Schauspiel Frankfurt plays piece by David Grossman - in Israel | Books | '
Only a few minutes had David Grossman spoken, there was already the powerful word that can cause so much emotion: Holocaust. The Israeli author, whose novel "A Woman Escapes a Message" was just put on stage in Tel Aviv – in German – talked about how he was amazed at the decision to cast his protagonist Ora with four actresses, but then I was fascinated.
The head dramaturge of the Schauspiel Frankfurt raised the discussion to a completely different level following the performance. The whole team was very excited, said Marion Tiedtke. In Germany, one feels very connected to the land of Israel through the terrible history of the Holocaust. If you stand here on stage in this place, you do not want to do anything wrong, hurt any feelings.
Grossman has long been committed to reconciliation between Israel and the Palestinians
The novel by David Grossman is by no means about the Holocaust and the murder of six million Jews by the National Socialists. "A woman flees from a message" is the story of a love triangle between Ora and her two friends Ilan and Avram.
In the Yom Kippur War of 1973, one of the two men, Avram, was captured by the Egyptians and tortured for years. His best friend, Ilan, is plagued with self-reproach throughout his life: why did it hit Avram and not him? Why is he allowed to live with Ora and raise two children and not Avram?
Grossman's son died in the Lebanon War
The novel, which Grossman wrote more than ten years ago, investigates these questions with the help of flashbacks. The background story is no less dramatic and no less political: the focus is on the older Ora – more than 20 years after the Yom Kippur War.
When her younger son – who turns out to be the child of Avram – is drafted into a new "operation" at the end of his army time, she decides to flee. Without a cell phone she wanders through Galilee to be unreachable for the news she fears so much: that her son Ofer had died in the war. Also present: her ex-avram, who after years in Egyptian prisons could return to Israel, seriously injured and traumatized. Walking with Ora makes it clear: He is a broken man.
The novel on which the play is based
Alter ego as a novel hero
Ora was repeatedly interpreted as the alter ego of David Grossman after the novel was published. His son Uri was – just like his protagonist Ofer in the novel – Panzerkommandeur. While writing the novel, Grossman participated in one of the last offensives of the second Lebanon war in 2006.
When he finished the novel, Uri died. His tank was hit by a Hezbollah rocket. The sympathy for the terrible loss of Grossman was great, the novel was a worldwide success. Critics and readers celebrated him for his emotional complexity.
From the perspective of the mother pleading for her son, Grossman sharply criticized the policies of his country, including the occupation of the Palestinian territories. A criticism that sounds different from the mouth of an Israeli, who has always emphasized the love of his country, than by a German.
Israel criticism of all things from Germany?
After a public debate about the decision of the German Bundestag to define the anti-Israeli BDS movement as anti-Semitic, Schauspiel Frankfurt was also aware of this situation. "We have to deal with this delicate situation in Germany, that on the one hand this guilt will never be rid of Jews and also towards Israel," said the head dramaturge of Schauspiel Frankfurt's Tiedtke ‘. "On the other hand, there are the general human rights that allow everyone a home and that's what makes us Germans very difficult."
Marion Tiedtke, head dramaturge of the Schauspiel Frankfurt, addressed the Holocaust in the discussion
There is a risk of staging such political material, she acknowledged. But she believes that "theater has the function of addressing important issues in our society, even though they are sensitive and sometimes cause heated discussions."
And so was the question of the evening: How does a German theater stage a profoundly Israeli material? A story full of war traumas, full of fear of annihilation and of losing the long-awaited own state. And at the same time full of criticism of this very state of Israel, which itself becomes a problematic actor in the middle of the Middle East conflict.
"Germans no longer know the war"
There was no heated discussion that night in the Gesher Theater in Tel Aviv-Jaffa. The staging of the Schauspiel Frankfurt, which had been invited to Israel as part of the international Jaffa Theater Festival, supported by the Goethe Institute, was received favorably by the audience.
Writer David Grossman (with a blue shirt) at the discussion panel after the performance
And David Grossman, who is still one of the great peace campaigners of his country, remained silent on this evening on the current Israeli policy, as well as the world political situation. He just wanted the performance to work on him, he said.
"We were ashamed to tell people who live every day in a situation that can tilt every day to tell something about their own country," said head dramaturge Tiedtke. "There is a life situation in Israel that we currently do not know because of the peace that has been going on for more than 70 years."
For one of the actresses of the Ora this does not apply. Actress Altine Emili knows what war means. She was born in Kosovo. As a five-year-old, she fled with her family before the Serbian troops to Germany. "For me it was another fight to see this stuff, I have a different approach, I feel it emotionally and I can not downplay it technically," she said after the show. She was afraid of hurting someone with her performance on stage. Because she knows what it means when trauma is awakened again.
Actress Altine Emili (pictured above) has experienced in her true life what war means
The language of the culprits
However, speaking German, the language of the perpetrators of the Holocaust, on an Israeli stage did not cause her any headaches, the co-denizen said. Her boyfriend is Israeli, he has been living in Germany for three years. She speaks German with him.
It was different for Marion Tiedtke, who had come to Israel for the first time: "I was very happy when I realized that there were a lot of German-speaking people around me in the audience, who also came because they wanted to hear the German language. That touched me a lot because it shows that, despite this terrible common history, language is still a bond. "
After the performance several spectators were queuing: not with David Grossman, but with the dramaturge from Germany. They wanted to know more about their view of Israel and then invited them to come back.
David Grossman is one of the most important Israeli writers. He was born in Jerusalem in 1954 – as a descendant of Polish Holocaust survivors. His mother was born in Palestine. Grossman studied philosophy and drama at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. His books have been translated into all world languages and are bestsellers in Germany. Like the death of Amos Oz in 2018, Grossman advocates reconciliation between Israel and the Palestinians and a just peace.
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