Treffen junge Szene
Dance
Die Ermittlung – nach Peter Weiss
Oberstufentheatergruppe des Dientzenhofer-Gymnasiums
Bamberg, Bayern
Die Ermittlung – nach Peter Weiss © Marc Eichhorn
Peter Weiss’s The Investigation (1965) is based on the transcripts of the first Frankfurt Auschwitz trial. Across eleven cantos, the play traces the victims’ journey from the arrival ramp to the crematoria. This production of the first canto renders the mechanisms of violence, guilt and self-exoneration tangible through choral and physical language — and asks how hope can remain possible.
Production and Ensemble
Peter Weiss’s play The Investigation, first published in 1965, is based on the first Frankfurt Auschwitz trial, which took place between 1963 and 1965. Weiss attended the proceedings as an observer and developed the play from the trial transcripts. The result is a sequence of eleven cantos—so called because the language of the transcripts has been shaped into a rhythmic, almost musical form. Together, they symbolically trace the victims’ journey from the arrival ramp to the crematoria.
In each of the eleven cantos, the defendants, witnesses and prosecutors – the latter anonymised by Peter Weiss – confront one another. The text remains closely faithful to the historical sources. Weiss deliberately refrains from imposing an interpretative perspective, instead limiting himself to selecting, structuring and rhythmising the documentary material. This rhythmic form does not aestheticise the brutality of the testimony; rather, it lays it bare.
Our production focuses on the first canto – the Canto of the Ramp. It takes the form of a choreographic, text-reduced and choral interpretation. Carefully selected passages from the original text provide orientation around central themes such as accusation, guilt and denial. In doing so, the performance exposes mechanisms of self-exoneration and the relativisation of individual responsibility, while also asking where hope might still be found today in the face of these events.
The ensemble worked together for more than eighteen months, meeting primarily at weekends to rehearse. Finding the right tone and the right artistic language for this material became an essential part of the creative process. Ultimately, creating a work together that speaks to something of enduring relevance proved to be a deeply significant experience for all involved.
Jury Statement by Mila Lipicar
Ten students from an upper secondary school theatre group have engaged deeply with the crimes of the National Socialist regime. With remarkable initiative and commitment, they turned to Peter Weiss’s documentary play The Investigation, which centres on the first Frankfurt Auschwitz trial. At its heart are enduring questions: How was Auschwitz possible? Who knew? And who bears responsibility?
The students’ production focuses on the first canto – the Canto of the Ramp. Rather than aiming for a verbatim staging of the text, they adopt a highly physical approach, combining a reduced use of language with a powerful movement vocabulary. Dance and choreography become the means through which recurring themes such as guilt, responsibility, denial and accusation are explored and critically examined. With striking stage presence, the performers bring this demanding material to life through sustained eye contact, precise physical imagery and intensely charged scenes that invite the audience to witness, endure and confront the questions the work raises. Particularly compelling is the interplay between language and movement. Where words reach their limits, the body takes over, allowing dance to become an expression of emotion, memory and thought. Against the backdrop of a subject of profound historical significance – and one that has lost none of its urgency in light of current political developments—this approach proves especially powerful.
The production is further supported by a deliberately restrained visual language in both set and costume design. A large black stone and a series of spotlights structure the performance space. Throughout the piece, the plinth-like object is repeatedly repositioned, taking on different meanings: at times marking the beginning of a new scene, at others becoming a symbol of power, or of the complex grey areas between guilt and innocence. The performers wear matching white costumes, evoking the image of having a “clean conscience” and suggesting ideas of moral integrity. Yet black markings running from the hairline to the jaw disrupt this apparent clarity. They create a distance between performer and role, opening up a tension between personal identity and the characters represented on stage.
Dear dancers, thank you for your courage, your profound engagement with this important subject, and your exceptional commitment. Your work demonstrates the rich creative possibilities that emerge at the intersection of dance and theatre, and the remarkable potential that lies in bringing these two art forms together within the context of schools.
With and by
Pierre Azar, Gwen Bauer, Sophie Goppert, Jonathan Hau, Luisa Ott, Dominik Prade, Christa Röscher, Bastian Seelmann, Ivan Taran, Vincent Ummenhofer, Adrian Weigel, Tymofi Zahkvataiev
Philip Hemmer, Marek Rodatos – technical support
Marc Eichhorn, Jasmin Casimiro Ribeiro, Dominik Stoecker – directors