As a Jew who has spent time with holocaust survivors hearing their stories, and someone who is very knowledgable about these matters, I think I speak with some authority. I side 100% with the people who say it was not intentionally anti-Semitic.
For me, the real issue is that Behringer registered Kirn's name so that Kirn couldn't market his 10-year-old open-source product, the MeeBlip.
Kirn publishes all the information on meeBlip on the
github and welcomes people around the world to use his technology, as long as they don't market it under the MeeBlip name. Behringer fully intended to sue Kirn to not only stop him from marketing the meeBlip, but from any music product, maybe even
any product.
Behringer ONLY backed down from trying to destroy Kirn's business because of the outrage. This is not only about a video. This is not only about a drawing.
This was not only about his relationship with Kirn. I believe Behringer was hoping to limit criticism of his business strategy, by scaring other music journalists (who mostly make a pittance and do it out of love) and make them feel that it is not worth it.
The criticism that came in about this affair was 95% about the unpleasantness of a big company "punching down" at a solitary journalist. Look online and you'll see that's true. Very, very few brought up anti-Semitism. But those that did had loud voices.
In terms of anti-Semitism, I think this: when you act in a mean-spirited way, there are some people who will assume the worst about what you do. Others will give you the benefit of the doubt no matter how you conduct your life. Hence the debate in this thread. I personally don't think the drawing was consciously made to look like Nazi propaganda.
To those of you who are so certain that it doesn't look like Nazi propaganda, I ask: why is this so important to you? Who cares? It's not my job to stop playing music and dig up a pile of documentary evidence that it does. It's not my responsibility to persuade you. It's a non-issue. I agree with you--he didn't intend it to look like an anti-Semitic cartoon.
What does matter to me is not his original intention, but his response.
When the criticism came in about the anti-Semitism, he could have made a quick and sincere apology. He did not. He made a "no-apology apology" that took no responsibility and satisfied no one. Then he quickly took his "apology" down.
By the way, he has chosen this time to announce his own DAW. It will be free. But it is 18 months away.