Passage (Christoph Hein)

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Passage. A Kammerspiel in three acts is a piece by Christoph Hein that premiered on October 25, 1987 in Essen (director: Hansgünther Heyme ) and in November 1987 in Zurich (director: Urs Schaub) and in Dresden (director: Klaus Dieter Kirst ) . The text was published in 1988 by the Luchterhand publishing house in Darmstadt and excerpts had already been preprinted in 1987 in “ Theater der Zeit ”.

content

action

1

During the Second World War , German refugees wait in the back room of the café of a French wine-growing village on the Spanish border for their illegal border crossing. The aim of the escape with the support of the escape assistant Lisa is the passage via Port-Bou in Spain to Portugal and from Lisbon to various American countries. The 54-year-old Jew Dr. Hugo Frankfurther, a sinologist, bridges the waiting with a game of chess. The refugees are starving and depend on the alms of the locals. Frankfurther does not believe that the French will hand him over to the Germans. Other refugees disagree; refer to Le Vernet , Les Milles and Gurs . Frankfurther thinks about suicide. He wants to get morphine and speaks to the German captain a. D. Alfred Hirschburg on it. The 76-year-old Jew Hirschburg is not thinking of suicide, only of fleeing. The military, who was decorated with three medals of the German Empire in two wars, was supposed to be put in a concentration camp and had fled Germany.

2

Frankfurther carries a bulky manuscript with him - his life's work. It explores a Chinese sound with over two hundred meanings. The chatter about it cannot hide the seriousness of the situation. Vichy France has banned foreigners from staying at its borders. German controls - even in Vichy France - must be feared. The German refugees waiting to march in the direction of Spain can hardly believe it - in Germany allegedly Jews are supposed to be killed with automobile exhaust fumes.

When Kistner and von Studnitz, two SS men, comb through the rooms of the café and get to the refugees, Frankfurther poisoned himself with hydrogen cyanide during passport control . Before that, the scholar had taken steps to save his life's work.

3

The old officer Hirschburg, on the other hand - considered naive and idiotic by the significantly younger refugees - is fighting for his life. The old man doesn't wait for Lisa to give the signal to leave, but just marches off - into the Pyrenees to Spain. He leads 15 old men. These are Jews who made it from the Duchy of Auschwitz , in which there is supposed to be a “ labor camp ”, across Central Europe to southern France.

Before Hirschburg's departure, the French mayor Paul Joly had acted as an escape helper and gave the German officer detailed instructions. Joly had always thought the captain was a donkey. However, the mayor was roused by the appearance of the two German "inspectors".

Further performances

1988
January 12th: Weimar
February 27: Karl-Marx-Stadt
February 29: French premiere at the Théâtre Populaire de Lorraine in Diedenhofen (director: François Mathieu)
August 27: Schwerin
September 16: Nordhausen
1989
February 18: Wittenberg
April 22nd: Rostock
April 29: Baden-Baden
September 8: Frankfurt (Oder)
September 16: Eisenach
October 6: Zeitz

reception

Comments after stage performances

Andreas Roßmann (“ FAZ ” of October 29, 1987) the material is reminiscent of “ Transit ” by Anna Seghers and of “ Vulkan ” by Klaus Mann . Frankfurther remembered Walter Benjamin's end. Wolfgang Höbel (“ Süddeutsche Zeitung ” of October 30, 1987) tears up the Essen premiere as a melodrama . According to Heinz Klunker (“ Frankfurter Rundschau ” of December 8, 1987), the Dresden premiere meets the attitude towards life of the East Germans (“impermeable border”). According to Ingrid Seyfahrth (“ Sonntag ”, number 52, 1987), it is not the intellectual Frankfurther but the officer Hirschburg who is a bearer of hope.

Meetings

Kiewitz sees the piece as an allegory. With his Lisa, Hein thought of the escape helper Lisa Fittko .

Kirst stuck to the idea of ​​defending utopia in the Dresden performance. Although the Weimar production by Christina Emig-Könning emphasized the fearful states of the refugees too much, this interpretation is currently gripping the viewer. Hirschburg's achievement is not his professional escape aid, but his humanity. Identity can only be found if someone accepts reality.

Arnold names 43 reviews and further leading works. Albrecht gives four criticisms.

Filming and radio editing

literature

Text output

Used edition
  • "Passage. A chamber play in three acts ”. P. 61–130 in: Christoph Hein: The knights of the round table and other pieces. 264 pages. Aufbau-Verlag, Berlin 1990 (1st edition), ISBN 3-351-01632-8
expenditure
  • Christoph Hein: Passage. A chamber play in three acts . With a frontispiece photo by Joseph Gallus Rittenberg . 77 pages. Luchterhand Literaturverlag, Darmstadt 1988

Secondary literature

  • Michael Töteberg : “The anarchist and the party secretary . The GDR theater criticism and its difficulties with Christoph Hein. "P. 36–43 in: in Heinz Ludwig Arnold (Ed.):" Text + criticism. Journal of Literature. Booklet 111. Christoph Hein. “Munich, July 1991, ISBN 3-88377-391-3
  • Klaus Hammer (Ed.): “Chronicler without a message. Christoph Hein. A work book. Materials, information, bibliography. ”315 pages. Aufbau-Verlag, Berlin 1992, ISBN 3-351-02152-6
  • Erika Stephan: "The Kammerspiel Passage in the understanding of the theater". Pp. 213–222 in: ibid.
  • Christl Kiewitz: “The silent scream. Crisis and criticism of the socialist intelligentsia in the work of Christoph Hein. ”308 pages. Stauffenburg Verlag, Tübingen 1995 (Diss. University of Augsburg 1994), ISBN 3-86057-137-0 (pp. 289-294)
  • Terrance Albrecht: “Reception and temporality of the work of Christoph Heins.” 191 pages. Peter Lang, Frankfurt am Main 2000, ISBN 3-631-35837-7

See also

"Passagen" memorial site

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Töteberg, p. 40, 10. Zvu
  2. ↑ Hammer, p. 271, 5th Zvu
  3. ↑ Edition used, p. 126, 5th Zvu
  4. ↑ Hammer, pp. 265-266.
  5. ↑ Hammer, pp. 254-258.
  6. ↑ Kiewitz, p. 289
  7. ↑ Kiewitz, p. 292, 7th Zvu
  8. ↑ Stephan, p. 214 below
  9. ↑ Stephan, p. 215 below
  10. ↑ Stephan, p. 219 below
  11. ↑ Stephan, p. 220 below
  12. ↑ Stephan, p. 221 below
  13. ^ Arnold, pp. 102-103.
  14. ↑ Albrecht, p. 186 middle
  15. ^ Arnold, p. 103
  16. ↑ Passage (TV 1988) - IMDb. Retrieved December 20, 2012 .
  17. ↑ Hammer, p. 265, 6th Zvu