Kulturhaus Frankfurt

When the First Frankfurt Auschwitz Trial began in 1963 and the monumental task was undertaken to bring at least a fraction of those responsible for the crimes committed in the largest of the concentration camps to justice, the memory of the Nazi era was still fresh in the minds of those involved and the general public. There was no one who had not taken a side—one way or the other—during the war, who had not been either a perpetrator or a victim —and no one who, in the course of the trial, had not learned with helpless disbelief of things that had taken place in the camps—isolated from the outside world and yet so openly—all those years.

Today, more than 80 years after the end of the war, with very few witnesses to the Nazi era still alive, we are left with letters, documents, files, memorials, photographs—and memories of memories. “The Investigation” by Peter Weiss, written in the style of an oratorio, is documentary theater in the best sense: Although the protagonists’ testimonies are poeticized and organized into thematic clusters, they correspond to the facts; they are the genuine testimonies of real victims and real perpetrators; both sides are presented side by side in an equally and mercilessly confrontational manner, without judgment, without emotion, and without dramatization. For us, “The Investigation” is to be regarded as a lesson: in hardly any other play does a part of true history come to life in such a cruel and unsparing way. Above all, to help ensure that such events never happen again!

Director: Anna-Sophie Sattler

Cast: Anja Becker, Eric Lenke, Holger Roll, Alice Nieduzak, Martin Spiecker, Simone Arians, Arno Feltrini, Emanuel Seitz, Anna-Sophie Sattler, Aiden Pharrell Cohen, Antonia Görge, and others

Running time: 2 hours, no intermission.

Recommended for ages 16 and up!

Photo: Kulturhaus Frankfurt

November 9, 7:30 p.m.

Kulturhaus Frankfurt, Pfingstweidstr. 2, Frankfurt

2-for-1: 20 € (seated)

November 9, 6:30–7:00 p.m., box office