things when it comes to achieving their goals. Oke göttlich and Jörg Sundermeier have taken a close look.

The Church of Euthanasia, which Chris Korda leads as Reverend, preaches an end to human reproduction. Sex is good, says Korda, but the spread of humans brings nothing but misery. "Save the planet, kill yourself!" is one of his church's slogans. A song with the same title can also be found on his record, "Six Billion Humans Can't Be Wrong" (Gigolo/EFA).

Korda came to electronic music via jazz: "I started playing the piano and guitar in 1977, then got into rock and later jazz. I studied music theory for many years under excellent teachers like Jerry Bergonzi. In the late 80s I played in a swing band, then fusion, then psychedelic rock and taught at a small music school. My first contact with electronic music was Vangelis. Then, in 1991, when I started crossdressing and moved to Provincetown (Massachusetts), I got to know house and deep house. I started producing electronic music around 1993 and soon my first CD 'Demons In My Head', an ambient sound collage, was released."

But making good music was not enough for Korda. He soon began to think about the fate of the earth, and he describes himself as a "very unusual personality". He was so inspired by the idea that humans must cease to exist that he set up a teaching community. And music became a vehicle for him. "Electronic music is a widespread form of propaganda. It simply conveys content, at least if you assume that it is produced in an intelligent way. I cannot identify with the tired clichés of rock or punk, which mass-market fake rebellion. I am against politics, so the apolitical nature of the techno scene is actually an advantage for me."

So far, the church leader's teachings sound somewhat sympathetic. But Korda is neither naive nor a bad propagandist. He subordinates technology to his goal. He hardly sees his music as art anymore. When asked about the vocal samples in his tracks, he explains: "Repetition is a highly effective form of propaganda and is therefore outdated. With the voices on my pieces, I want to make the listener curious and create interest, while the repetitions of the phrases reach them subliminally."

Doesn't that make him an entertainment musician? "My music is only effective if it entertains people. Boring propaganda doesn't work. The Unabomber is a good example. His 30,000-word manifesto was well thought out, but had no entertainment qualities. Most people put it aside and turned to the sports section."

The defense of the Unabomber is not without reason. Korda repeatedly refers positively to the right-wing academic who saw salvation in the nature-boy movement and carried out assassinations to spread his teachings. Korda finds the American excitement over the Unabomber bigoted; it seems surreal in view of the fact that American B52s are bombing the population of Yugoslavia back to the Stone Age. He believes the Unabomber's teachings are correct, but they do not go far enough for him.

Although he admires militant actions, he does not consider violence to be an appropriate means of achieving his goals. War in particular is failing completely: "Historically, wars are completely ineffective forms of population reduction, not only because they are followed by baby booms, but also by industrial reconstruction and economic growth. Modern wars are fought in cooperation with industrial forces and could be seen as spasms of technological and economic growth. As Thomas Pynchon says, 'Don't forget that the real purpose of war is buying and selling.' Moreover, war causes unacceptable destruction of nature as long as it is forbidden to use biological weapons that only kill people." But Korda is not really concerned with anti-capitalism. Korda does not see himself as an advocate for people, but as an advocate for animals. He sees them as being directly threatened by industrial societies.

He is less concerned about people. He is also relatively indifferent to the Holocaust. "War is not the exception but the rule, the true essence of industrialism. Production and consumption combine at the highest point of efficiency in a single process of disintegration. What made the Holocaust so shocking was that the camps and railroad cars were so familiar, so ordinary. The same techniques have been applied to animals for a century and are still in use today. In the USA we slaughter more than a billion animals a year, often in 'factory farms' that look very suspiciously like Dachau."

He is not particularly interested in the accusation that this is relativizing the Holocaust. "I do not ignore the suffering of the Jews. What matters to me is that there are still Jews, perhaps not so many in Europe, but certainly in the United States. To put it bluntly: as a race, as a culture, the Jews are growing back. The millions of non-human beings that we have exterminated in the last 500 years are not growing back. They cannot grow back because they have disappeared forever." The Holocaust is no longer a specific event; according to Korda, it happens everywhere and every day. The Jews are therefore just one victim among many. This is pure anti-Semitic filth.

Korda only examines political and historical events in relation to their impact. He twists events to suit his purposes. The Holocaust and war simply appear to him to be ineffective. Doesn't that mean that Korda would have welcomed a "successful" Holocaust? He doesn't dare go that far. Korda condemns genocide, especially that of the Native Americans. When asked about this, he points out that everyone should end their lives voluntarily. Why he defends the Unabomber's murders, however, remains a mystery. His anti-capitalism also remains strangely vague.

Reports on the Church of Euthanasia's actions like to emphasize how much fun the participants are having. A techno record, actionism, founding a church - it all smells like a pop spectacle. Especially since it is always and only Korda who is the focus of the actions. The CoE writes that there is a photo of the naked Korda in a crematorium oven in Dachau. The photo was planned to be used as the cover of the upcoming album. Korda, it seems, will use any means necessary to ensure the success of this "special personality". He is obviously happy to accept being an anti-Semite.

Rev. Korda's response to the charge of anti-Semitism.

The preceding is a translation. The original language is here.