1x2 - Games of the Dictatorships 1933-45

April 14, 2002

Under the pressure of the totalitarian regimes of Stalinism and Fascism, theater artists in Spain, Russia and Germany increasingly came into conflict between resistance and adaptation. Numerous playwrights and directors went into exile. However, most of them stayed in their homeland and began to come to terms with the Nazis, since they were unable to speak any language other than their mother tongue. From then on, no Jewish or "left" authors were allowed to be played, only classics and apolitical entertainment were still allowed. Gustaf Gründgens, stage star of the century, became general director of the Berlin State Theater despite his connections to "leftist" artists and staged - not only on stage - a clever double play. In the meantime, the system used itself theatrical means and made the state a monumental and cruel "state theater"