Sladek, the black Reichswehrmann
Sladek , (created in 1927), also: Sladek, the black Reichswehrmann or Sladek or: The black army (see publication history) is a play by the German-writing writer with Hungarian citizenship Ödön von Horváth . It deals with a murderous chapter of the Weimar Republic : the Black Reichswehr .
Horváth himself said in 1929, on the occasion of the world premiere of Sladek, the black Reichswehrmann, in an interview with the Berlin newspaper Tempo:
“As a character, Sladek is a type that was born out of our time and can only be explained by it; he is, as a Berlin publisher once called him, a figure who lies between Büchner's Wozzeck and Schwejk. An outspoken representative of that youth, that '1902 year', who went through the 'great times', war and inflation, in their puberty, he is the type of the traditional, uprooted, who lacks any solid foundation, and who thus became the prototype of the Follower will. Without actually being a murderer, he commits murder. A pessimistic seeker, he loves justice ... without believing in it, he has no bottom, no front. "
action
The action takes place around the year 1923, whereby the political developments in the Weimar Republic represent the historical background of the play.
A journalist named Franz, who wants to expose the goings-on of the Black Reichswehr, is beaten up at the beginning of the play by members of that Reichswehr and taken prisoner because he has spoken out against another war and the stab in the back legend .
Sladek, a young man and not long part of the Reichswehr, who is titled “Fourth Swastika” at the beginning of the play, is there when Franz is beaten up. According to his own statement, however, he did not hit Franz himself. He even partially agrees with him, but calls him an “idealist” and when he introduces himself he says: “My name is Sladek. - You just have to think for yourself. I think a lot. I think all day. "
In the further course of the plot, the men of the Black Reichswehr kill Sladek's host mother and lover, fearing that she might betray the existence of the army. Eventually Sladek, who did not commit the murder himself, is brought to justice. The lawyer pleads for mitigating circumstances for Sladek, because: "This is where the time of inflation sits." Sladek contradicts this, however: "I ask you to consider myself as a person and not as time" and thus remains true to the claim to oneself think and act faithfully. To avoid conviction, Sladek finally flees Germany.
Release history
There are two versions by Horváths Sladek. The first version was created in 1928 under the title Sladek or: The Black Army. History in three files and was published by Volksbühnen-Verlags und Vertriebsgesellschaft mbH, Berlin. Horváth wrote this first version in 1929 for the second version with the title Sladek, the black Reichswehrmann. History from the Age of Inflation in three acts .
The writer and Horváth expert Traugott Krischke suspects that political changes - the resignation of the Reichswehr Minister Otto Geßler, who was discredited by secret financial transactions, and his replacement by the republic-loyal Wilhelm Groener - were the decisive factors for the revision. Already in mid-March 1928 he had committed himself to “a healthy and sensible pacifism”, but not to any “servile attitude”. With this and the outcome of the elections for the fourth Reichstag in May 1928, the immediate threat to the republic no longer seemed to exist.
Performances
Sladek, the black Reichswehrmann , premiered on October 13, 1929 on the “Current Stage” in the Lessing Theater in Berlin. Directed by Erich Fisch, the set was by Elfriede Liebthal.
Sladek or: The Black Army , the first version of the play, was premiered on March 26, 1972 at the Münchner Kammerspiele in a production by Oswald Döpke.
expenditure
- Ödön von Horváth: Sladek . Suhrkamp Verlag, Frankfurt am Main, 1983. ISBN 3-518-37552-0