The school friend
| Data | |
|---|---|
| Title: | The school friend |
| Original title: | The school friend |
| Genus: | play |
| Original language: | German |
| Author: | Johannes Mario Simmel |
| Publishing year: | 1958 |
| Premiere: | February 26, 1959 |
| Place of premiere: | Mannheim |
| Place and time of the action: | Vienna, Berlin and Düsseldorf, 1944 to 1956 |
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The school friend is a play in twelve pictures by Johannes Mario Simmel . The play was premiered on February 26, 1959 in the National Theater in Mannheim . The production was done by Heinz Joachim Klein. Bruno Hübner , Anneliese Benz, Leon Huber, Karl Worzel, Hans Simshäuser and Mogens von Gadow played the leading roles under his direction .
Sequence of scenes, place and time
- Kitchen in an attic apartment in Vienna, January 30, 1944
- Room in the Reich Ministry of Aviation in Berlin, February 2, 1944
- Prison cell in Vienna, March 15, 1944
- Ordination room in Vienna, March 15, 1944
- An archway in Vienna, June 6, 1944
- A small post office in Vienna, April 8, 1944
- Office of the Post Office in Vienna, October 17, 1946
- Consultation room in a prison in Vienna, June 11, 1947
- A room in Berlin, February 17, 1949
- Eat-in kitchen in Vienna, June 25, 1950
- Room in Düsseldorf, June 27, 1950
- Eat-in kitchen in Vienna, December 14, 1956
action
During the Second World War, the postman Ludwig Fuchs wrote a letter to his former school friend Hermann Göring , in which he asked him to spare a Jew who had just been arrested. He was not guilty of anything and was a decent person. Goering does not help the Jew, but spares his school friend from the Gestapo by having him declared insane. The postman was therefore not drafted into the armed forces and survived the war.
After the end of the war, the postman wants to have his incapacitation reversed because his daughter has emigrated to the USA and he also wants to go to the USA. The responsible medical officer, however, is the same one who declared him crazy and has no desire to burden himself by undoing an incapacitation signed by himself.
After some back and forth, the postman visits the medical officer and beats him terribly. Since he is incapacitated, he cannot be tried. The medical officer then quickly ensures that the incapacitation is lifted and the postman can be convicted of bodily harm.
The postman is also worthy of a punishment for his re-enrollment, but he did not consider that he was denied entry to the USA with a previous conviction. So the medical officer harmed him for a long time.
Motifs
With this play, Simmel makes the relativization of good and bad the topic. Goering, one of the worst Nazis, shows human features and protects his school friend. For selfish reasons, the medical officer participates in a fraud and thus unintentionally protects the postman from military service. The postman, otherwise a decent person, feels compelled to beat a stubborn official until he is hospitalized.
background
The story may have some real core. Hermann Göring grew up in Neuhaus an der Pegnitz in Central Franconia . There is still told today that the long-time postman of the place was the model for the figure of Ludwig Fuchs.
literature
- Johannes Mario Simmel: The school friend, rororo-paperback No. 642, ISBN 3-499-10642-6
Film adaptations
- Simmel's play was filmed by the Divina production under the title Mein Schulfreund and was first shown in cinemas on July 22, 1960. According to the production company, parts of the plot, in particular the location, the basic motif and the end of the play, had to be changed slightly for dramaturgical reasons. Other characters also joined the story. Directed by Robert Siodmak played Heinz Rühmann money postman Ludwig Fuchs. Other leading roles saw Loni von Friedl , Ernst Schröder , Hertha Feiler , Alexander Kerst , Robert Graf , Mario Adorf , Hans Leibelt and Alexander Golling .
- In 1963 the Süddeutsche Rundfunk Stuttgart staged Simmel's drama for television. Directed by Rainer Wolffhardt , Rudolf Vogel (Ludwig Fuchs), Monika Berg, Nikolaus Haenel, Peter Schütte, Günther Neutze , Hugo Lindinger and Rudolf Rhomberg played the leading roles. The original broadcast was on August 13, 1963. This version closely followed the original.