“All I know is I was given the bag complete, which they had filled with about fifteen pigeons.”

Mitchell Agoos remembers protesting the 1955 Carnegie Hall debut of conductor Herbert von Karajan, a former member of the Nazi party.

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Recorded in New York, NY

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Produced by Michael Garofalo.

Facilitated by Zac Barr.

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Interview transcript

All I know is that I was given the bag complete; which they had filled with about fifteen pigeons. These little messages had been tied to their feet. “Go home, Nazi. We don’t welcome you in our free land,” -- messages of that nature. I wasn’t responsible for anything but taking the ticket, going up the stairs with the bag, and sitting in the first row of the balcony.

Maybe three or four minutes after the concert had begun, I was watching the leader of the organization, and he was about twelve or fifteen seats away. He gave me some sort of indication with his hand that that was the time.

I remember just opening up the zipper and just dumping out all the pigeons over the balcony. And quite a few of them took to flight!

The concert actually came to a halt, which was the intent. And I ran out and down the stairs. But there was security waiting to greet me, and they, uh, ushered me into a little side office, where they proceeded to interrogate me. They called my home and asked if somebody could come and get me. I remember there was a quiet smile on my father’s face and my mother was more vocal, and she said, we approve of what you did.