Gunther Goldschmidt, father of Martin Goldsmith, teaches a young student during his last days in Berlin. Goldschmidt participated in the Jüdische Kulturbund, a Jewish arts organization in Nazi Germany. Martin Goldsmith will talk about the history of the organization during a lecture at 7:30 p.m. today.

It might be one of the most compelling stories of Nazi Germany, but Martin Goldsmith says many people have never heard of the Jüdische Kulturbund.

“It’s virtually unknown,” he says.

Seven years after his book about the Kulturbund, “The Inextinguishable Symphony,” was published, Goldsmith still is in high demand as a speaker on the subject.

He’ll come to Lawrence for the annual Lindenbaum Lecture at 7:30 tonight at the Lawrence Jewish Community Center, 917 Highland Drive. Holocaust Remembrance Day is Sunday.

The Jüdische Kulturbund – or “Jewish Cultural Association” – was proposed by Jewish performers who had been excluded from German artistic life under Nazi rule. The association was approved by Joseph Goebbels, Adolf Hitler’s propaganda minister, as a way to show the world the Nazis weren’t really being harsh toward the Jews.

Goldsmith’s parents, flutist Gunther Goldschmidt and violist Rosemarie Gumpert, met as members of the Kulturbund orchestra in Frankfurt. Goldschmidt left Germany for Sweden but returned to be with his future wife.

They later played in Berlin and survived the Holocaust, eventually immigrating to the United States.

Goldsmith is best known as the former host of National Public Radio’s “Performance Today” and now director of classical music programming on XM Satellite Radio.

“The Inextinguishable Symphony” (John Wiley & Sons Inc., $15.95) tells not only the story of his parents but also the entire history of the Kulturbund.

“This is a way of trying to come to terms with the inexplicable situation, by understanding the story of one family,” Goldsmith says.

Goldsmith, 54, says most of the performers weren’t overly worried that they were being used as a Nazi propaganda tool.

“They were actors who were rehearsing the next show, and musicians rehearsing for the next concert,” he says. “The artists of the Kulturbund were very glad to continue their art.”

Though Goldsmith says he hesitates to draw parallels between the Nazi Germany days and events today, there are underlying issues about art and freedom of speech that remain.

“Look at the whole Dixie Chicks affair, and how easy it was for even the most mild dissent to be found as intolerable by people in positions of authority,” Goldsmith says.

Goldsmith grew up learning little about his parents’ involvement in the Kulturbund. His mother went on to play in the symphony orchestras in St. Louis and Cleveland and died in 1984.

Goldsmith’s father, now 93, has been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. He often can remember the 1920s and 1930s more than he can recent events, so Goldsmith still talks with his father about the Kulturbund times.

And he’s always glad to share the story with a new audience.

“Very few people know about the Kulturbund,” Goldsmith says. “It’s a fascinating organization.”