Language:
German
Year of publication:
1999
Titel der Quelle:
Jüdischer Almanach
Angaben zur Quelle:
2000 (1999) 99-113
Keywords:
Mehring, Walter,
;
Jewish theater
Abstract:
Characterizes Mehring as a Jew lacking personal Jewish consciousness but who used Jewish characters and themes in his dramas to exemplify universal human problems. In "Der Kaufmann von Berlin" an "Ostjude", Kaftan, arrives in Berlin during the inflation with $100, and through exploiting the economic crisis quickly becomes rich; he then loses his wealth to a German-Jewish banker and a corrupt German lawyer. The play reinforces antisemitic stereotypes, especially of the "Ostjuden", and Erwin Piscator's staging (1929) exaggerated them even more, although neither man intended this. Mehring meant to show how individuals become guilty through a corrupting historical situation; Piscator, a Marxist, wanted to present Kaftan as an example of a capitalist exploiter. But all the critics saw the play as centered on the antisemitic stereotypes. Mehring felt himself misunderstood.
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