The school of dictators

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Data
Title: The school of dictators
Genus: A comedy in nine pictures
Original language: German
Author: Erich Kaestner
Publishing year: 1956
Premiere: 1957
Place of premiere: Münchner Kammerspiele , Munich
people
  • The Minister of War
  • The premier
  • The personal doctor
  • The professor
  • The inspector
  • The president
  • His wife
  • His son
  • The major
  • The city commander
  • The fourth
  • The fifth
  • The sixth
  • The seventh
  • The eighth
  • The ninth
  • Paula
  • Doris
  • Stella
  • A landlady
  • A sailor
  • A peddler
  • An accountant
  • An adolescent
  • A young girl
  • The nuncio
  • The doyen
  • The tenth, the eleventh, the twelfth, the thirteenth, the fourteenth, a tank lieutenant, a sergeant, two soldiers

The School of Dictators is a drama by Erich Kästner from 1956, which addresses the recurring manipulability of humanity and the abuse of political power.

The piece premiered on February 25, 1957 in Munich. From Kästner's estate it can be seen that an early version of the play was already available in 1949. However, this representation is controversial. It seems as if this message was "part of an often adventurous public relations work that Kästner repeatedly carried out specifically for his person and his work."

action

Kästner wanted to avoid referring solely to the Nazi era. Rather, the "manipulability and demoralization of the masses, that experienced form of dehumanization" should be shown. The way in which political power is staged and people follow willlessly and without moral values ​​is not only applicable to the Third Reich.

In the play, a group of anonymous masterminds, consisting of minister of war, premier, personal doctor and professor, represents the political decision-making system. The professor trains presidential doubles in a school in Belvedere Palace, which are trained in behavior, facial expressions and gestures, voice pitch and similar characteristics. If a president dies, the real rulers of the state can use a new president. The real head of state has long been dead, only his wife and son are still alive. You have the task of confirming the supposed authenticity of the respective double in office. The people are deceived, the apparent head of state is just a puppet. The play shows the "idea of ​​a staging of absolute rule, in which the ideology is subordinated to the mere lust for power." The doppelgangers are not important as individuals. They are trained like farm animals in order to be able to play their task as well as possible. They are also so anonymized that they even lack their names. “The Seventh” is the only doppelganger who does not follow the instructions completely without will, but pursues his own, almost moral intentions. He wants to put himself to power with a coup d'état, but fails.

In the end, a change in government is simulated. However, the conspirators are only being replaced by new ones.

literature

  • Erich Kästner: The school of dictators: A comedy in nine pictures . Hamburg: Atrium-Verlag. ISBN 3-85535-922-9

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Anz, Thomas: Afterword. Erich Kästner between the media . In: Anz, Thomas in collaboration with Matthias Springer and Stefan Neuhaus (eds.): Erich Kästner. Trojan donkey. Theater, radio play, film. tape 5 . Deutscher Taschenbuch Verlag, Munich 2004, p. 775-788 .
  2. ↑ Zinkernagel, Sarah: "There are chronic actualities". Dialectical conceptions in Erich Kästner's play Die Schule der Dikatoren. In: Schmideler, Sebastian; Zonneveld, Johan (ed.): Kästner in the mirror. Research contributions on the 40th anniversary of death . Tectum Verlag, Marburg 2014, p. 301-329 .
  3. ↑ Zinkernagel, Sarah: "There are chronic actualities". Dialectical conceptions in Erich Kästner's play Die Schule der Dikatoren. In: Schmideler, Sebastian; Zonneveld, Johan (ed.): Kästner in the mirror. Research contributions on the 40th anniversary of death . Erich Kästner study volume 3.Tectum Verlag, Marburg 2014, p. 302-329 .