This was the most terrifying thing I have ever read.Peter Weiss brings us one of the most revealing and simultaneously unbiased views of the Auschwitz extermination camp. This play, created with actual words spoken during the Frankfurt War Crimes trials, mentions horrific happenings in the camp with over a million of confirmed killings. Your blood will literally chill in your veins.
Horrible but unforgettable, it ends on an extremely powerful, and possibly the most scary note: the guards were This was the most terrifying thing I have ever read.Peter Weiss brings us one of the most revealing and simultaneously unbiased views of the Auschwitz extermination camp. This play, created with actual words spoken during the Frankfurt War Crimes trials, mentions horrific happenings in the camp with over a million of confirmed killings.
Your blood will literally chill in your veins. Horrible but unforgettable, it ends on an extremely powerful, and possibly the most scary note: the guards were just doing what they were told.I truly have no words. Taking breaks while reading this was honestly necessary, otherwise I would have thrown up or just rolled up in a ball and cried (which I also did).
I don't feel like it's appropriate to say I 'enjoyed' this, because this play is one of those things which you can't enjoy but you will remember, quite possibly until the day you die.Having said that I am so grateful that I have read it. An eye-opener that this is, it honestly makes me want to do anything possible in order to not let any war happen ever. Definitely such an important book that EVERYONE should read. Peter Weiss’ play The Investigation details the lesser known “second Auschwitz trial” conducted in Frankfurt, Germany from 1963-1965. Unlike the “first,” famous Nuremberg Trials, the accused Nazi personnel in the Frankfurt court were tried under German federal law, not international law. Most of the accused had successfully re-integrated into German society.
Many founded successful businesses on the plunder from the camp.Weiss, inspired by Brechtian dramatic conventions, strips the trial down Peter Weiss’ play The Investigation details the lesser known “second Auschwitz trial” conducted in Frankfurt, Germany from 1963-1965. Unlike the “first,” famous Nuremberg Trials, the accused Nazi personnel in the Frankfurt court were tried under German federal law, not international law. Most of the accused had successfully re-integrated into German society.
Many founded successful businesses on the plunder from the camp.Weiss, inspired by Brechtian dramatic conventions, strips the trial down to its barest, most essential features. The play is composed of extracted testimony from witnesses and defendants, along with examination and cross-examination by prosecutors and the defense counsel. While the nine witness characters are amalgams of hundreds of individuals brought forth to testify to the atrocities perpetrated at Auschwitz, the 18 defendants are all named and allowed to speak for themselves without fictionalization.The play is dreadfully efficient in its aim of letting the facts speak for themselves without rhetorical manipulation or theatrical flair. The lines are sparse, delivered without punctuation or literary emphasis. The testimony of the unnamed witnesses achieve a kind of hypnotic dirge, often blending together into a flat, matter-of-fact horror. The numb dread of the witness testimony is only interrupted by the sickening rationalizations, deflections, and denials of the defendants and their defense counsel.In one of his final works, Theodor Adorno argued that it would have been more moral to summarily execute Nazi war criminals than put them on trial:“If the men charged with torturing, along with their overseers and with the high and mighty protectors of the overseers, had been shot on the spot, this would have been more moral than putting them on trial.
Once a judicial machinery must be mobilized against them, with codes of procedure, black robes, and understanding defense lawyers, justice-incapable in any case of imposing sanctions that would fit the crimes-is falsified already, compromised by the same principle on which the killers were acting.”I’ve always found this thought both alluring and troubling. I get the rage behind it, but to call that rage moral always seemed difficult to affirm. Reading The Investigation helped to clarify the point. It hinges on the qualification “more moral.” Shooting them in a ditch would not be moral, but it would be more moral than granting them a trial that they don’t deserve. It would have been more moral than the farce of allowing them to see the inside of a courtroom. What they did could not be adequately represented in any juridical context.
In one of the most shocking moments in the trial, it is revealed that a state prosecutor was sent to Auschwitz to investigate what was actually going on there. The prosecutor was tipped off when, after inspecting the amount of gold (composed of melted down fillings) leaving the camp, he realized that each piece had to contain the fillings of thousands of people. After surveying the camp, he charged a few underlings.
With larceny. For looting corpses. No other legal recourse was available. When asked why he didn’t tell any German authorities, he said they wouldn’t have believed it. When asked why he didn’t escape and tell the international community, he said he feared they would believe it-and annihilate the German people.
I think he would have agreed with Adorno’s judgment.There is something uniquely horrible about a defense attorney cross-examining a holocaust survivor in an attempt to characterize the victim (and all those who only left the camps in a plume of smoke) as complicit in their own extermination. It quickly becomes clear that, in addition to the well-known “just following orders” defense, another major line of defense rested on constructing a narrative that blamed the 3 million people murdered in Auschwitz for allowing themselves to be murdered. This repugnant line of defense notwithstanding, there’s something simply perverse about the perpetrators of these crimes being allowed to present themselves as sympathetic-even as victims themselves-in the presence of people that they refused to grant the smallest trace of humanity. Perhaps the most subtly obscene line in a play composed entirely of subtle obscenity is-”The Defendants Laugh”.
And they do so with some frequency.So the application of a legal apparatus to a group of men who systematically suspended it in order to murder 12 million people is hard to stomach. It feels unjust to indulge them in their testimony, to give them a platform to deny their crimes. In a particularly telling moment in the trial, Defendant 9 is worked into a position where he must admit to killing some people. The scene unfolds as follow:“Judge: That means at least 200 deadDefendant 9: It could have been 250 or 300I don’t know exactlyIt was an orderI couldn’t do anything about itWitness 8: Sanitary Officer Klehr Defendant 9was involved in the killingof at least 16,000 prisonersDefendant 9: That’s too mucheveryone has a breaking pointI’m supposed to have killed 16,000 peopleThere were only 16,000 in the entire campNo one would have been leftbut the military bandThe Defendants laugh”The denial (in 1963) of the scale of the atrocity.
The flippant rejection of being accused of killing 16,000 people. The laughter. Lie them stomach down on the ground and shoot them in the neck. Harrowing play about the Frankfurt Trials against the Nazis at Auschwitz that lasted from 1963-1965. The play takes place in a courtroom, and the play is written in such a bureaucratic way (almost all of the dialogue was taken verbatim, but Weiss cut out colorful language and metaphors, etc.
It is almost like a documentary) that it is even more scary. There are 9 witnesses in the play, but in reality there were hundreds - testimony is condensed from the hundreds into the 9. There are 18 Nazis on harrowing play about the Frankfurt Trials against the Nazis at Auschwitz that lasted from 1963-1965. The play takes place in a courtroom, and the play is written in such a bureaucratic way (almost all of the dialogue was taken verbatim, but Weiss cut out colorful language and metaphors, etc. It is almost like a documentary) that it is even more scary.
There are 9 witnesses in the play, but in reality there were hundreds - testimony is condensed from the hundreds into the 9. There are 18 Nazis on trial.
One of the things this book makes absolutely clear is how unsuitable our system of trials and criminal justice is for dealing with cases of trauma and systemic violence. The court system presumes innocence and requires proof of guilt beyond reasonable doubt. This proves to be difficult when the defense can deny and cast doubt on the specific logistical details of the accusations: “I wasn’t authorized to do that”; “you cannot fit that many people in that room;” “the chemicals weren’t Tremendous. One of the things this book makes absolutely clear is how unsuitable our system of trials and criminal justice is for dealing with cases of trauma and systemic violence. The court system presumes innocence and requires proof of guilt beyond reasonable doubt. This proves to be difficult when the defense can deny and cast doubt on the specific logistical details of the accusations: “I wasn’t authorized to do that”; “you cannot fit that many people in that room;” “the chemicals weren’t stored in that location,” etc. Note how these same tactics continue to be used today in sexual violence cases.Survivors can never get justice from trials set up in this fashion; they are merely forced to relive their trauma under the suspicion that everything they say is false.
A more just system in these cases would presume the guilt of the accused.This text is also useful to understand the rhetorical strategies used by perpetrators to deny histories of systematic violence. Deny involvement, admit some bad things happened but minimize the scope and the trauma experienced by survivors, attack all details in specific and hard to refute ways. These same strategies continue to be used today. See, eg, the current discussion in the United States about slavery. Play.I went to see the play many years ago, knowing only what it was about.
The staging was terrific, especially in the first part where the audience was part of the show, as the deported ones.Days after, I bought the book. It's cruel, powerful, real. The characters' words are from the post war trials, so no fiction. It's horrible, devastating and it hits you like a punch in the stomach - it's not just because of what happened in the concentration camps, but also because of the What.
Play.I went to see the play many years ago, knowing only what it was about. The staging was terrific, especially in the first part where the audience was part of the show, as the deported ones.Days after, I bought the book.
It's cruel, powerful, real. The characters' words are from the post war trials, so no fiction. It's horrible, devastating and it hits you like a punch in the stomach - it's not just because of what happened in the concentration camps, but also because of the questions about blame and how the people got involved in the huge process. This play not only shows you the horror, but asks questions to the audience and/or reader and they're not easy ones: if you were there, you'd have ended up as a prisoner or a guard?It's a truth that has to be spoken. I highly recommend this book (and to go see it at theatre, if you have the chance).
A sobering and compelling account of the atrocities committed at Auschwitz extermination camp. It is a verbatim drama, based on the mid-1960s Frankfurt trial of camp guards, doctors and other functionaries. Weiss carefully and with great skill edits the voluminous court records into a manageable dramatic size, arranging the material as 'An Oratorio in 11 Cantos'. The first Canto begins with the choosing of which prisoners in a transport were to live or die on the separation ramp, the final canto A sobering and compelling account of the atrocities committed at Auschwitz extermination camp.
It is a verbatim drama, based on the mid-1960s Frankfurt trial of camp guards, doctors and other functionaries. Weiss carefully and with great skill edits the voluminous court records into a manageable dramatic size, arranging the material as 'An Oratorio in 11 Cantos'. The first Canto begins with the choosing of which prisoners in a transport were to live or die on the separation ramp, the final canto ends in the Krematoria; in between, individual cantos deal with particular aspects of camp life - punishment block, execution wall, deadly injections of phenol, gassing; one canto deals with the murder of a specific young female prisoner, Lili Tofler. The evidence, and the callous, defensive reaction of the the defendants and their counsel, make for a compelling and, finally, shattering experience.The material is very finely arranged, and this contradicts the published book cover's claim that 'There is (.) no rearrangement of events for theatrical effect.' The cantos are arranged very carefully in order to create the most effective theatrical impact.
I don't know why this kind of claim to authenticity is made - having a finely tuned dramatic instinct overseeing the patterning and pacing of material hardly detracts from The Investigation as a work of art.Another thing which gave me pause was Weiss's decision never to mention the ethnicity of the prisoners in the camp - this is a play about Auschwitz in which the word 'Jew' is never uttered, let alone Roma or Pole. I read on wikipedia (not a trustworthy source, admittedly, but presumably this is the usual view of why Wiess isn't specific about the ethnicity of the victims) - 'As part of the goal of universalization, the word 'Jew' is not used in the entire play.' I don't quite trust this rationale - as the defendants are named and the 'universalization' is preserved, why this coyness about Jews? I suspect that there is a more than a tinge of a Frankfurt-school influenced socialist agenda here, with the author keen not merely to dramatize the trial but also to add fuel to the idea that a certain type of society (i.e.
Based on capital) creates the conditions for Auschwitz, at the same time as preserving the usual Marxist leeriness towards 'the Jewish question'.Nevertheless, this is one of the most important pieces of postwar European drama, as well as being one of the first major verbatim works, a form which by the millennium had become increasingly popular. First off, I didn't realize this was the same guy who wrote Marat/Sade. Kind of cool.This book made me think.
It was horrible and graphic, and it was very hard to read at times, but it also provoked a lot of introspection. Over and over again, the Accused would say 'I had to do this' or 'It was my duty.' All I could think was 'If I was told to do that, I would say no. No matter what, I would say no.'
But then I read where Witnesses who worked in administration thought that Boger or some First off, I didn't realize this was the same guy who wrote Marat/Sade. Kind of cool.This book made me think. It was horrible and graphic, and it was very hard to read at times, but it also provoked a lot of introspection.
Over and over again, the Accused would say 'I had to do this' or 'It was my duty.' All I could think was 'If I was told to do that, I would say no. No matter what, I would say no.' But then I read where Witnesses who worked in administration thought that Boger or some of the other Accused were nice to them and treated them well. These people who tortured many treated their employees well and were kind people. Does the fact that they tortured others make them bad people? If they believed that they were going to be killed or that their family would be endangered unless they did their 'duty', does it make them bad people for what they did?
My first instinct was to say yes, but if people of the race that they tortured said that these Accused were capable of being kind, then I'm inclined to think about it more. I can think to myself all I want that I would never treat other people the way that the Accused did, but when it comes down to it, I will never know the answer to that because I've never been in that situation. So can we really blame them? And if we can't, who do we blame?
Where does the problem begin?I don't know the answers, but any book this thought provoking deserves a good review. I've seen a lot of documentaries and read quite a lot about the Nazi atrocities but I'm still appalled by what human beings are capable of every time I read about Nazi persecution of those perceived as 'enemies of the state'. This book is based on testimonies given in the Auschwitz trial in Frankfurt where most of the defendants were the so called 'underlings' in the factory of death. It's a very well constructed play that takes you through a journey of horror in Auschwitz, from the loading ramp I've seen a lot of documentaries and read quite a lot about the Nazi atrocities but I'm still appalled by what human beings are capable of every time I read about Nazi persecution of those perceived as 'enemies of the state'. This book is based on testimonies given in the Auschwitz trial in Frankfurt where most of the defendants were the so called 'underlings' in the factory of death. It's a very well constructed play that takes you through a journey of horror in Auschwitz, from the loading ramp to the crematorium.
These short and compact exchanges between prosecutors, defense lawyers, witnesses and defendants give you a glimpse of the mindset of those involved in the daily operations of the camp. I'm particularly disgusted by those unrepentant defendants who always defended themselves by saying 'we did nothing but our duty'. It's exactly this attitude that made Auschwitz a well-oiled machine in producing hundreds of thousands of death every day. 'Human behaviour is fragile and unpredictable and often at the mercy of the situation', said Laurence Rees. This tragedy can very well happen again in future as long as we, human beings act like robots without individual thinking. Peter Weiss, The InvestigationThe German-Check-Swiss-Swede playwright I don't know what his theatre form is called, kind of interview-documentary performance which is based on the real story (have you seen / heard of Kaufman and The Laramie Project?) He became famous by his Marat/Sade, 1963, Reading 'The Investigation' was a big thoughtful joy. One should be interested in both theatre and politic to be able to enjoy Peter Wiess pieces.نمایش نامه ی 'بازجویی' که به گمانم ترجمه فرامرز بهزاد Peter Weiss, The InvestigationThe German-Check-Swiss-Swede playwright I don't know what his theatre form is called, kind of interview-documentary performance which is based on the real story (have you seen / heard of Kaufman and The Laramie Project?) He became famous by his Marat/Sade, 1963, Reading 'The Investigation' was a big thoughtful joy.
One should be interested in both theatre and politic to be able to enjoy Peter Wiess pieces.نمایش نامه ی 'بازجویی' که به گمانم ترجمه فرامرز بهزاد بود، در 1353 یا شاید هم 1354 توسط پرویز صیاد در تیاتر شهر روی صحنه آمد. صحنه آرایی به گونه ای بود که برخی از شاکیان میان تماشاگران در سالن می نشستند و وکیل مدافع در سالن و میان تماشاگران حرکت می کرد. هر شب اجرا با عکس العمل تماشاگران که بازیگران را بین خود می دیدند، داستانی اتفاق می افتاد. از پیتر وایس، غیر از بازجویی که نمی دانم بصورت کتاب منتشر شده یا نه، نمایش نامه ی دیگری به نام 'تروتسکی در تبعید' توسط فریدون فاطمی ترجمه و منتشر شده. نمایش نامه ی دیگری هم از این دست دارد که مربوط به جنگ ویتنام است. It is a well known fact that any influential piece of writing is that which urges the reader to continue contemplating the key themes in the respective text.
The investigation, personally, is an example of this. The play not only stimulates an interest in the events of Aushwitz itself, but implores the reader to re-evaluate their view on the legal system asking the reader questions such as 'who's actually to blame?' And 'can people that were indoctrinated with a specific world view be held It is a well known fact that any influential piece of writing is that which urges the reader to continue contemplating the key themes in the respective text. The investigation, personally, is an example of this. The play not only stimulates an interest in the events of Aushwitz itself, but implores the reader to re-evaluate their view on the legal system asking the reader questions such as 'who's actually to blame?' And 'can people that were indoctrinated with a specific world view be held accountable for their actions?' Moreover, it presents the fragility of memory through emotion evoking, fast paced dialogue which strengthens the effect of the big questions it chooses to address.
Highly recommended read. Disturbing book in every way possible. I have read quite a lot about the Holocaust and still the atrocities described in this book are enough to make you want to put it down and never pick it up again. Nothing can be reproached to the writing style, since the author doesn't sugarcoat anything and exposes the interrogatories just as they went down. It's not a book I would want to read it again and I don't think it can be rated, but I completely recommend it to anyone who wants to know more about Disturbing book in every way possible.
I have read quite a lot about the Holocaust and still the atrocities described in this book are enough to make you want to put it down and never pick it up again. Nothing can be reproached to the writing style, since the author doesn't sugarcoat anything and exposes the interrogatories just as they went down. It's not a book I would want to read it again and I don't think it can be rated, but I completely recommend it to anyone who wants to know more about the psychology of those involved in the organization of the Holocaust and their attitude upon learning about the consequences of their actions. The Investigation is a very disturbing book, on that opens peoples eyes to the reality of the holocaust. I have often read material concerning the holocaust, but this book had me putting it down and not reading for a very long time. In all honesty i'd rather not give this a rating, its too real and historical to judge.But this book was captivating in the way of having a play structure, one that makes the reader feel as if they are in court with the holocaust survivors.This is a must when The Investigation is a very disturbing book, on that opens peoples eyes to the reality of the holocaust. I have often read material concerning the holocaust, but this book had me putting it down and not reading for a very long time.
In all honesty i'd rather not give this a rating, its too real and historical to judge.But this book was captivating in the way of having a play structure, one that makes the reader feel as if they are in court with the holocaust survivors.This is a must when reading about the holocaust, i feel that even if you do not like it, it still enforces the reality of the situation that happened.
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We never accept ads. But we still need to pay for servers and staff. I know we could charge money, but then we couldn’t achieve our mission: bringing the best, most trustworthy information to every internet reader. I believe all of this is doable, if we pull together to create the internet as it was meant to be. The Great Library for all. Open Library is a bargain, but we need your help. If you find our site useful, please chip in.
Peter Weiss Die Ermittlung Ebook Pdf
Thank you.— Brewster Kahle, Founder, Internet Archive. Dear Open Library Supporter,I ask only once a year: please help Open Library today. Right now, we have a 2-to-1 Matching Gift Campaign, so you can triple your impact! Most can’t afford to give, but we hope you can.
The average donation is $45. If everyone chips in just $5, we can end this fundraiser today. All we need is the price of a paperback book to sustain a non-profit website the whole world depends on. We’re dedicated to reader privacy so we never track you. We never accept ads.
But we still need to pay for servers and staff. I know we could charge money, but then we couldn’t achieve our mission: bringing the best, most trustworthy information to every internet reader. I believe all of this is doable, if we pull together to create the internet as it was meant to be.
The Great Library for all. Open Library is a bargain, but we need your help. If you find our site useful, please chip in. Thank you.— Brewster Kahle, Founder, Internet Archive.
Dear Open Library Supporter,I ask only once a year: please help Open Library today. Right now, we have a 2-to-1 Matching Gift Campaign, so you can triple your impact! The average donation is $45. If everyone chips in just $5, we can end this fundraiser today. All we need is the price of a paperback book to sustain a non-profit website the whole world depends on. We’re dedicated to reader privacy. We never accept ads.
But we still need to pay for servers and staff. I know we could charge money, but then we couldn’t achieve our mission: bringing the best, most trustworthy information to every internet reader. All of this is doable, if we pull together to create the internet as it was meant to be. The Great Library for all.
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