Language:
English
Year of publication:
2012
Titel der Quelle:
Holocaust Studies
Angaben zur Quelle:
18,1 (2012) 61-84
Keywords:
Kalisky, René.
;
Shaw, Robert,
;
Steiner, George,
;
Hitler, Adolf,
;
Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945), and the theater
Abstract:
Discusses three Holocaust dramas: "Jim le téméraire" by Belgian Jewish playwright René Kalisky, a stage adaptation of Harold Pinter's novel "The Man in the Glass Booth" made by Robert Shaw, and Christopher Hampton's adaptation of the novella "The Portage to San Cristobal of A.H." by George Steiner, all of which conflate Judaism with Nazism, devalue the antisemitic roots of the Nazi genocide, and cause spectators to empathize with the perpetrators of the Holocaust and in a sense to revere the latter. Steiner's and Hampton's "The Portage to San Cristobal of A.H." ends with a 25-minute monologue by Hitler, in which he mocks the Jews as a chosen people and gives a rationale for genocide - a speech which not only remains unchallenged and unrebutted, but also is followed with a falling curtain and thus with the applause of the audience. All three plays show that there was nothing abnormal about the Germans who followed Hitler's murderous ideas. They pose the question of why individuals act like delusional puppets for dictators, but they lull audiences into questionable conclusions concerning the Holocaust.
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