A Message from Arnold Mittelman After a career in not-for-profit and commercial theater spanning more than 40 years I was honored in 2007 to found the National Jewish Theater / Foundation and in 2010 to assume leadership of its Holocaust Theater International...
Rechnitz [Der Würgeengel]
Author(s): Elfriede Jelinek
Responds to the uncovering of the orgiastic massacre of 180 Jews during a party thrown by Countess Thyssen Batthyany at Rechnitz Castle in Austria in March 1945. The play is a modern “text for speaking” written for performer/messengers who mix up the story with language play and haunting stage imagery, by Austrian Nobel Laureate Elfriede Jelinek.
Format: Drama
Cast Size:5 M or F
Snapshot
Original or Prominent Production:
October 2010, Jelinek’s Rechnitz (Der Würgeengel) stirred protests in Dusseldorf.
October 2010, Jelinek’s Rechnitz (Der Würgeengel) stirred protests in Dusseldorf.
Original Source Material: Based on the book The Thyssen Art Macabre, it tells of a party in 1945 at the castle of Margit Batthyany-Thyssen in Rechnitz, during which 180 Jews were shot—all in fun, as if it were target practice.
Nationality of Author: Austrian
Original Language: German
Publisher:
Experience(s) Chronicled: Perpetrators, Bystanders and Collaborators
HTC Insights
Views, reference and research of interest.
Lifetime Achievement Award
The National Jewish Theater Foundation presented its 2024 Lifetime Achievement Award to Alfred Uhry. The presentation took place as part of the Lincoln Center Library event on January 27th 2025 in commemoration of International Holocaust Remembrance Day on the 80th Anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz
Lifetime Achievement Award
On September 30, 2024, French playwright, Mr. Jean Claude Grumberg received the Lifetime Achievement Award. It was presented by NJTF HTII President, Arnold Mittelman with Dominique Trimbur, PhD-Manager for the History of Anti-Semitism and the Holocaust, Teaching of the Holocaust of Fondation Pour La Memoir de la Shoah Project.
