cultural
The play “Rechnitz (Der Würgeengel)” has now been performed for the first time in Burgenland. The cultural association KBK and RE.FUGIUS presented Elfriede Jelinek’s piece on two evenings – in the OHO as well as in the synagogue and in the courtyard of Kobersdorf.
The play “Rechnitz (Der Würgeengel)” is no easy fare. It deals with the massacre in 1945, in which party guests at a Nazi celebration at Countess Batthyany’s in Rechnitz killed 180 Hungarian-Jewish forced laborers. In Kobersdorf, the performance began in the castle courtyard and then led into the former synagogue.
Menke: “Huge respect for this place”
Actress Isabelle Menke reported on the horrible events – in different roles and perspectives. She had previously recited the theater text more than 100 times, but never – as in Kobersdorf – in a former synagogue. “Of course I had a lot of respect for this place,” said the artist: “And that sometimes you have to put your finger in the wound, even if it’s actually unbearable.”
Scene excerpt “Rechnitz (The Exterminating Angel)
Of course, the synagogue brings out the parts in which the victim’s story is told in a completely different way and touches people differently than places that are perhaps more strongly associated with perpetrators, said director Leonhard Koppelmann.
Gulda: Jelinek delighted with the premiere in Burgenland
The Rechnitz refugee and memorial initiative RE.FUGIUS is particularly pleased that the events of that night in Rechnitz can be made comprehensible for the public at this site – with the text by Elfried Jelinek, who also said that she was very happy Paul Gulda, chairman of the RE.FUGIUS commemorative initiative, explained that her play was being performed in Burgenland for the first time.
