They Thought They Were Free

Name: They Thought They Were Free
Start: 2025-06-26T19:00+0200
End: 2025-06-26T21:00+0200
Location: Hamburger Sprechwerk

Theater

In the organizer's words:

a performance by Theater Fanal

after Milton Mayer

Director: Merlin Gebhard

Assistant director: Anna Weichberger

Project management: Kris Chekelova

Project management assistant: Henrietta Fleischmann

Music: Hans Könnecke

Stage design: Sanghwa Park

Costume: Marina Franken

The actors are: Aaron Meyer, Jasper Koch, Nick Plummer, Jocasta Godlieb, Simon Deggim, Dave duke, Jonathan Guevara, Julia McCallion

"When was the world lost? That's easy to say, much easier than you might think. The world was lost one day in 1935, here in Germany. It was I who lost it and I'll tell you how."

Fascism is back.

We cannot fight what we do not understand.

In 1950, the American journalist Milton Mayer traveled to Germany with the same idea. He interviews ordinary people - ex-Nazis. Mayer himself is of German descent, as he tells his interviewees, whom he soon calls friends. He conceals the fact that he is Jewish. Mayer's interviewees testify - some repentant, some still convinced - about joining the party, the promises of fascism, their relationship with their Jewish neighbors and the possibility of resistance. They sound as shockingly banal as they are devastatingly topical. What turns people into fascists? What makes them remain fascists? How can we prevent this?

Let's think and talk together!

We will combine the performance with a discussion with voices from science, activism, art, politics - and you!

A project by Theater Fanal in cooperation with the Kalliope University Theatre.

Supported by the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg, District Office Hamburg-Mitte and the Senate Chancellery in the context of the city partnership between Hamburg and Chicago, .
Further supported by the Karin and Uwe Hollweg Foundation, Karl Petri, Wolfgang Gebhard, Christian Plath, Ernst Petri, Margit Meier-Böse, Adriane Schmitt, Emilia Wendelin, Boryana Borisova.
Rehearsal rooms with the kind support of the University Players, Probebühne im Gängeviertel, Wiese e.G.

Ticket prices:

VVK: 6,00 €, 14,00 €, 23,00 €

Thu 26.06.25 at 7 pm (premiere) // German with German surtitles

Fri 27.06.25 at 12 pm and at 7 pm// German with German surtitles

Tue 08.07.25 at 7 pm// English with English surtitles

English:

They Thought They Were Free

by Milton Mayer

"When was the world lost? That is easy to tell, much easier than you may suppose. The world was lost one day in 1935, here in Germany. It was I who lost it, and I will tell you how."

Fascism is back.

We cannot fight what we do not understand.

In 1950, the American journalist Milton Mayer traveled to Germany with the same idea. He interviews ordinary people - ex-Nazis. Mayer himself is of German descent, as he tells hisinterviewees, whom he soon calls friends. He doesn't tell them he is Jewish. Mayer's interviewees give their testimony - some repentant, some still convinced - about joining the party, the promises of fascism, their relationship to their Jewish neighbors and the possibility of resistance. Their words sound shockingly mundane as they are devastatingly contemporary. What turns people into fascists? What makes them remain fascists?

How can we prevent this? Let's think and talk together!

The performance is combined with a discussion panel with guests from science, activism, art, politics - and you!

Tickets:

Pre-sale: 6,00 €, 14,00 €, 23,00 €

Thu 26th of june at 7 p.m. (Premiere) // in german wih german surtitles

Fri 27th of june at 12 p.m. and at 7 p.m. // in german wih german surtitles

Thu 8th of july at 7 p.m. // in english with english surtitles

This content has been machine translated.

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