Fear and Misery of the Third Reich

“From a distance, it is easier to see what mistakes people make when populism, propaganda, poverty and repression sow fear. Then we will take a look—as Brecht puts it—at how exactly a people becomes manipulable, how totalitarianism is born, and how every individual in the nation contributes to it through their choices. And it does not matter whether it is the 1930s or the 21st century. A century later, it really would be funny if the consequences were not so tragic,” says director Indra Roga.

A “golden classic” of theatre history. Bertolt Brecht, a German playwright and leading figure of epic theatre, wrote the play Fear and Misery of the Third Reich (Furcht und Elend des Dritten Reiches) in 1935–1938, while in exile in Denmark, in the immediate aftermath of events of the time, while working in radio and writing for newspapers. “An impressive mosaic of life in Nazi Germany” (Michael Billington, The Guardian) remains a prophetic mirror today—wherever people let fear inside themselves and lose their inner freedom.