Mitläufer (Followers)

Shortly after the stage director Oskar Walleck was named General Director of the Bavarian State Theatre by the «Reich’s Minister of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda» Joseph Goebbels in 1934, he presented his cultural and political vision to the people of Munich: «we will work to create a theatre of the Third Reich with the aim of achieving the National Socialist cultural will». Once the Nazi dictatorship was over, Walleck the former SS man with the rank of «Standartenführer» promptly claimed in his court hearing that as Artistic Director he had conducted «active resistance against the violent rule of the National Socialists».

«Mitläufer» (Followers) is a historical exploration of the contradictory biographies of those whose close contacts with the Nazi party helped them to reach the top echelons of the theatre. In this research project, the Residenztheater, one of the oldest German theatres, examines a dark chapter in its own history.

«Every time I work in a theatre in Germany, I ask myself how this institution could have placed itself at the service of a totalitarian regime, who would have profited from this transition of power and who would have been forced to suffer the consequences of a racist and murderous ideology.» Noam Brusilovsky

Noam Brusilovsky is an Israeli maker of theatre and audio drama. He was awarded the German Radio Drama Prize in both 2017 and 2021. In 2022 he was awarded the Nestroy jury’s «Special Prize» for «Nicht sehen» and the War Blinded Audio Drama Prize for «Die Arbeit an der Rolle». He will make his debut at the Residenztheater with the research project «Mitläufer».