'Bitter and uncompromising'
Italian Holocaust play comes to Tel Aviv
'Investigation' by Peter Weiss is based on testimonies given by survivors during ground-breaking class action suit against SS soldiers in 1963
An Italian play based on Holocaust survivors' testimonies is scheduled to arrive in Israel as a Habima Theater production, and to premiere on September 16-17 in Tel Aviv.
'Investigation', of Italy's DeUa Theater, is based on a play by Peter Weiss, who witnessed much of the ground-breaking class action suit brought to trial by hundreds of Holocaust survivors in Frankfurt against SS soldiers and Auschwitz-Birkenau workers.
'Investigation' receives rave reviews
The testimonies were first stated during the trial, which began in 1963 and lasted 138 days. The attempt to use human justice to alleviate the pain of unprecedented and incomprehensible crimes against humanity left a tremendous impression on the playwright.
The play is constructed of accounts given by the judge, the defense attorney, the prosecutor, 18 defendants, and nine anonymous witnesses. It starts by having the audience enter the theater through dark dressing rooms, and bombards them with fast-paced, laconic testimonies.
The play first premiered in 1965, just a short while after the trial had come to an end, and testifies to the German people's desire to comprehend the great tragedy that had taken place in their midst.
Weiss' creation has received rave reviews over the years. The Italian paper Corriere della Sera wrote, "It is an outstanding play, bitter and uncompromising, which opens doors to the black planet of the Auschwitz concentration camp."
