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The Deputy

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For the 1959 NBC western series, see The Deputy (TV series).
Kurt Gerstein, an official at the "Institute of Hygiene" of the Waffen-SS, witnessed mass murders in the Nazi extermination camps Belzec and Treblinka. He contacted the Swedish diplomat Göran von Otter as well as officials of the Roman Catholic Church in order to inform the international public about the Holocaust.

The Deputy, a Christian tragedy (German: Der Stellvertreter. Ein christliches Trauerspiel), also known as The Representative, is a controversial 1963 play by Rolf Hochhuth which indicts Pope Pius XII for his failure to take action or speak out against The Holocaust. It has been translated into more than twenty languages.[1] The play has been dismissed by some as the product of KGB disinformation campaign to discredit the anti-communist Pope.

An English translation by Richard and Clara Winston of the complete text was published as The Deputy: A Play, by Grove Press in 1964. A letter from Albert Schweitzer to Hochhuth's German publisher serves as the foreword to the Grove edition.

Production history

The play was first performed at West Berlin's “Freie Volksbühne” (Free People's Theater) on February 20, 1963 under the direction of Erwin Piscator.[2] Within the same year, the play was produced at additional theatres in West Germany, Sweden, Switzerland, Great Britain, Denmark, Finland and France.

The play received its first English production in London by the Royal Shakespeare Company at the Aldwych Theatre in September 1963. It was directed by Clifford Williams with Alan Webb/Eric Porter as Pius XII, Alec McCowen as Father Fontana, and Ian Richardson.

A condensed version prepared by American poet Jerome Rothenberg opened on Broadway on February 26, 1964 at the Brooks Atkinson Theatre with Emlyn Williams as Pius XII and Jeremy Brett as Father Fontana. The producer Herman Shumlin had offered to release any actors who were troubled by the controversy surrounding the play. However, all of the actors remained with the production. The play ran for 316 performances. Herman Shumlin received the 1964 Tony Award as the “Best Producer (Dramatic)” for his Broadway production of The Deputy.

Since author Rolf Hochhuth had originally prohibited a production of his play in Eastern European theatres out of apprehension that Eastern European governments could exploit the play for a striking anti-Catholic interpretation,[3] the play was first produced in Eastern Europe almost three years after its premiere at the National Theatre in Belgrade in Yugoslavia in January 1966 and at the National Theatre in Bratislava in Czechoslovakia on February 12, 1966. The first production in East Germany took place on February 20, 1966 at Greifswald Theatre.[4]

The Deputy has been produced in more than 80 cities worldwide since.[5] In the English-speaking world, the play has since been revived by the Citizens Theatre, Glasgow in 1986 and at the Finborough Theatre, London, in August 2006.

Historical models

Maximilian Kolbe was imprisoned in 1941 and deported to Auschwitz where he entered the hunger block instead of a fellow prisoner (sculpture in Wiślica).

Rolf Hochhuth has referred to several historical models for the figures of his play. Among these persons are Pater Maximilian Kolbe (prisoner Nr. 16670 in Auschwitz) who sacrificed himself for the Catholic family man Franciszek Gajowniczek. Prelate Bernhard Lichtenberg, the dome provost of St. Hedwig in Berlin was imprisoned because he included Jews in his prayers and asked the Gestapo for sharing the fate of the Jews in the east. Lichtenberg died on the transport to Dachau. Kurt Gerstein, an official at the "Institute of Hygiene" of the Waffen-SS, tried to inform the international public about the extermination camps. After the Second World War he produced the "Gerstein Report" that was used at the Nuremberg Trials.

Plot

Act I

The play opens with a discussion between Gerstein and the Papal Nuncio of Berlin over whether Pope Pius XII should have abrogated the Reichskonkordat to protest the actions of the Nazis. Father Riccardo Fontana, the priest protagonist, and Gerstein meet for the first time.

A number of German aristocrats, industrialists, and government officials (including Adolf Eichmann) spend an evening in an underground bowling alley. Despite the commonplace setting the scene is rather macabre: conversations alternate between lighthearted pleasantries and equally dismissive discussions of the treatment of Jews. An icy Catholic industrialist—played by the same actor as Pius—defends his use of slave labor.

The final scene ends with Riccardo meeting Gerstein at his apartment; at the latter's urging, he agrees to trade clothes and documents with a Jew, Jacobson, Gerstein has been hiding in order to help him escape.

Act II

Act II repeatedly attempts to drive home the point that Hitler feared Pius more than any of his contemporaries and that Pius's commercial interests preclude him from condemning Hitler.

One of the Cardinals argues that the Nazis are the last bulwark that remains against Soviet domination of Europe.

Act III

As the Jews are rounded up for deportations "under the Pope's windows," Riccardo declares "doing nothing is as bad as taking part [...] God can forgive a hangman for such work, but not a priest, not the Pope!"[6] and a German officer comments that the Pope has given "friendly audiences to thousands of members of the German army.[7] Riccardo first voices his idea to follow the example of Bernhard Lichtenberg and to follow the Jews to the death camps in the East, and possibly to share in their fate.

Act IV

Pius, with a "cold, smiling face," "aristocratic coldness," and an "icy glint" in his eyes[8] voices his concerns about the Vatican's financial assets and the Allied bombing of factories in Italy. Pius verbally reiterates his commitment to help the Jews but states that he must keep silent "'ad maioram mala vitanda" (to avoid greater evil).[9] When angrily questioned by Riccardo, Pius pontificates on the geopolitical importance of a strong Germany vis-a-vis the Soviet threat.[10] Ultimately, Riccardo shames the Pope into dictating a statement for public release; however, its wording is so vague that all are confident it will be ignored by the Germans.

Act V

Riccardo dons the yellow star and joins deportees to die at Auschwitz, where the rest of the act takes place. Gerstein appears at the camp in an unsanctioned attempt to rescue him. Unfortunately in the end they are found out, Riccardo shot, and Gerstein taken into custody.

The play ends with a quotation from German ambassador Weizsäcker:

"Since further action on the Jewish problem is probably not to be expected here in Rome, it may be assumed that this question, so troublesome to German-Vatican relations, has been disposed of."[11]

Reception

See also: Seat 12

The premiere of Rolf Hochhuth's “Christian tragedy” in West Berlin's “Theater am Kurfürstendamm” (temporary home of the “Freie Volksbühne Berlin”) on February 20, 1963 caused the largest and most extensive theatre controversy in postwar Germany. The theatre production led to international diplomatic complications. Further productions of Hochhuth's play brought about conflicts and turmoil in several European cities.[12] Hannah Arendt also discusses the play (and public reaction to it) in her 1964 essay "The Deputy: Guilt by Silence?".

Michael Phayer notes that during the Second Vatican Council of the Roman Catholic Church a direct reference was made by Bishop Josef Stangl to Hochhuth's play when he declared to the council: "If we speak in the name of God, in the name of Jesus Christ, as the deputies of the Lord, then our message must be [a clear] 'Yes, Yes! [or] 'No, no' - the truth, not tactics".[13] His "moving address" made a significant contribution "to reversing the church's anti-semitism" - see Nostra Aetate[14]

It has been said that it was Bishop Alois Hudal who provided Rolf Hochhuth with the image of the "heartless, money-grasping pontiff".[15] Hudal has been described as "the most notorious pro-Nazi bishop in the entire Catholic Church". He was appointed to a Pontifical commision where he assisted Nazi war criminals like Adolf Eichmann, Josef Mengele, Franz Stangl, Eduard Roschmann, and many others to escape justice. After he became "a little too public" with these activities he was sidelined by Pope Pius and, according Hansjakob Stelhe, "took his revenge" by providing Hochhuth with his portrait of Pius.[16]

Film adaptation

The worldwide rights for a film adaption were sold for 300.000 Deutsche Mark in early 1963 to the French producer Georges de Beauregard.[17] The Deputy was eventually made as the film Amen. by the Greek-born French filmmaker Costa Gavras.

Literature

  • Hannah Arendt: Responsibility and Judgment. New York: Schocken 2003. ISBN 0-8052-1162-4 (contains Arendt's 1964 essays The Deputy: Guilt by Silence? and Personal Responsibility Under Dictatorship)
  • Emanuela Barasch-Rubinstein: The devil, the saints, and the church: reading Hochhuth's The Deputy. New York: Peter Lang 2004.
  • Eric Bentley: The storm over The Deputy. New York: Grove Press 1964.
  • Lucinda Jane Rennison: Rolf Hochhuth's interpretation of history, and its effect on the content, form and reception of his dramatic work. Durham: University of Durham 1991.
  • Margaret E. Ward: Rolf Hochhuth. Boston: Twayne Publishers 1977.

References

  1. ^ Kenneth D. Whitehead: The Pope Pius XII Controversy. A Review-Article. From The Political Science Reviewer, Volume XXXI, 2002. Online at: www.catholicleague.org, [1]
  2. ^ John Willett: The theatre of Erwin Piscator: half a century of politics in the theatre. London: Taylor & Francis, 1978, p. 177 et seq.
  3. ^ Hetty Burgers: Die “Stellvertreter”-Rezeption in der DDR. Zur Rezeption der einen deutschen Literatur im anderen Deutschland. In: Ideologie und Literatur(wissenschaft). Hrsg. von Jos Hoogeveen und Hans Würzner. Amsterdam: Rodopi 1986, p. 180.
  4. ^ Hetty Burgers: Die “Stellvertreter”-Rezeption in der DDR. Zur Rezeption der einen deutschen Literatur im anderen Deutschland. In: Ideologie und Literatur(wissenschaft). Hrsg. von Jos Hoogeveen und Hans Würzner. Amsterdam: Rodopi 1986, p. 189.
  5. ^ Harenberg Schauspielführer. Die ganze Welt des Theaters: 265 Autoren mit mehr als 750 Werken. Dortmund: Harenberg 1997. P. 486.
  6. ^ p. 155
  7. ^ p. 181
  8. ^ p. 195
  9. ^ p. 200
  10. ^ p. 205
  11. ^ p. 284
  12. ^ Vietnam in Basel. In: Der Spiegel, No. 40, October 2, 1963, p. 84-88.
  13. ^ The Catholic Church and the Holocaust, 1930-1965, Michael Phayer, p. 211, Indiana University Press, 2000, ISBN 0-253-21471-8
  14. ^ The Catholic Church and the Holocaust, 1930-1965, Michael Phayer, p. 212, Indiana University Press, 2000, ISBN 0-253-21471-8
  15. ^ The Catholic Church and the Holocaust, 1930-1965, Michael Phayer, p. 211, Indiana University Press, 2000, ISBN 0-253-21471-8, see also Hansjakob Stehle, Geheimdiplomatie im Vatikan, 203
  16. ^ Pius XII, The Holocaust and the Cold War, Michael Phayer, p.203-7, Indiana University Press, 2008, ISBN 978-0-253-34930-9
  17. ^ Anonymous: Ein Kampf mit Rom. In: Der Spiegel, No. 17, 24th April, 1963, P. 78–89.


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