The Deputy [Der Stellvertreter]

Author(s):

A German officer, stationed in a death camp, comes to Rome to try to convince Pope Pius XII to speak out and act against the destruction of European Jewry. He is aided in his quest by a young priest. The play presents scenes of Jews in hiding in monastaries, as well the hunting down of Jews by the Nazis in Rome. Pope Pius XII is finally presented and refuses to intervene. The priest who has sided with the German joins the Jews being shipped to the death camps. Hochhuth argued that his drama was based on historical documents.
Format: Docudrama
Cast Size: 22M/2F

Snapshot

Notes:

A 2002 film of this play called Amen was directed by Costa-Gavras.
For additional reading, see Gene A. Plunka, Holocaust Drama: The Theater of Atrocity, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2009, pp. 170–188.

Original or Prominent Production: First performed in Berlin , 1963, under the direction of Erwin Piscator. First English production in London by the Royal Shakespeare Company at the Aldwych Theatre in 1963, translation by Robert David MacDonald. At the Citizens Theatre, Glasgow, 1986. The Finborough Theatre, London, 2006
Nationality of Author:
Original Language: German
English Language Translator: Richard and Clara Winston/ Jerome Rothenberg
Publisher:

Grove Press, 1964; Samuel French, NY, 1965

Production Rights Holder:

Samuel French

Experience(s) Chronicled: | | |

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