Young Vic
In association with Urwintore
The
Investigation
By Peter Weiss, adapted by Jean Beaudrillard
Contents
The Investigation: The Play
1.
Peter Weiss
2
A Life
His Work
Bibliography
2. Background to The Investigation
6
3. The Investigation and Documentary Theatre
9
4.
Genocide: A Definition
11
5.
The Holocaust
13
6. A Tortured Legacy – Andrew Nagorski’s article on Auschwitz
14
15
The Investigation: The Urwintore Production
7.
An Introduction from the Company
8. Alexander Gross on translating The Investigation
9. Cast & Creative Team
10. Production Images
11.
25
12.
28
13.
29
14. Genocide in Rwanda
15. Testimonies from the Rwandan Genocide
16. Resources
17
19
22
23
Dorcy Rugamba
Yoris Van Den Houte
Kenny Nkundwa
31
35
37
If you have any questions or comments about this Resource Pack please contact
us:
The Young Vic, 66 The Cut, London, SE1 8LZ
T: 020 7922 2858 F: 020 7922 2802 e: info@youngvic.org
Compiled by: Tamara Gausi
1
The Investigation
By Peter Weiss, adapted by Jean Beaudrillard
Young Vic 2007
First performed at Liege in 2005
First performed at the Young Vic Theatre on the 31st October 2007
2
The
Investigation
By Peter Weiss, adapted by Jean Beaudrillard
The Investigation: The Play
1. PETER WEISS (1916-1982)
A Life
Peter Weiss was born on 8 November 1916 in the upper-class Berlin suburb of
Nowawes (now known as Neubabelsberg) to Eugen Weiss, a Czech textile
manufacturer who had converted from Judaism to Protestantism, and Frieda
Hummel Weiss, a Swiss-born gentile who had been an actress before her marriage
(they raised their children as Lutherans). A combination of socio-political
and economic factors meant the young Weiss moved around a fair bit. In 1918,
the family moved to Bremen, and then back to Berlin 11 years later where Peter
began training as a visual artist. Following the rise of the Nazi Party in
Germany, the family were self-exiled to England (Chislehurst, Kent) where he
studied photography. A year later his first art exhibition took place, and
from 1937-1938 he attended the Prague Art Academy. In 1936 his family moved to
Czechoslovakia where his father became the manager of a textile factory, but
after the German occupation of the Sudetenland in 1938 his family moved to
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The Investigation
By Peter Weiss, adapted by Jean Beaudrillard
Sweden, while Weiss moved alone to Switzerland. In 1939, he emigrated again,
this time to Stockholm, where he became a naturalised Swedish citizen and
spent the rest of his life.
It has been noted that Weiss considered himself an eternal refugee. At school,
he was excused from performing the Nazi salute in assembly because his father
was Czech (not because he was of Jewish ancestry), but this was not something
he was particularly happy about at the time.
According to the American
theatre critic, writer and dramaturg, Helen Shaw, Weiss “would later look back
in horror at how he envied his classmates, how he wished to salute with them,
how close he had come to being one of the monsters. His older stepbrother, in
fact, wound up as a member of the SS, and his childhood friend Uli (who had
introduced him to Brecht's work), died fighting for the Germans. Much later,
two of his close friends at school disappeared into the Theresienstadt
concentration camp”. Weiss was forever burdened by how close he had come to
being either a murderer or one of the murdered.
His Work
Weiss is considered one of the major European writers of the 20th century,
despite spending his early professional life as a painter and filmmaker. He
was one of the first writers to address the horrors of the Holocaust and is
celebrated for his unyielding moral voice. Weiss also possessed an enormous
breadth of vision which is revealed through his substantial body of work,
ranging from the surrealist to the autobiographical to literary re-workings of
political issues. Despite the popularity of his two most famous works,
Marat/Sade and The Investigation, comparatively little of his writing is
available in English, the most notable omission being all three volumes of Die
Ästhetik des Widerstand (The Aesthetics of Resistance) which look at the role
that art and culture played in the defeat of fascism.
His work was always hugely political, and themes of war and suffering are
recurring, as demonstrated by plays such Song of the Luisitanian Bogey which
discussed the anticolonial uprising in Angola, Vietnam Discourse and How Mr
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The Investigation
By Peter Weiss, adapted by Jean Beaudrillard
Mockingpott was Relieved of his Sufferings in which the protagonists are two
clowns. But he was much more than just a leftist writer;
disillusioned with
both the abuses of communism and excesses of capitalism, Weiss never fully
served either ideology. Instead, his collection of essays and diaries give an
insight into the world of an artist trying to make sense of the madness around
him.
He wrote his first novel, Från ö till ö (From Island to Island) in Swedish in
1944 and had his first play Der Turm staged in 1950. In 1952 he joined the
Swedish Experimental Film Studio, where he made films for several years.
During this period, he also taught painting at Stockholm's People's
University, and illustrated a Swedish edition of The Book of One Thousand and
One Nights. Until the early 1960s, Weiss also wrote prose. His work consisted
of short and intense novels with Kafkaesque details, often with
autobiographical themes and narratives. Weiss wrote in both Swedish and German
before finally settling on the latter. His best-known work is the 1963 play
Marat/Sade or to give it’s full title: The Persecution and Assassination of
Jean-Paul Marat as Performed by the Inmates of the Asylum of Charenton under
the Direction of Monsieur de Sade.
It is widely considered an instructive
meditation on power, revealed through two extraordinary historical characters.
After its first performance in West Berlin in 1964, Peter Brook’s legendary
RSC production helped catapult Weiss onto the international stage. He received
many honours for his work, including the Charles Veillon Award in 1963, the
Heinrich Mann Prize in 1966 and in 1982 he was posthumously awarded the Georg
Büchner Prize.
Weiss married three times: to the sculptor and painter Helga Henschen in 1943,
with whom he had a daughter, Randi-Maria; to Carlota Dethorey in 1949 with
whom he had a son Paul; and to Gunilla Palmstierna in 1964 with whom he had
another daughter Nadja. He was politically active as a member of the Communist
Party and in 1967 Weiss participated in Bertrand Russell's tribunal against
the Vietnam War in Stockholm. In 1970 Weiss suffered a heart attack. He wrote
little after that, and died on 10th May 1982 in Stockholm. He was 74 years
old.
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The Investigation
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Selected Bibliography
All works were originally written in German unless otherwise noted. English
translations, where applicable, are in parentheses.
Plays
Der Turm (The Tower) 1949
Die Versicherung 1952
Nacht mit Gästen (Night with Guests) 1963
Die Verfolgung und Ermordung Jean Paul Marats dargestellt durch die
Schauspielgruppe des Hospizes zu Charenton unter Anleitung des Herrn de Sade
(The Persecution and Assassination of Jean-Paul Marat as Performed by the
Inmates of the Asylum of Charenton under the Direction of the Marquis de Sade)
- better known as Marat/Sade 1963-5
Wie dem Herrn Mockinpott das Leiden Ausgetrieben wird (How Mr. Mockinpott was
Cured of his Sufferings) 1963/8
Die Ermittlung (The Investigation) 1964
Gesang vom Lusitanischen Popanz (Song of the Lusitanien Bogey) 1967
Diskurs über die Vorgeschichte und den Verlauf des lang andauernden
Befreiungskrieges in Viet Nam als Beispiel für die Notwendigkeit des
bewaffneten Kampfes der Unterdrückten gegen ihre Unterdrücker sowie über die
Versuche der Vereinigten Staaten von Amerika die Grundlagen der Revolution zu
vernichten (Discourse on the Progress of the Prolonged War of Liberation in
Viet Nam and the Events Leading up to it as Illustration of the Necessity for
Armed Resistance against Oppression and on the Attempts of the United States
of America to Destroy the Foundations of Revolution) - better known as Viet
Nam Diskurs 1968
Trotzki im Exil (Trotsky in Exile) 1969
Hölderlin 1971
Der Prozeß - adaptation of The Trial by Franz Kafka 1974
Der neue Prozeß (The New Trial) 1982
Fiction
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The Investigation
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Från ö till ö (From Island to Island, written in Swedish; in German: Von Insel
zu Insel) 1944
De besegrade (The Conquered, written in Swedish; in German: Die Besiegten)
1948
Der Vogelfreie (published as Dokument I in Swedish (1949) and in German as Der
Fremde under the pseudonym Sinclair) 1948
Duellen (The Duel, written in Swedish; in German: Das Duell) 1951
Der Schatten des Körpers des Kutschers (The Shadow of the Coachman's Body)
1952
Situationen (The Situation, written in Swedish; in German: Die Situation) 1956
Abschied von den Eltern (Leavetaking) 1960
Fluchtpunkt (Vanishing Point) 1961
Das Gespräch der drei Gehenden (The Conversation of the Three Walkers) 1962
Die Ästhetik des Widerstands (The Aesthetics of Resistance)
Published in 3 volumes: I, 1975; II, 1978; III, 1981
Other writings
Avantgarde Film (non-fiction; written in Swedish) 1956
Rapporte 1968
Rekonvaleszenz (autobiographical) 1970
Rapporte II 1971
Notizbücher (diaries) 1960-1971 & 1971-1980
Briefe (letters) 1938-1980
Films
Studie I (Uppvaknandet) Sweden, 16mm, 6min) 1952
Studie II (Hallucinationer) Sweden, 16mm, 6min 1952
Studie III Sweden, 16mm, 6min 1953
Studie IV (Frigörelse) Sweden, 16mm, 9min 1954
Studie V (Växelspel) Sweden, 16mm, 9min 1955
Ateljeinteriör / Dr Fausts Studierstube Sweden, 10 min 1956
Ansikten I Skugga Sweden, 13 min 1956
Enligt Lag (co-dir. Hans Nordenström) Sweden, 16mm, 18 min 1957
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The Investigation
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Vad ska vi göra nu da? Sweden, 20min 1958
Hägringen Sweden, 81min 1959
2. BACKGROUND TO THE INVESTIGATION
Weiss attended the Frankfurt Auschwitz Trials of 1963-65. This is not to be
confused with the Nuremberg Trials of 1945-46 which were held by the Allies
immediately after the Second World War in an attempt to prosecute senior Nazi
leaders. The Frankfurt Trials were instigated by the German government and
charged 22 middle to low ranking officers for their participation in
proceedings at the death and concentration camp complex of Auschwitz. As a
result, Weiss felt compelled to write Die Ermittlung. Oratorium in 11 Gesängen
(The Investigation: Oratorio in 11 Cantos), a dramatic reconstruction of the
trials based solely on verbatim testimony. It compressed the evidence given
both guards and prisoners at Auschwitz into a six-hour documentary play which
is considered the most influential works on the Holocaust in German. Weiss
does not reconfigure the transcript and according to Robert Cohen (who wrote
an introduction to the 1998 edition published by Continuum International), "as
much as possible, he stripped the language of all colour, removing superlative
forms, images, metaphors, and even dispensing with the minimal dramatization
provided by punctuation”.
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The Investigation
By Peter Weiss, adapted by Jean Beaudrillard
In a 1966 interview, Weiss said of his decision to document rather than
dramatise the trial: “After the war, there were many themes which we thought
couldn’t be translated into art – they were so enormous they couldn’t be
approached that way, especially the overwhelming theme of human destruction.”
This sentiment is made explicit in his preface for The Investigation where he
opposes any attempts at replication: “In the presentation of this play, no
attempt should be made to reconstruct the courtroom before which the
proceedings of the camp trial took place. Any such reconstruction would, in
the opinion of the author, be as impossible as trying to present the camp
itself on the stage.”
Weiss initially considered other titles for the play including Das Lager (The
Camp), Die Beweisaufnahme (Taking Evidence), Das Tribunal (The Tribunal) and
Die Besichtigung (The Inspection). But he wanted to convey the wider universal
relevance of the Nazi genocide. There is no mention of Auschwitz, no mention
of the word ‘Jew’ or ‘Nazi’ and still the context is unmistakeable; the impact
unequivocal. With no characters and no real plot, just raw human drama, Weiss
makes the unimaginable, real, and the sacred unbearably human. As a witness
towards the end of the text states: “We must get rid of our exalted
attitude/that this camp world/is beyond our comprehension”. He helps us to do
this.
On 19th October 1965, The Investigation premiered in multiple cities across
East and West Germany simultaneously. Later in the same year, it was performed
in a further 30 cities across Europe including Peter Brook’s highly acclaimed
production at the Aldwych Theatre in London and a Swedish version directed by
Ingmar Bergman in Stockholm. Peter Schulze-Rohr directed a film version for
television in 1966, and before long, the play was being performed worldwide
including notable productions on Broadway in 1966, in Moscow, Buenos Aires and
Montevideo in 1967 and in Tel Aviv in 1968.
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The Investigation
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The original six-hour play is presented in eleven cantos (a long section or
verse of an epic poem), each made up of three parts, beginning with The
Platform where the trains arrive, proceeding to The Camp and ending with two
cantos on Zyklon B and The Fire Ovens. In the 2007 version by Dorcy Rugamba
and Isabelle Gyselinx (translated into English by Alexander Gross), this is
reduced to one and a half hours made up of 14 sections. In an interview with
BBC Africa Beyond, Rugamba explains the changes that they made:
‘The play by Peter Weiss lasts approximately five hours and is
written in an epic form with eleven verses, each of them stages
leading down towards hell. Peter Weiss was inspired by Dante’s
Divine Comedy to write this oratorio and its implacable scientific
demonstration of what happened at Auschwitz. In spite of the power
of this form, we opted for a less epic dramaturgy – rather one that
is closer to tragedy. We wanted the story to be told together,
almost in a choir-like form to emphasise the fact that it is a
collective drama.
We took out a lot of the evidence on the veracity of what happened
at Auschwitz. We thought that the historical context had changed and
that the audience of today wouldn’t watch the play in the same way
as an audience in the 1960s. At that time, there were many people
denying the reality of genocide. Today it is different. No-one, with
the exception of the negationists – who will never change due to
ideological reasons – contests the reality of the genocide of the
Jews.
We [also took] out much of the technical precision of the judicial
investigation (how many centimetres, metres, such and such an
element of the camp measured, the distance separating a barrack from
another, at what time such and such a fact happened) and that helped
us to cut the length of the play.’
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The Investigation
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The Investigation
By Peter Weiss, adapted by Jean Beaudrillard
3. THE INVESTIGATION AND DOCUMENTARY THEATRE
The Investigation is one of the leading examples of a German dramatic movement
known as documentary theatre or theatre of fact. A genre of left-wing
political theatre, it is associated with the work of playwrights such as Rolf
Hochhuth, Heinar Kipphardt and Peter Weiss. Documentary theatre flourished in
the 1960s and examined recent historical events, usually through official
documents and court records, to make a particular political or moral
statement.
Although the concept of documentary theatre has been in existence as long as
theatre itself, this particular brand grew out of the early Soviet Proletcult
and Agitprop movements and their Weimar counterparts propagated by Erwin
Piscator and Bertholt Brecht. In particular, they explored notions of guilt
and responsibility in Germany's recent tumultuous history.
Hochhuth's 1963 play Der Stellvertreter (The Representative or The Deputy)
indicted Pope Pius XII for failing to condemn the Nazi Holocaust, while
Kipphardt's 1964 play In der Sache J. Robert Oppenheimer (In the Matter of J.
Robert Oppenheimer) re-created America's infamous inquiry into Oppenheimer's
opposition to the nuclear arms race.
In his article, The Political Aesthetics
of Holocaust Literature: Peter Weiss' The Investigation and Its Critics,
Robert Cohen remarks that documentary theatre "uses facts, documents and
authentic figures as raw material in the same way other types of drama use
imagined events and characters".
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The Investigation
By Peter Weiss, adapted by Jean Beaudrillard
Heinar Kipphardt
Rolf Hochhuth
In Britain, documentary theatre took also grew in the 1920s and was closely
associated with socialist political change.
Unity Theatre championed the work
of Brecht and Sean O'Casey, while it also developed the documentary play and
the working class history play.
Through his work as artistic director of the
Victoria Theatre in Stoke-on-Trent and the New Victoria Theatre in Newcastleunder-Lyme, Peter Cheeseman is credited with furthering the British movement
of documentary theatre. In this field, he is best remembered for his post-war
work which focused on using local oral histories to create work with much
wider resonances. The Theatre Workshop ensemble at led by Joan Littlewood took
inspiration from Cheeseman for their landmark production of Oh, What a Lovely
War at Theatre Royal Stratford East in 1963.
The proliferation of political theatre companies in the 1960s responded to the
forces of social and political change, which also helped develop the form of
documentary theatre.
Red Ladder, for example, performed outside the factory
gates of the Ford motor factory while The General Will, formed by writer David
Edgar in Bradford, created panoramic documentaries of contemporary history.
Notable companies from the 1970s include 7:84 led by John McGrath, Foco Novo
and Belt and Braces.
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The Investigation
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More recently, the work of directors such as Nicolas Kent at the Tricycle
Theatre in Kilburn has marked a resurgence in the genre of documentary or
verbatim theatre as it is now more commonly known. Starting with Half the
Picture, his reconstruction of the Scott inquiry into the arms to Iraq affair
in 1993, the Tricycle has become famed for its 'tribunal' plays - edited
extracts of inquiries or court transcripts dramatized for the stage. Notable
productions include The Colour of Justice in 1999 (using extracts from the
Stephen Lawrence inquiry), Justifying War in 2003 (based on the Hutton inquiry
into the death of Dr David Kelly) and Nuremberg and Srebrenica in 1996. In
2004, Guantanamo - Honour Bound to Defend Freedom transferred to the West End
and proved to be one of the most-high profile verbatim theatre plays in recent
memory. In 2006, the Tricycle was presented with a Laurence Olivier Award for
Outstanding Achievement for its verbatim testimony production of Bloody
Sunday.
Other recent examples include: Robin Soans' 2005 production Talking to
Terrorists which uses interviews with victims and practitioners of terrorism;
David Hare's The Permanent Way which in 2003 dealt with the Hatfield rail
crash and the highly acclaimed 2005 play My Name is Rachel Corrie, which uses
the diaries and emails of an American peace protestor killed by Israeli
bulldozers in Palestine.
In 2004, writer and director Alecky Blythe
introduced an innovation to verbatim theatre with Come Out Eli.
Her witness
testimonials were played to the actors during the performance, who then had to
repeat the words at exactly the same tempo and rhythm, with the same emphasis
as they were originally spoken.
NB: There is a very interesting article on The Investigation which we cannot
reproduce here as we don’t have the copyright for it, but you can visit it at
http://iupjournals.org/history/ham10-2.html
4. GENOCIDE: DEFINITIONS
The term ‘genocide’ was coined by a Polish-Jewish lawyer called Raphael
Lemkinr in 1943, from the root words genos (Greek for family, tribe or race)
and -cide (from the Latin word occido or to massacre). The international legal
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The Investigation
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definition of the crime of genocide is found in Articles II and III of the
1948 United Nations Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime
of Genocide. Article 2 of the CPPCG defines genocide as: "any of the following
acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national,
ethnical, racial or religious group, as such: killing members of the group;
causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group; deliberately
inflicting on the group conditions of life, calculated to bring about its
physical destruction in whole or in part; imposing measures intended to
prevent births within the group; [and] forcibly transferring children of the
group to another group."
This definition is by no means comprehensive. Five alternative
interpretations, taken from the website of the Institute for the Study of
Genocide and the International Association of Genocide Scholars, are:
Frank Chalk and Kurt Jonassohn
"Genocide is a form of one-sided mass killing in which a state or other
authority intends to destroy a group, as that group and membership in it are
defined by the perpetrator"
(The History and Sociology of Genocide , 1990)
Israel W. Charny
"Genocide in the generic sense is the mass killing of substantial numbers of
human beings, when not in the course of military forces of an avowed enemy,
under conditions of the essential defenselessness and helplessness of the
victims".
(in Genocide: Conceptual and Historical Dimensions ed. George Andreopoulos,
1994)
Helen Fein
"Genocide is sustained purposeful action by a perpetrator to physically
destroy a collectivity directly or indirectly, through interdiction of the
biological and social reproduction of group members, sustained regardless of
the surrender or lack of threat offered by the victim".
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The Investigation
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(Genocide: A Sociological Perspective, 1990)
Barbara Harff and Ted R. Gurr
"By our definition, genocides and politicides are the promotion and execution
of policies by a state or its agents which result in the deaths of a
substantial portion of a group. The difference between genocides and
politicides is in the characteristics by which members of the group are
identified by the state. In genocides the victimized groups are defined
primarily in terms of their communal characteristics, i.e. ethnicity, religion
or nationality. In politicides the victim groups are defined primarily in
terms of their hierarchical position or political opposition to the regime and
dominant groups"
("Toward empirical theory of genocides and politicides," International Studies
Quarterly 37, 3 [1988])
Steven T. Katz
"the concept of genocide applies only when there is an actualized intent,
however successfully carried out, to physically destroy an entire group (as
such a group is defined by the perpetrators)."
(The Holocaust in Historical Perspective, Vol. 1, 1994).
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5. THE HOLOCAUST
The Holocaust refers to the systematic murder of six million Jews by the Nazi
regime. When Adolf Hitler and the Nazi party came to power in 1933, the Jewish
population of Europe stood at approximately nine million. By 1945, an
estimated two-thirds had been killed in a campaign that culminated in ‘The
Final Solution’ – an attempt to exterminate European Jewry entirely. Hitler
considered the Jews an inferior people, a ‘cancer on the breast of Germany’
which he envisaged populated entirely by an ‘Aryan master race’. Following the
outbreak of the Second World War in 1939, the Nazis began to create ghettos to
isolate Jews and established concentration camps to imprison all people
targeted on ethnic, racial or political grounds.
Between 1942 and 1944, Nazi Germany deported millions of people from the
territories it occupied to its numerous concentration camps to be murdered in
gas chambers. At the largest killing centre, Auschwitz-Birkenau, transports of
Jews arrived almost daily from across Europe. Although the Jewish people were
the primary target of Nazi genocidal policies, an estimated 5.5 million nonJews perished at the hands of the Nazis. This includes the Roma and Sinti
peoples, the Poles and other Slavic peoples, those with physical and mental
disabilities, black and mixed-race Europeans, Communists, Socialists,
homosexuals, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Roman Catholics and political dissidents.
More than 3 million Soviet prisoners of war were also murdered by the Nazis,
or died of starvation, disease or maltreatment.
By the end of Hitler’s regime in 1945, almost 40 million people had perished
in what remains the histories most devastating global war. But the six million
men, women and children who were systematically and efficiently slaughtered
for no other reason than the fact that they were Jewish, remains Hitler’s most
hideous legacy. The Nazis were not ‘at war’ with the Jews, they were no threat
to national security, and there was negligible economic gain from their death
– the Nazis sole motivation was racial hatred. In a century noted for its mass
killings – including Armenia, Namibia, Bosnia, Darfur, Stalin’s Russia and
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Cambodia to name but a few – the Holocaust was the first and most devastating
example of how technological efficiency could be used to try and rid the world
of an entire people.
6. AUSCHWITZ
Auschwitz-Birkeneau was the largest Nazi death and concentration camp. Located
in southern Poland, it consisted of three main camps and 40 satellite stations
in the area. The camp commandant Rudolf Höss testified at the Nuremberg Trials
that 3 million people were killed during its four and a half years of
operation. Newsweek journalist Andrew Nagorski revisits it on the 50th
anniversary of its liberation. What follows are excerpts from an article which
outlines the sordid existence of the infamous camp and discusses its
troublesome inheritance
A Tortured Legacy
By Andrew Nagorski
from Newsweek, January 16, 1995
A former army barracks located near the town of Oswiecim, or Auschwitz in
German, the main camp received its first transport of 728 Poles in June 1940.
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These were political prisoners, usually affiliated with resistance movements.
In most cases, they were Catholics, since the deportations of Jews had not yet
begun. But as soon as those first prisoners arrived, they were treated to a
speech that signaled the future evolution of the camp. "You have come not to a
sanatorium but to a German concentration camp where the only way out is
through the chimney," Karl Fritsch, the SS chief in charge of the prisoners,
declared. "If someone doesn't like it, he can throw himself on the barbed
wire. If there are Jews in the transport, they don't have the right to live
more than two weeks; priests, one month, and the others, three months."
"The camp was created to destroy the most valuable part of Polish society, and
the Germans partly succeeded in this," says Zygmunt Gaudasinski, an early
political prisoner there. Some prisoners, like Guadasinski's father, were
shot; torture was commonplace, and the early mortality rate was very high.
That changed once prisoners latched onto jobs – in the kitchens, warehouses
and other sheltered places – which increased their odds for survival. Of the
150,000 Polish prisoners who were sent to Auschwitz, about 75,000 died there.
After Germany invaded the Soviet Union in June 1941, Soviet POWs were
dispatched to Auschwitz. SS Chief Heinrich Himmler envisaged a huge number of
POWs and drew up plans for Auschwitz's expansion by creating a second large
complex at Birkenau, two miles away. The first POWs to arrive were put to work
constructing the new facilities there in conditions that horrified even the
hardened Polish political prisoners. "They were treated worse than any other
prisoners," says Mieczyslaw Zawadzki, a Pole who worked as a nurse in a sick
bay for the POWs. Fed only turnips and tiny rations of bread, they collapsed
from hunger, exposure and beatings. "The hunger was so bad that they cut off
the buttocks from the corpses in the morgue and ate the flesh," Zawadzki
recalls. "Later, we locked the morgue so they couldn't get in."
With most Soviet POWs dying quickly and no large subsequent influx, Himmler
and camp commandant Rudolf Hoss prepared Auschwitz to play a major role in the
"final solution" for European Jews. Transports of Jews from all over occupied
Europe made Auschwitz the most international of the camps. By the time that
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Birkenau and its gas chambers became fully operational most Polish Jews had
already died in other death camps like Treblinka, Sobibor and Belzec. About
300,000 Polish Jews were deported to Auschwitz, followed, in the summer of
1944, by an astonishing 438,000 Hungarian Jews. Auschwitz was both a death
camp and a complex of labor camps, which accounts for its relatively large
number of survivors. If Treblinka and other pure death camps are less well
known, it is because there were almost no survivors who could testify to what
happened there.
News of Auschwitz's horrors began to spread well before the war ended. Often
with the help of resistance groups, some Auschwitz prisoners managed to escape
and get out word about the mass killings in the camp. Two main eyewitness
documents appeared in 1944. One was written by a former Polish political
prisoner, Jerzy Tabeau, who, with another prisoner, short-circuited the camp's
electric fence, cut through the barbed wire and fled to Kracow. His report was
circulated by the London-based Polish government-in-exile. The other shocking
report was produced by two Slovak Jews whose detailed descriptions of mass
gassings reached Jewish groups and Western governments.
Even a half-century later, their cries for help are searing. In his "Report of
a Polish Major," Tabeau described the torture of Polish political prisoners,
the murder of sick inmnates with phenol injections and "the mass murder of
Jews" in Birkenau. Although most Polish political prisoners remained in the
original Auschwitz camp, Tabeau was transferred to the Gypsy camp in Birkenau
where he could directly observe what was happening. Tabeau, now a retired
cardiologist in Cracow, recalls: "From the Gypsy camp, you could clearly see
the ramp and the transports arriving. The people were marched to the
crematoria, and two or three hours later there was this black smoke. When the
crematoria could not keep up, you could see piles of burning corpses."
In the postwar era, the Soviet and the Polish Communist authorities imposed
their ideological vision on Auschwitz, condemning fascism and extolling the
heroism of Communist prisoners. Among the national pavilions set up in the
1950s, the most jarring were those of East Germany and Bulgaria – in the
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latter case, a country that did not have a single prisoner at Auschwitz. "Four
million victims" was such a part of the authorities' litany that they refused
to acknowledge mounting evidence that this early estimate, based in part on
the misleading testimony of camp commandant Hoss, was wrong. "If it hadn't
been for the political changes in 1989, I don't think our research would have
been published," says Auschwitz Museum historian Franciszek Piper, whose study
of Jewish deportations produced the new estimates.
In the late 1980s a dispute between Catholics and Jews about a Carmelite
convent bordering on Auschwitz triggered angry accusations that each side was
refusing to acknowledge the symbolism of Auschwitz for the other. To ease such
tensions, Poland's new Solidarity government set up an international council
for the camp museum in 1990 composed of Christians and Jews. Although critics
charge that the pace is too slow, Auschwitz has changed dramatically since
then. The East German and Bulgarian pavilions were closed, and signs all over
Auschwitz-- in particular, at the site of the gas chambers in Birkenau – were
changed to emphasize that most of the victims were Jewish.
Such changes have helped. "We have to say and say again that the majority of
Auschwitz's victims were Jews, but that doesn't make Auschwitz ours," says
council member Maurice Goldstein, a Belgian Jew who also heads the largest
survivors' organization. "We should not Judaize Auschwitz." In the new
climate, different groups can finally recognize each other's claims to the
Auschwitz legacy, no longer fearing that this somehow diminishes their own
suffering.
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The Investigation: The Urwintore Production
7. AN INTRODUCTION FROM THE COMPANY
Urwintore is a Rwandan theatre company that was founded in Kigali by the
actor, director and writer Dorcy Rugamba in 2001. Their production of The
Investigation premiered in Rwanda in 2004 and has since been performed in
Brussels, Paris and now London. What follows is a copy of their programme
notes, explaining their reasoning behind the production.
Now, at this time, history has become universal,
the history of humanity all over the world.
And this change is permanent.
Therefore, one can no longer understand one’s own situation without
considering the historical situation of the whole world…
Karl Jaspers, The German Guilt, 1945
In 1963 an exceptional trial occurred. 19 witnesses were called to the stand
in Frankfurt to deliver testimonies, bringing to vivid life the horror of the
Shoah [the Hebrew term for the Holocaust].
Peter Weiss used transcriptions of
these testimonies as a starting point for The Investigation. In it, Weiss
departs from traditional theatrical forms to produce a "documentary play”,
describing what Hannah Arendt called ‘banal’ side of evil as well as the
social and economic conditions that make it possible.
The majority of those who were in charge of the Auschwitz camp were still
alive and attended the tribunal. Survivors also attended. They gazed at and
recognised each other. Some pretended to have forgotten basic facts, others
spoke in detail of the past. They were all assumed to be stating the truth,
only the truth and nothing but the truth.
The court was there to hear what
each one of them has to say. Speech was the only investigation tool as well as
the only exhibit. It is through speech that the characters unveil themselves
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(their attitude, behaviour, character, mood, disposition, ideology). Speech
was action, depicting almost on its own the concentration camp universe.
We would like, through this active speech, to understand and represent what
occurs to human beings, men and women, when they are crushed by a system which
overwhelms them, when physically and socially they are pushed beyond their
extremes. What mechanisms do they put in place to survive in inhuman
conditions? We would also like to see whether this speech, which often betrays
consciousness, helps us to perceive the process by which a man, educated or
not, is brought to commit acts of extreme violence.
Urwintore presents a version of The Investigation performed thirteen years
after our country’s civil war and genocide. Why have we artists, rather than
telling the story of our own genocide, which is still hardly known throughout
the world, prefer to work on that of the Jews, which has been featured in
plays and on the screens time and again?
By investigating Nazis’ crimes, we are prosecuting the crimes of our own time.
If another genocide has been perpetrated after Auschwitz, it is because the
conditions of such a crime were still to be found in the world.
What are
they? Our project is not to answer this question but rather to reflect upon
the topic with an audience.
We neither mean to prosecute the culprits, nor even to symbolically condemn
their acts. We do not intend to stage a solemn comforting mass in which one
would recite "never again". We offer instead a representation within the
framework of our own fears, our own disillusions and our own expectations.
Peter Weiss gives no answers.
He exposes the words in their actual nakedness,
without artifice, with nothing to mask either sudden violence or multiple
contradictions – neither hesitations, nor anger, nor mockery.
He simply
spreads out facts. Indisputable facts.
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Inevitably, our actors will be inspired by their personal experience but their
task will be to tell "another story ", one which belongs to collective memory.
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8. ALEXANDER GROSS ON HIS SECOND TRANSLATION OF THE INVESTIGATION
Alexander Gross produced the most widely used English language version of The
Investigation when he translated the text from German in 1965. Earlier this
year, he was once again asked to translate the text into English, this time
from the French version adapted by Dorcy Rugamba and Isabelle Gyselinx. What
follows are excerpts from his preface to the new version which will form the
surtitles of the production at the Young Vic.
I first translated this play from German in 1965, and only a few months ago I
was asked to translate it once more, this time from the French. This seems
enough of a paradox to me to require an explanation. What's more, each
translation involved an urgent commission stemming from an imminent
production.
And each case was grounded in a major international crisis.
Just
as the first presentation of this play helped to launch a whole new theatrical
movement, the so-called documentary school of theatre, so this new adaptation
from the French has the potential for modernizing, internationalizing, and
even universalizing the appeal of this play. That is largely because the coauthor of this French adaptation, also the chief actor and director, is a
citizen of Rwanda, as are the other six members of his company, a nation that
has recently gone through its own trial by genocide.
The major international crisis leading to the first production is as follows.
Forty years ago under prevailing German law, all criminal prosecutions were
subject to a statute of limitation of twenty years, making it impossible to
bring known criminals to trial after that period and permitting them to go
scot-free.
Since World War II ended in 1945, this meant that German war
criminals would no longer be brought to justice after 1965. This gave rise to
a bitter struggle between two major factions of German society, those who felt
this must not be allowed to happen on the one side, those who had permitted,
condoned, or actually committed war crimes on the other.
It was a struggle
that quickly turned international in scope, joined by citizens from many lands
who had suffered at the hands of the Germans.
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This massive confrontation inspired Peter Weiss to write a truly massive play,
based on verbatim testimony from the Frankfurt War Crimes trials that began in
1964.
It presented on stage not only the very words of the defendants but the
defendants themselves as portrayed by actors, providing overwhelming evidence
for continuing these prosecutions. The play was so massive in its dimensions
that it became something of a sacred icon in theatre history – though praised
by countless critics, it came to be produced only occasionally over succeeding
decades.
Now a new version of this play has arisen, and if anything the political and
social conditions inspiring its creation are even more pressing.
Where
earlier versions dealt mainly with the Jews and the Germans and the horrors of
the Holocaust during World War II, the lessons learned during that time have
once again come to be forgotten, doubted, and even denied by a significant
segment of the world's population. But in this new production those lessons
can no longer be doubted, denied, or even forgotten, for it becomes amply
clear that they affect every nation on the planet
As noted, its author has every right to introduce these changes, for he is a
citizen of Rwanda, a Black African brought up Catholic but for a time a
convert to Islam, someone who has seen his own parents, relations, and
countless friends fall victims to the Rwandan genocide of 1994, a
conflagration that annihilated thirteen percent of the Rwanda population. His
production has already been performed both in Belgium and Rwanda [and Paris].
At a time when cries of genocide have been heard from Darfur, Iraq, Burma, and
Indonesia…it is hard to see how the enormous truth presented by Weiss' play
can continue to be denied.
What is that denial, and what is that truth? Its denial is perhaps best
suggested by the reaction of a defendant's mother, when her son starts to tell
her about his work:
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Once on leave
I told my mother
She couldn’t believe it
That isn’t possible she said
You can’t burn human beings
because flesh doesn’t burn
"Flesh doesn't burn" is only one form this denial can take. Its truth, still
as shocking today as it was then, is conveyed by this adaptation's final
speech, delivered by one of the witnesses who survived these events:
If we speak today about our experiences
with people who were not in the camps
these people always regard them
as something unimaginable
And yet it was the same men there
who were both prisoners and guards
...if they hadn’t been called prisoners
they might just as easily have been guards
We must get rid of our exalted attitude
that this camp world
is beyond our comprehension
Which brings us to recent events at the Abu Ghraib prison in Baghdad,
providing even more compelling evidence that the concentration camp mentality
still survives among all of us. Here too limitless denials were heard from
many sources, generals, political leaders and journalists prominent among
them.
These could not possibly be normal, compassionate Americans who
committed these crimes, it was claimed; they were surely only "a few bad
apples," total exceptions to the rule. But the truth is that they were not
"bad apples" at all, they were typical of how the great majority of us could
be expected to behave if our leaders provided no true ethical principles to
guide us. The most frightening revelation of The Investigation in both its
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earlier and its more recent productions is that the very same human desire to
cooperate with others, to please one's companions and oblige them by following
instructions can lead us both to glorious, peaceful achievement and to
mindless, organized sadism.
This is probably one the most frightening of lessons any of us can learn, and
it is perhaps not totally surprising that many people still refuse to accept
it.
But it may still provide some insight into why so many war criminals so
often claim that they were doing nothing wrong: after all, they were simply
following the usual order of humanity by cooperating with those around them.
Of course many also claim that they were working under impossible pressure or
made some half-hearted attempt to resist, while others are simply dissemblers.
In the last analysis the crimes of the camps remain inexcusable.
To conclude on a slightly more optimistic note, one fascinating aspect emerged
from this play's production in the capital of Rwanda, where a translation into
Kinyarwanda by Dorcy Rugamba was performed.
Against the background of that
nation's disastrous recent history, audiences were amazed to discover that a
comparable genocide could ever possibly have taken place…in Europe.
I believe
all nations everywhere may owe a debt of gratitude to Rugamba and to coadaptor Isabelle Gyselinx for providing us with this remarkable new
perspective on our own history, indeed on all of current world events. Thanks
to their efforts this play no longer belongs to Jews alone but will come to
take its place as a sacrificial offering intended for all humanity. For far
too long Weiss' The Investigation has been viewed as a holy behemoth, too
painful to perform, too powerful to alter in any major way. This new
production breaks down that sacred taboo once and for all. Where one-sided
pleading, political pronouncements, or unvarnished statistics can fail, this
production succeeds in conveying the undeniable reality of the concentration
camps by presenting them in the genuine words of those who took part in them,
witnesses and defendants, victims and oppressors alike. I may be an incurable
optimist and I speak only for myself and not the adaptors or the producers of
this play, but it is my hope that over the next years and decades we will see
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translations and adaptations of this play not only into other African tongues
but also into Arabic, Turkish, Farsi, Urdu, Burmese, Indonesian and many other
of the world's languages.
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9. CAST AND CREATIVE TEAM
Cast
Leon Athanase Mandali
Lyliane Matabishi Mukase
Samuel Muteba Sangwa
Kenny Theophile Nkundwa
Thomas Nyarwaya
Olivier Rangira
Aimable Twahirwa
Creative Team
Direction
Design
Lighting
Technical Production
Dorcy Rugamba and Isabelle Gyselinx
Fabienne Damiean
Manu Deck
Steve Jaribu Rukongi
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10. PRODUCTION IMAGES
Aimable Twahirwa and Kenny Theophile Nkundwa
Olivier Rangira, Léon Athanase Mandali, Thomas Nyarwaya, Aimable Twahirwa,
Kenny Theophile Nkundwa, Samuel Muteba Sangwa and Lyliane Matabishi
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Kenny Theophile Nkundwa and Aimable Twahirwa
Lyliane Matabishi, Kenny Theophile Nkundwa and Léon Athanase Mandali
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11. INTERVIEW WITH DORCY RUGAMBA, THE DIRECTOR
When and why did you decide to become an actor and director?
We are all somewhat alienated by our individual languages and cultures, many
things we take for granted are not actually set in stone. The theatre is a
dreamed-of place where you can tear down the myths that surround us and free
the mind. As much for the actor as for the audience. As an actor, through the
many different roles I play, the opportunity to become different types of
person is for mean enormous privilege. It means I have the chance to escape
the routine of just being me.
How did you first encounter The Investigation and at what point did you decide
to direct it?
I discovered this play on stage and immediately it struck me as incredibly
topical even though it deals with events that date from the Second World War.
At no time did it appear to me that the play was speaking of a bygone era.
Evidently, as I listened to the play, Rwanda came to mind at every moment, but
it wasn’t just Rwanda, there was also the backdrop of modern society of which
the Nazi genocide was one of the most extreme aspects but which has not
radically changed since. In short, it is a play about the genocide which is
neither fascinated by the murders nor dedicated to solemn commemoration. The
Investigation does not even symbolically look to condemn the crimes in order
to reassure the world in which we live, it is not the ‘never again’ that we
are very quick to say, which can often mean nothing. It is also not a play
which tries to pity the fate of the victims. No, its not pity or charity that
is demanded from the audience, but an adult reflection on the world. The play
exposes the facts clinically, methodically, and allows the public to draw
their
own
conclusions
about
the
stories.
It
is
this
method
of
giving
responsibility to the audience that most appealed to me.
What were your experiences during the Rwandan genocide? What lessons can be
learnt from it in the international community?
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I was 24 at the time of the genocide in Rwanda, but I was very naïve,
politically. I think I knew the name genocide, but it didn’t mean anything to
me or for many youths of my generation. Many of my childhood friends were
killed, others began yelling racist insults like football hooligans and became
murderers. It is my opinion that we had the most foolish childhood and
therefore became the most dangerous because we were the most manipulable. We
were ignorant of all the lessons of history, ignorant of the dramas of other
nations which could have guided us in the situation we found ourselves in.
What lesson can the international community take from Rwanda? I don’t know!
That the peace of the world depends greatly on the opportunities we offer to
the young generations of Africa, Latin America, Asia and elsewhere to open
their minds, to go out, to travel, to interact with others, to become more
rich spiritually and intellectually, to step out of isolation. Unfortunately,
the immigration policies of most Western countries mean that most of these
young people are simply restricted to their native lands like prisoners. This
is an enormous risk for the world, fanaticism thrives on such isolation of
populations.
What are the parallels that you draw between the Rwandan and German experience
of genocide?
The Frankfurt trial was the first trial where a German court judged the
Germans for the acts they committed in the name of their country. The
resonance of this trial went further than just the accused. The whole of
Germany was forced to confront its contradictions; the weight of all that
happened could not simply rest on the shoulders of a few defendants. The whole
nation was made to examine its conscience a few years after having elected a
tyrannical regime which was nonetheless popular - popular precisely because it
was overtly racist, deliberately tyrannical and merciless. The situation is
similar in Rwanda at the moment. The Gacaca trials, which are the trials
happening in the districts that involve the whole population started 3 years
ago. After the time of exalted hatred that preceded the genocide and the
dramatic consequences that followed it, today the Rwandans are confronting
through the trials their contradictions as a nation. In both cases, Rwanda and
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Germany, it is a case of collective trauma, a national drama. The underlying
questions that arise in a trial such as Frankfurt are the same as the one we
find currently in Rwanda. Notably, one specific aspect unites Rwanda and
Germany – that the genocide of the Jews, like the genocide of the Rwandan
Tutsis, was a legal crime. The killers were not working outside the law, it
was rather that zealous patriots were working for a criminal state. When they
killed, they had the law and the state on their side.
Can there ever be reconciliation from the Rwandan massacre?
We will never have reconciliation if we see it as a goal in itself. If there
is reconciliation one day, it will be the long-term result of many factors.
Justice must have been reached, the crimes and the criminals will have been
judged and condemned, a long, slow, uphill educational journey will have to be
taken, notably to give the young generation new criteria for identity that are
less narrow and extreme. Economic progress is necessary as well for many, both
in the regional and international context. Rwanda is not an island – if the
world is doing badly, it would surprise me if Rwanda were doing any better.
What would you like audiences of The Investigation to come away with?
One leaves this play having lost some illusions about the society in which we
live, which is precisely the part of the lucidity that we are often missing
when history is knocked off balance. This awareness is not in vain at a time
when in Darfur we are perhaps seeing the first genocide of the 21st Century.
In a world full of social, political and economic upheavals, what good is
theatre?
Art is the best medium that men have found for understanding one another and
enriching their lives.
Art can contribute a lot to the peace of the world,
succeeding where war, politics and business have failed, by allowing cultures
and civilisation to interact with one another.
Where you always aware of the impeding catastrophe in Rwanda or did the events
of 1994 come as a surprise?
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Today, more than ten years later that forms part of one of my great questions,
how was it that we never believed them, even though they spoke openly about
what they planned to do? Why did we not take them at their word, especially
given that they had already committed genocidal killings in certain regions of
Rwanda?
For a reason I am still trying to understand we took them for a pack
of jokers, when actually they were extremely serious.
That is one thing that
is not easy to comprehend: why do we naturally lean towards seeing the good in
people, even people who have clearly stated that at the first opportunity they
would cut your throat?
Now this is a question I found in Weiss' play.
In the
passage about the gas chambers, witness number 7 recounts the prisoners who
would arrive in the showers: “...one time, I heard someone shouting ' they
want to kill us', but straight away, another responded 'that's impossible,
something like that is unthinkable, stay calm'.”
The other thing that
interests in Weiss' play is the words of the executioners.
at the time of the genocide in Rwanda.
I was 24 years old
I belonged to the generation that
provided the most killers: those aged between 20 and 30.
Indeed, a fair
number of people that I knew, many of them childhood friends of whom I had
never noticed a particular tendency to cruelty, committed abominable acts.
When I see them, I also see myself through them, as we grew up together and
shared so much joy and pain at an age when friendship counts for a lot.
It is
hard not to suspect one's own childhood when it produced so many monsters.
The play gives us a means to explore these questions as well, because the
Auschwitz trial was the trial of this type of man; ordinary men who weren't
necessarily the most ideological, but who when the opportunity presented
itself committed acts of an extreme cruelty.
What else is Urwintore working on?
At the moment I am acting in a play called Bloody Niggers! It is a play that I
have written, which deals among other things with colonisation and the
dictatorships in Africa. The play is touring this season in French-speaking
countries. You can see extracts on myspace at www.myspace.com/bloodyniggers In
April, I am starting another play as an actor where I am playing the role of
James Baldwin in an adaptation of his play Fire Next Time.
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12. INTERVIEW WITH YORIS VAN DEN HOUTE, THE LIGHTING MANAGER
When did you first encounter the play?
I read the play in the 80’s when studying at the Drama School in Brussels. I
later saw a video recording of a performance in Germany.
Have you had to change anything for the Young Vic production?
Lighting always changes. Certainly the entrances of the actors change. Also
space changes, temperature and time of lighting cues.
Since I took this lighting for the first time I needed time to understand what
was done and then time for the team to accept my changes while, of course,
respecting the original ideas of the lighting designers.
What did you want the lighting to convey?
I see two main things: to light the actors’ spoken words not the role he
incarnates for that moment, and to light accents – we sometimes focus on the
actors speaking and sometimes on the actors listening. These ideas were what
the director, Dorcy, wanted – to switch from judge, to accusatory to
defendant.
What were the biggest challenges working on The Investigation?
The different space and adapting. Also, the working with artists from a
different culture and understanding their wishes and customs.
What are your thoughts on the production and what would you like the audiences
to take away from watching it?
I would like the audience to feel that history lies and that we should talk
about it. We name things and invite the audience to find solutions to these
problems. This play has the power to analyse human nature but also the
humility to invite audiences to share their thoughts. It is urgent theatre.
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13. INTERVIEW WITH KENNY NKUNDWA, AN ACTOR
What is your background as an artist?
I have loved theatre since I was very young, but was most interested from when
I was 13 when I performed in my first sketch. But always at home we enjoyed
dancing as a family so the taste for performing has been with me since then.
For my first play, I and my classmates did ‘Where is the bone’. The effect it
had on the audience and on ourselves left a big mark on me. From that time I
wanted to be on stage. Since then I have always acted professionally. I
started in 2000 at the university where I became involved in workshops. I
really flourished at this time.
When and how did you come to be involved in The Investigation?
I met Dorcy and Isabella [the directors] in the last stages of the Urwintore
workshop in October 2005. Dorcy and his team wanted actors with a professional
background to finish the process and I attended a casting day. I didn’t know
what I was letting myself in for – I just knew it was for a production and
that I admired Dorcy. It was only after the casting that I learnt about the
project. We had long discussions afterwards with the directors and creative
team who explained who explained what they wanted to do. We did more workshops
to get to grips with the philosophy of the piece.
What role does theatre play in Rwandian society?
Currently theatre is used to dealing with social questions – HIV, rape,
malaria; we call it the theatre of intervention. Classical theatre has not
really developed, but contemporary theatre has around this idea of teaching
major issues in society. It treats every day issues in Rwanda today including
the genocide nowadays. It has a social and economic role. Media such as TV and
radio is more popular.
How difficult is it to play a character without a name or identity? Is the
process of performance different in such a case?
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Yes, it is very difficult. You need to identify with a person, live their
experience and story, which takes time to be able to interpret. It’s not
necessarily difficult, but it’s a challenge – part of the job of the actor. An
actor doesn’t necessarily play people who exist, or who live in the same
period as you. As an actor you need to be able to leap into the past, present
and future of a character. That is the challenge of an actor. Yes it is
difficult, but not impossible. In this play, we are playing a person who
represents many different real people, so when I play this role, I am
representing the voice of many victims of the Holocaust. Their experiences are
not that different from what I have experienced which makes it easier.
Can you describe the rehearsal process?
Fred, who was in charge of physical work, came and taught us warm-ups and
various other exercises to prepare us for the play: to get into the spirit of
things and to get used to the space, awareness of other people, running
around, how to walk etc. The Investigation is very much based on the
relationship between the actors and the balance of the scene. We were also
given much research to do: books, DVDs and documentaries on both the Holocaust
and current affairs. The Dorcy and Isabelle came and their role was to
introduce us to the play and the text. We spoke about the play and the
Urwintore project and they explained the background to the play. They believed
in us as actors: that we had the ability to do it. I felt very involved at
this stage and ready to get involved in the play. The whole rehearsal process
took approximately six months of preparation. The first performance was in
Liege in 2005. We were all asked to bring our own experiences to the group
which was very beneficial for us.
Considering the events described in the play and events in your country’s
recent history, how are you finding this process? Difficult or cathartic or
both?
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The Investigation
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Personally, I hate the word cathartic. It is not therapy that I am looking for
in doing this project. When I act I am able to express my frustration at
passivity and my contemporaries. That it takes so long for us to realise that
these subjects concern us. It is important not only to remember things, but
also to act. We can never talk enough about the genocide. I will always talk
about it – always denounce it all my life. It’s not to relieve pain that I
talk about it, it is to motivate people to confront the subject. It is perhaps
in taking such actions that I find solace. It is not enough to just talk – we
need to act. For me as an actor, my words are my weapon – they allow me to
provoke action.
What would you like the Young Vic audiences to take away from this show? Can
we offer anything more than empathy and tears?
For me, I invite people to reflect, but I’m not asking for miracles. Just for
them to reflect on their actions, and position and be aware of how this
impacts on the world; for them to be sensitive to others, not just be
indifferent, and to have a diligent eye on what is happening around them that
can lead to murder and violence - to make people less passive and more
conscious of their surroundings.
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14. THE GENOCIDE IN RWANDA
What follows are excerpts taken from a case study of the Rwandan genocide
written in 2002 by Gendercide, a not-for-profit organisation seeking to raise
awareness of gender selective mass killings.
Summary
The genocide in the tiny Central African country of Rwanda was one of the most
intensive killing campaigns – possibly the most intensive – in human history.
Few people realize, however, that the genocide included a marked gendercidal
component; it was predominantly or overwhelmingly Tutsi and moderate Hutu
males who were targeted by the perpetrators of the mass slaughter. The
gendercidal pattern was also evident in the reprisal killings carried out by
the Tutsi-led RPF guerrillas during and after the holocaust.
The background
The roots of Rwanda's genocide lie in its colonial experience. First occupied
and colonized by the Germans (1894-1916), during World War I the country was
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taken over by the Belgians, who ruled until independence in 1962. Utilizing
the classic strategy of "divide and rule," the Belgians granted preferential
status to the Tutsi minority (constituting somewhere between 8 and 14 percent
of the population at the time of the 1994 genocide). In pre-colonial Rwanda,
the Tutsis had dominated the small Rwandan aristocracy, but ethnic divisions
between them and the majority Hutus (at least 85 percent of the population in
1999) were always fluid, and the two populations cannot be considered distinct
"tribes."
Whatever communal cleavages existed were sharply heightened by Belgian
colonial policy. As Gérard Prunier notes [in his essay “Rwanda Struggles to
Recover from Genocide], "Using physical characteristics as a guide – the Tutsi
were generally tall, thin, and more 'European' in their appearance than the
shorter, stockier Hutu – the colonizers decided that the Tutsi and the Hutu
were two different races. According to the racial theories of the late 19th
and early 20th centuries, the Tutsi, with their more 'European' appearance,
were deemed the 'master race'" It was also the Belgians who (in 1933)
instituted the identity-card system that designated every Rwandan as Hutu,
Tutsi, or Twa (the last of these is an aboriginal group that in 1990 comprised
about 1 percent of the Rwandan population). The identity cards were retained
into the post-independence era, and provided crucial assistance to the
architects of genocide as they sought to isolate their Tutsi victims.
As Africa moved towards decolonization after World War II, it was the bettereducated and more prosperous Tutsis who led the struggle for independence.
Accordingly, the Belgians switched their allegiance to the Hutus. Vengeful
Hutu elements murdered about 15,000 Tutsis between 1959 and 1962, and more
than 100,000 Tutsis fled to neighbouring countries, notably Uganda and
Burundi. Tutsis remaining in Rwanda were stripped of much of their wealth and
status under the regime of Juvénal Habyarimana, installed in 1973. An
estimated one million Tutsis fled the country. After 1986, Tutsis in Uganda
formed a guerrilla organization, the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF), which
aimed to invade Rwanda and overthrow the Habyarimana regime.
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In 1990, the RPF launched its invasion, occupying zones in the northeast of
Rwanda. In August 1993, Habyarimana finally accepted an internationallymediated peace treaty which granted the RPF a share of political power and a
military presence in the capital, Kigali. "But Hutu extremists in
[Habyarimana's] government did not accept the peace agreement," writes
Prunier. "Some of these extremists, who were high-level government officials
and military personnel, had begun devising their own solution to the 'Tutsi
problem' as early as 1992. Many of those involved in planning the 1994
genocide saw themselves as patriots, defending their country against outside
aggression. Moderate Hutus who supported peace with the RPF also became their
targets."
Genocide
On 6th April, 1994, President Habyarimana's plane was shot down as it
approached Kigali airport. Responsibility for the assassination has never been
confirmed, but the speed with which the genocide was subsequently launched
strongly suggests that the Hutu extremists had decided to rid themselves of
their accommodationist president, and implement a "final solution" to the
Tutsi "problem" in Rwanda.
Within 24 hours of Habyarimana's jet being downed, roadblocks sprang up around
Kigali, manned by the so-called interahamwe militia [meaning "those who attack
together"]. Tutsis were separated from Hutus and hacked to death with machetes
at the roadside (although many taller Hutus were presumed to be Tutsis and
were also killed). Meanwhile, death-squads working from carefully-prepared
lists went from neighbourhood to neighbourhood in Kigali. They murdered not
only Tutsis but moderate Hutus, including the prime minister, Agathe
Uwilingiyimana. With breathtaking rapidity, the genocide expanded from Kigali
to the countryside. Government radio encouraged Tutsis to congregate at
churches, schools, and stadiums, pledging that these would serve as places of
refuge. Thus concentrated, the helpless civilians could be more easily
targeted -- although many miraculously managed to resist with only sticks and
stones for days or even weeks, until the forces of the Rwandan army and
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presidential guard were brought in to exterminate them with machine-guns and
grenades. By 21st April – that is, in just two weeks – perhaps a quarter of a
million Tutsis and moderate Hutus had been slaughtered. Together with the mass
murder of Soviet prisoners-of-war during World War II, it was the most
concentrated act of genocide in human history.
Reprisal killings of Hutus
As soon as the genocide broke out, the Tutsi-led RPF launched a concerted
drive on Kigali, crushing Rwandan government resistance and bringing a halt to
the genocide in successive areas of the country. RPF forces based in Kigali
also took up arms, and succeeded in protecting a large number of residents
from the holocaust. On 4th July, 1994, Kigali fell to the RPF, and the
genocide and war finally came to an end on 18th July. There followed a massive
flight of Hutus to neighboring countries, notably to refugee camps in Zaire,
as well as large-scale reprisals against Hutus who were alleged to have
participated in the holocaust. Most of these reprisal killings also had strong
genocidal overtones.
How many died?
In February 2002, the Rwandan government released the results of the first
major census that sought to establish the number of people killed in the
genocide and during its prelude period (1990-94). It found that 1,074,017
people – approximately one-seventh of the total population -- were murdered,
with Tutsis accounting for 94 percent of the victims. The proportion of males
among those killed can only be guessed at, but was probably in the vicinity of
75 or 80 percent.
The aftermath
In the wake of the holocaust, the UN established the International Criminal
Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), based in Arusha, Tanzania. In September 1998, the
Tribunal issued its first conviction on charges of genocide, against the
former mayor of the Rwandan town of Taba, Jean-Paul Akayesu. A day later, the
ICTR sentenced the former Hutu prime minister, Jean Kambanda, to life in
prison; he had pled guilty to "genocide, conspiracy to commit genocide, direct
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and public incitement to commit genocide, complicity in genocide and two
charges of crimes against humanity."
A total of thirty-two other Rwandan Hutu officials are currently awaiting
trial. However, according to the The New York Times, "after five years, the
Tribunal's accomplishments are still often overshadowed by its failures. Its
operations are slow, unwieldy, and at the worst of times unprofessional, and
its own limited mandate conspires with international indifference to undermine
its core message." In Rwanda itself, some 120,000 people were jailed on
allegations of participation in the genocide, and thousands died in the brutal
and unsanitary conditions of the jails. As of April 2000, some 2,500 people
had been tried, with about 300 of them receiving death sentences.
The scars of the genocide and subsequent reprisals will remain with Rwandans
for generations, and may yet provoke another round of mass killing. [As]
Prunier writes: "Rwanda's economy remains badly damaged, with little hope of a
quick recovery. There are several reasons for this, including the lack of
roads, bridges, and telephone lines. Education is also suffering due to a
shortage of schools, educational materials, and teachers, many of whom died in
the genocide. ... Many Tutsis are increasingly convinced that the only way to
ensure their survival is to repress the Hutus. Many Hutus believe they have
been proclaimed guilty by association and that no one cares about their
sufferings under the current Tutsi-led government. Extremists on both sides
retain the belief that the only solution is the annihilation of the other.
These groups are preparing for a future struggle, one that could include
another wave of mass slaughter."
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15. TESTIMONIES FROM THE RWANDAN GENOCIDE
In April 2004, Panorama broadcasted a documentary called The Killers to mark
the 10th anniversary of the Rwandan genocide. What follows are excerpts of
interviews from two people who were present at the Nyarubuye massacre: one as
a victim, the other as a killer. Today those who committed acts of genocide
are still living along side the families of those who will killed.
Flora Mukampore
In 1994 in the village of Nyarubuye, Rwanda, the Hutu majority went on a
killing spree in the local church, slaughtering neighbours and friends. Flora
Mukampore lost 17 members of her family and saw her neighbour doing the
killing. This is her story. Gitera Rwamuhuzi is one of those who took part in
the massacre. His story follows.
We used to go to church with them and they taught us together that committing
murder is a sin and God punishes those who kill. We thought that no one would
dare come to attack us at the church because the church is a holy place. [When
the killers arrived] our men were ready to fight, even though they didn't have
any weapons, so they died standing. You would not think that they were all
going to get killed because they were very many. We did not think they would
get killed. My neighbour Gitera was there. Imagine someone leaving their home,
knowing the possible victim's name and their children's names. They all killed
their neighbours' wives and children.
All the people they were cutting fell on me because I was near the door. I had
too much hair but it all was washed with blood. My body had been drenched in
blood and it was getting dry on me so killers thought I had been cut all over.
They thought I was dead. I lay down on one side with only one eye open. I
could hear a man come toward me and I guess he saw me breathe. He hit me on my
head saying: "Isn't this thing still alive?" Immediately I heard my entire
body say "whaa". Something in my head changed forever. Everything stopped.
Afterwards, when the cold wind blew, I woke up. But I did not realise that
there were bodies around me. I did not remember what had happened. I just
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thought they were normal people and so I slept among them like we had slept
before the killers came.
Later I heard [a] girl say: "She is rotten. It's all over for her. Does she
look human to you?" Then I realised that all the people around me had decayed.
When they sat me up I realised there were maggots and I started removing them
off myself. Can you imagine living with the dead? At some point God helped me
and made me unconscious because if I wasn't, there is a possibility that I
would have committed suicide. But, I wasn't conscious and anyway killing
oneself needs energy. Can you imagine? People died on the 15 April and I lived
among them until the 15 May.
Gitera Rwamuhuzi
Before the genocide, life was normal. For us, as long as there was a harvest
good enough to save us from buying food from the market, I would say that we
were happy. I heard that Tutsis were regarded as superior towards Hutus. For
example a Hutu could only change his social status by serving in a Tutsi's
household. The rest were low-class Hutus. Because the RPF were blamed for the
death of President Habyarimana, we thought that they had started with the
high-ranking officials and that they were going to end up doing the same to us
ordinary people. We thought that if they had managed to kill the head of
state, how were ordinary people supposed to survive?
On the morning of 15 April 1994, each one of us woke up knowing what to do and
where to go because we had made a plan the previous night. In the morning we
woke up and started walking towards the church. After selecting the people who
could use guns and grenades, they armed them and said we should surround the
church. There were so many of us we were treading on each others' heels.
People who had grenades detonated them. The Tutsis started screaming for help.
As they were screaming, those who had guns started to shoot inside. They
screamed saying that we are dying, help us, but the soldiers continued
shooting. I entered and when I met a man I hit him with a club and he died.
You would say why not two, three or four but I couldn't kill two or three
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because those that entered outnumbered those inside. Some people did not even
find someone to kill because there were more killers than victims.
When we moved in, it was as if we were competing over the killing. We entered
and each one of us began killing their own. Each person who we cut looked like
they had been hit by the grenades. They looked traumatised. They looked like
their hearts had been taken away. No one was asking for forgiveness. They
looked like they had been killed already. Those you cut were just not saying
anything. They were scared that no one said anything. They must have been
traumatized. Apart from breathing you could see that they had no life in them.
They looked like their hearts had been taken away. I saw people whose hands
had been amputated, those with no legs, and others with no heads. I saw
everything. Especially seeing people rolling around and screaming in agony,
with no arms, no legs. People died in very bad conditions. It was as if we
were taken over by Satan. We were taken over by Satan. When Satan is using
you, you lose your mind. We were not ourselves. Beginning with me, I don't
think I was normal. You wouldn't be normal if you start butchering people for
no reason. We had been attacked by the devil. Even when I dream my body
changes in a way I cannot explain. These people were my neighbours. The
picture of their deaths may never leave me. Everything else I can get out of
my head but that picture never leaves.’
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16. RESOURCES
Books
An Introduction to the Works of Peter Weiss by Olaf Berwald, Boydell & Brewer,
Columbia, MD, 2003
Accounting for the Horror: Post-Genocide Debates in Rwanda by Nigel
Eltringham, Pluto Press, London, 2004
Dictionary of the Theatre, eds. Jonathan Law, David Pickering, Richard Helfer,
Penguin Books, London 2004
Essays
The Political Aesthetics of Holocaust Literature: Peter Weiss's The
Investigation and Its Critics
by Robert Cohen, History and Memory, Volume 10, Number 2, 1998, pages 43-68.
Online Resources
http://language.home.sprynet.com/theatdex/weiss2.htm
Alexander Gross’ preface to his new translation of The Investigation
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Weiss
General introduction to the works of Peter Weiss
http://www.complete-review.com/reviews/weissp/collect2.htm
Another good overview of Weiss’ works.
http://writing.upenn.edu/~afilreis/Holocaust/auschwitz.html
Andrew Nagorski’s article on Auschwitz on the 50th anniversary of its
liberation.
http://www.isg-iags.org/definitions/def_genocide.html
Definitions of ‘genocide’ from the Institute for the Study of Genocide and the
International Association of Genocide Scholars
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/panorama/3582011.stm
Testimony from Rwandan genocide survivors taken from the 2004 BBC Panorama
programme The Killers
http://www.amrep.org/marat/weiss.html
Helen Shaw’s essay ‘Fallen Between Two Stools’ on the wider impact of the work
of Peter Weiss
www.aegistrust.org
Nottingham-based, international charity which works with survivors of genocide
to educate and lobby for genocide prevention
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http://www.hmd.org.uk/
UK charity which campaigns for the remembrance of the Nazi holocaust,
culminating in the Holocaust Memorial Day on January 27th every year
http://urwintore.wordpress.com/
Urwintore’s blogspot
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