September 1, 2016
The Woman at His Side
Careers, Crimes, and Female Complicity under National Socialism

A Staged Reading by Inga Dietrich, Joanne Gläsel, and Sabine Werner

In their staged reading, the three actresses from Berlin, Inga Dietrich, Joanne Gläsel, and Sabine Werner, illuminate a hitherto underexplored chapter in the history of National Socialism. Women as perpetrators. Innocent in the eyes of the law. What was the exact nature of their crimes? The performance takes a subtle approach to this historical and moral grey area: using illuminating passages from original documents coupled with a minimalist aesthetic. The biographies of the individual women, their views and opinions about National Socialism during and after the war, together with their descriptions of the internal structure of the SS, form the basis of the performance.

Click here for more information (in German).

September 2, 2016
Film Screening and Keynote Milo Rau

Hate Radio (dir. Milo Rau, 2014)
The film Hate Radio, based on Milo Rau’s performance piece of the same name, explores the role of Radio-Télévision Libre des Mille Collines (RTLM) as an instrument of the Rwandan genocide. The program of this popular station consisted of pop music, sports coverage, political communiqués, and hate-filled calls to murder.

The project Hate Radio reconstructs an RTLM broadcast, based on documents and witness statements, which were selected and arranged by the author and director Milo Rau. The broadcast is performed in a replica of the original radio studio. Several of the actors playing the roles of the radio broadcasters are themselves survivors of the genocide in Rwanda.

During the performance, the walls of the radio studio turn into projection surfaces for an intricate video installation with the selected stories of former perpetrators and victims. Here, the audience is confronted with the consequences of racist mind-sets. In doing so, Hate Radio demands that audience members be observers within the inner circle, at the centre of racist thought.

Click here for more information about Hate Radio.

Milo Rau, “Violence, Research, Realism: An Insight Into Some Works of the IIPM”

The International Institute of Political Murder (IIPM) was founded by director and author Milo Rau in 2007 for the creation and international utilisation of his theatre productions, actions, and films. It is based in Switzerland and Germany. Since its founding, IIPM has focused on the multimedia treatment of historical and sociopolitical conflicts.

Click here for a video recording of the keynote (apologies for the poor sound quality!).

Click here for the homepage of the IIPM.