The Trial of Joan of Arc at Rouen 1431

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The Trial of Joan of Arc in Rouen 1431 is a radio play by Anna Seghers that was broadcast on the Flemish Radio Antwerp in 1937. The work was published in the same year in the journal " Internationale Literatur " in Moscow. The author had access to the Latin trial protocols from the 15th century in Paris in 1935 and 1936. Dreyer's silent film " The Passion of the Maid of Orléans " also inspired her to do the radio play.

Anna Seghers portrays Saint Joan as a sincere believing Christian and fearless freedom fighter. The opposing side, that is, the judges of the Maid of Orléans - English scholarly heads of the French clergy presided over by Bishop Cauchon von Beauvais - come, with the exception of Jean de la Fontaine , bad off with Anna Seghers.

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Johanna is presented as a small, thin thread in men's clothes, which is heavy on chains. The approximately 19-year-old had followed a voice, accompanied by a great light, to France from her place of birth Domrémy on the Meuse . Just like the people persecuting the trial in Rouen , Johanna hates her English guards. Nobody was killed by their sword. However, with the approval of the king , the maiden with the snow-white standard in her fist led the French into battle against the English. All English occupiers will be driven out of France. Johanna is absolutely convinced of that. She complains to the church judges about her chains and irons. Because there is a risk of escape, the accused remains tied up.

Jean de la Fontaine, doctor in canon law, ordered for interrogation by the Bishop of Beauvais, visits the prisoner in her dungeon between two days of the trial. There is talk of her capture by the Duke of Luxembourg in Compiègne and of that voice. Johanna heard her again. The voice has impressed the virgin to face her judges boldly. Said and done. Johanna does not submit to the Church because she has already submitted to God. She rejects a defense attorney: “First read your speech down, then I will answer.” Her ecclesiastical judges do not recognize her: “What is that anyway, Church?” The prosecutors stick to it - Johanna is supposed to be her superbia - regarding this voice - to regret. Because God tries haughty people "through diabolical visions". Johanna remains steadfast. The bishop only has the threat of torture. That's when Johanna cries for the first time.

Jean de la Fontaine implores Johanna to use this voice to explain it “as imagination and nonsense”. But she keeps her word. The bishop inevitably condemns Johanna as a heretic and expels her from the church. After the virgin, for fear of the stake, revokes her “errors” in writing, she is accepted back into the church and has to wear women's clothes.

After the English guards attacked the maiden, she puts on men's clothes again. The bishop insists on the dress code. Then the “stubborn and relapsing” Johanna: “I would rather die all at once than slowly in your hands.” Johanna is burned alive. The English, with the Duke of Bedford at their head, triumph.

reception

The text, written in French exile, is more than an homage to the national saint of the host country. Essentially following the court minutes, questions of the liberation struggle would be played out.

The radio play fee enabled Anna Segher's research for her novel “ The Rescue ” in the Borinage . Hilzinger sees a parallel to “ Danton's Death ” and a connection point to the martyr chronicle “ The Companions ”. The interpretations of the radio play range from assumed relationships to the politically motivated trials of the People's Court from 1934 in the German Reich to the Moscow trials from 1936.

Hilzinger quoted

  • Gábor Kerekes anno 1986: Anna Seghers´ radio play "The Trial of Joan of Arc at Rouen 1431"
  • Anthony Waine: Persecution and Faith in Anna Seghers´ Radio Play "The Trial of Joan of Arc at Rouen 1431"

Radio

Hans Lietzau produced the radio play for NDR in 1959 . Ella Büchi , Alfred Schieske , Werner Hinz , Ernst Schröder , Eduard Marks , Karl-Heinz Kreienbaum , Richard Münch , Heinz Reincke , Gerda-Maria Jürgens and Uwe Friedrichsen spoke . On November 28, 2007, the NDR repeated the historic recording from 1959.

Stage and screen version

literature

Text output

Used edition
  • The Trial of Joan of Arc at Rouen 1431. A radio play. Publishing house Philipp Reclam jun. Leipzig 1965 ( RUB 272). 152 pages, without ISBN

Secondary literature

  • Kurt Batt : Anna Seghers. Trial over development and works. With illustrations. 283 pages. Reclam, Leipzig 1973 (2nd edition 1980). Licensor: Röderberg, Frankfurt am Main (Röderberg-Taschenbuch vol. 15), ISBN 3-87682-470-2
  • Sonja Hilzinger: Anna Seghers. With 12 illustrations. Series of Literature Studies. Reclam, Stuttgart 2000, RUB 17623, ISBN 3-15-017623-9

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Hilzinger, p. 190, 4. Zvo
  2. ↑ Edition used, p. 4
  3. ↑ Edition used, p. 71, 10. Zvo
  4. ↑ Edition used, p. 74, 3rd Zvu
  5. ↑ Edition used, p. 78, 7. Zvo
  6. ↑ Edition used, p. 86, 6th Zvu
  7. ↑ Edition used, p. 102, 3rd Zvu
  8. ↑ Batt, p. 108, 2nd Zvu
  9. ↑ Hilzinger, pp. 190–192
  10. ↑ quoted in Hilzinger, p. 220, 6th entry
  11. ↑ quoted in Hilzinger, p. 224, 6th entry
  12. ^ The Jeanne d'Arc Trial at Rouen in 1431 ( Memento of January 16, 2010 in the Internet Archive )
  13. ↑ [1]
  14. ↑ eng. The Trial of Joan of Arc of Proven, 1431