Hamburg's The Trial Against Germany Blurs Art and Political Fury
The Real Question: How Did It Actually Feel?
In the end, the most fascinating question about The Trial Against Germany—directed by Milo Rau in Hamburg—may well be this: What was it really like? The question of form and performance, of the production's own theatrical reality, this fictionalized AfD ban proceeding that dominated cultural pages for weeks.
The trial unfolded from February 13 to 15 in the grand auditorium of Hamburg's Thalia Theater, featuring two representatives each for the prosecution and defense—none of whom seemed to struggle with their roles—alongside testimony from very real witnesses, some in support, others in opposition, and many caught in between.
Unlike its historic predecessors—such as Bertrand Russell's Vietnam Tribunal, which aimed to compile real evidence of crimes to force political and legal reckoning—this three-day spectacle, for all its scale, settled into something far tamer: a Ferdinand von Schirach-style courtroom drama. Schirach's well-made plays, after all, always revolve around preparing for a verdict. Here, a seven-member jury was cast for the same purpose.
Much of the heated debate around the event focused on its impact. The familiar accusation—that Rau was giving extremists a stage—feels belated. By now, theater should be about reclaiming spaces occupied by the far right, like the dance floor, as boldly attempted in l'amourstoujours at Jena's Theaterhaus: Sylt, the Ponybar, Gigi D'Agostino—ring any bells?
Far more troubling are the statements from the Thalia that feed the right-wing bubble, especially since they clash with the production's aesthetic framework. They betray the self-created theatricality of the trial—and, worse, they're boring.
"Junge Freiheit" Goes on the Attack
Just how uncomfortable hardline right-wing figures are in the constrained format of witness questioning became gloriously apparent Saturday morning. Feroz Khan, the far-right blogger celebrated by the ultraconservative Junge Freiheit, reacted with supercharged aggression—even though his interrogator, journalist Liane Bednarz, approached him as a sympathetic defender.
His verbal lashing-out had a pitiful, almost touching quality onstage, revealing deep insecurity beneath the bluster. And in that moment, being there was everything. Because only within the theater's walls could this strange little man's hatred—so eager to terrify—be neutralized. You sit there thinking: What a shame. Someone should have taken that poor lost boy in their arms long ago. Now it's too late.
That pity doesn't translate online. On social media, hate speech thrives unchecked, spreading like wildfire. Which is why streaming the event on YouTube was an artistic misstep and a political blunder. There, the footage stands ready for interested parties to repurpose in decontextualized snippets. There, viewers can skip over the uncomfortable moments that actors and audience alike had to endure in the room. Sometimes you want to scream—but you don't. That's the power of theater.
There are cheap laughs, like when Herta Däubler-Gmelin occasionally addresses the AfD's lawyer, Frédéric Schwilden, as "Herr Schwindler" (Mr. Swindler)—a nod to Herbert Wehner's habit of calling journalist Ernst-Dieter Lueg simply "Lüg" (Liar), though in her case, it might have been accidental.
Is Your Neighbor a Nazi?
All in all, the theatrical project—even measured against its Wagnerian ambitions—feels thin on staging, despite its fine moments, particularly at the start of each session. A voice from offstage announces, "The court is now in session"—and the entire audience, all 1,000 people, rises. It's magical.
Yet the atmosphere is thick with social control. Applause is sparse, perhaps because every clap risks being read as a political statement. And who wants to out themselves when the person next to you might be a Nazi?
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