Language:
English
Year of publication:
2008
Titel der Quelle:
Journal of Modern Jewish Studies
Angaben zur Quelle:
7,2 (2008) 217-230
Keywords:
Kasztner, Rezsล Rudolf, Drama
;
Eichmann, Adolf, Drama
;
Kipphardt, Heinar, Criticism and interpretation
;
Allen, Jim, Criticism and interpretation
;
Rรถlz, Josef
;
Kelting, Peter-Jakob
;
Lerner, Moti
;
Hochwรคlder, Fritz,
;
Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945), in literature
;
Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945), and the theater
;
Jews Drama History 1933-1945
Abstract:
The abortive bargain of "blood for trucks" between Eichmann and the Budapest-based Vaad Hatzalah, led by Rudolf Kasztner (i.e. the attempt to ransom Hungarian Jews for goods necessary for Germany), inspired many stage plays, some of them decades after the events. Examines five dramas on this issue: Heinar Kipphardt's "Joel Brand; die Geschichte eines Geschรคfts", Jim Allen's "Perdition", Josef Rรถlz and Peter-Jakob Kelting's "Zug um Zug: Budapest 1944", Moti Lerner's "Kasztner", and Fritz Hochwรคlder's unpublished "Holokaust (Totengericht)". The first two plays use the Eichmann proposal as a convenient plot to pursue their non-related political agendas (Marxist for Kipphardt and anti-Zionist for Allen). For Rรถlz and Kelting, their play is a means of dealing with their country's past; thus, they attempt to restore the Jews, and Kasztner in particular, to a more positive status. The Israeli playwright Lerner tries to reevaluate the maligned figure of Kasztner in the context of shifting Israeli public opinion of the 1970s-80s. Hochwรคlder, who escaped from Austria to Switzerland in 1938, tries to empathize with Kasztner and the Budapest Jews.
DOI:
10.1080/14725880802124222
URL:
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