HEIMWEH WONACH

In the organizer's words:

"I believed I could reshape the world, create a better and fairer world."

Her life lasted almost the entire century - a life marked by flight, by a great loss that still hurts today, that has never stopped hurting. But it was also a life characterized by a great hope that made the unimaginable possible. It is much later that the daughter begins to ask questions and the mother searches for answers, her own answers. And then she tells of the time before becoming a mother, of being a daughter herself, of being Jewish, of being rejected, of arriving in another country, of loss and pain, insurmountable until the end - and then of returning. Of a new beginning, this jubilant word, back in the completely bombed-out city of her birth, of the founding of a new state, the GDR, of a shared vision, stronger than ever before, a desire to change the country, to make the world a better place, to prove that it can be done.
But what remains when this vision begins to falter dangerously?

HEIMWEH WONACH not only examines the major turning points in life, but also the everyday, family life between parents and children - sometimes tenderly and sensitively, and then again full of accusation. The play shows how a rapprochement between the generations can begin despite the pain experienced and the speechlessness about it.

"With merciless, ruthless ferocity, my mother worked her fingers with a wide variety of instruments. She was never careful or gentle. Blood often oozed out as she licked or sucked more. I watched her as she chose the right instrument like a craftsman. If she cut too deeply and the blood came out, she would scold me as if it was my fault."

HEIMWEH WONACH is based on an interview with Ursula Herzberg conducted by Wolfgang Herzberg, her son (author, publicist and lyricist for the punk band PANKOW), her own life story from the year 2000 and texts by her daughter Wera Herzberg (director).