Theatre and Drama and the Nazi Concentration Camps

Author

Alvin Goldfarb, The Graduate Center, City University of New YorkFollow

Date of Degree

1978

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Ph.D.

Program

Theatre and Performance

Advisor

Daniel C. Gerould

Committee Members

Stanley Waren

Marvin Seiger

Subject Categories

Theatre and Performance Studies

Abstract

“Theatre and Drama and the Nazi Concentration Camps” analyzes the use of the camps in post-war dramatic literature and in post-war theatrical production. In the Introduction, the history and functions of the internment centers in the Third Reich are discussed. A brief history of actual theatrical activities in the concentration camps is also presented. In the first chapter, entitled “Dramas Set Inside the Concentration Camps,” a number of plays whose dramatic actions are set in the Nazi internment centers are analyzed. These include Charlotte Delbo's Qui Rapportera Ces Paroles?, James Schevill's Cathedral of Ice, Rolf Hochhuth's The Deputy, Peter Barnes' Auschwitz, and Hedda Zinner's Ravensbrucker Ballade. Chapter II, “Dramas Depicting Performance in the Nazi Concentration Camps," deals with those works which employ the concept of performance in the Reich's internment centers, among which are the Pip Simmons' Group's An Die Musik, the American Jewish Ensemble's The Theatre of Peretz, Alberto Moravia's Il dio Kurt, and lreneusz Iredynski's Jaselka­Moderne. In Chapter III, "Dramas of the Survivors,” there is a discussion of those works that deal with the lingering effects of the concentration camps following the fall of the Third Reich. These include Arthur Miller's After the Fall, Peter Weiss's The Investigation, Yehuda Amichai's Bells and Trains, Tadeusz Holuj's Puste Pole, and Martin Walser's Eiche und Angora and Der schwarze Schwann. Chapter IV, "Metaphorical Representations of the Concentration Camps,” is an examination of those theatrical works which do not literally depict the Nazi internment centers but employ their images to create “a concentration camp aesthetic;" included are Jerzy Grotowski's and Jozef Szajna’s Akropolis as well as various productions by Jozef Szajna. Throughout the dissertation, various other dramas that deal with the Nazi concentration camps are referred to. There is also an attempt to analyze the theatrical pieces that deal with the Nazi internment centers in relationship to non-dramatic Holocaust literature.

Comments

Digital reproduction from the UMI microform.

Recommended Citation

Goldfarb, Alvin, "Theatre and Drama and the Nazi Concentration Camps" (1978). CUNY Academic Works.
https://academicworks.cuny.edu/gc_etds/3692