“A NEW RACE, INVINCIBLE AND VAST”: AN EXPLORATION OF THE NATIONAL SOCIALIST THINGSPIEL DAS FRANKENBURGER WÜRFELSPIEL’S METHODS TO CREATE COMMUNITY by Rachel Eva Wyatt A thesis submitted to the Department of Cultural Studies In conformity with the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts Queen’s University Kingston, Ontario, Canada (November, 2018) Copyright ©Rachel Eva Wyatt, 2018 Abstract This project investigates the 1936 Berlin Olympics theatre production Das Frankenburger Würfelspiel, an example of the National Socialist theatre movement the Thingspiel. The goal is to explore the methods intended by Das Frankenburger Würfelspiel to create a national community. This has been done by examining how the production’s narrative, the participants’ experiences, and the production’s use of site contributed to creating this community. Upon this examination, it becomes clear that the plot of the production presented a revised historical narrative, imbued with ideological content, intended to modify German social memory. Additionally, this research found that the production’s performance style enabled its participants to internalise the production’s messages. The performance style also helped to bond participants into a community. Finally, the production’s use of site allowed participants to solidify their connection to National Socialist ideology and each other. This research has also unveiled similarities between the tactics of the Thingspiel and how United States President Donald Trump courted voters during his electoral campaign and into the present day. Through showing how the Nazi party conceptualised the Thingspiel to create community, this research highlights the cultural machinations of fascism. ii Acknowledgements When drafting the list of all the people to thank for their support, I was struck by the number of people who, in one way or another, helped me get here. To name and thank you all would use up my entire word count. So, to the many teachers, professors, classmates, bosses, coworkers, friends, and family who have helped me get here, thank you. I am grateful to Cultural Studies at Queen’s University for making a space for academics like myself in their program. As a scholar of both theatre and history, academia often asks me to be either a historian or a theatre scholar. I am incredibly grateful to this department for giving me the space to be both. I would like to thank Dr Jennifer Hosek and Dr Colleen Renihan, my wonderful supervision committee, for their guidance while writing and researching this work. I am extremely grateful for the challenges and support the pair afforded me during this process. Thank you for believing in this project and for putting with what must have felt like an endless barrage of emails in the last few weeks of this project. Many thanks to the University of Cologne’s Theaterwissenschaftliche Sammlung, who allowed me to access and reproduce the production photographs from their archives. These photographs are the property of the Theaterwissenschaftliche Sammlung and are reproduced here with permission. My many thanks also go to my translator, Lori Straus, who brought order to my chaotic collection of 1936 German newspaper articles. Thanks to my wonderful friends from Cultural Studies who supported me during my degree, particularly dynamic duo of Brittainy Bonnis and Michelle Smith. The help offered by the pair throughout my degree, but particularly in the last mad dash to finishing, is endlessly appreciated. I want to thank my comrades in ink, Ky Pearce and Emma Bass, for their role in keeping me accountable to writing, giving me reasons to take a break and comradery. A thank you is needed for my friend Daniel Arcari, helped me maintain a connection to the outside world with our weekly gaming sessions. The Tuesday night gaming sessions were a much-needed break from work and stress during this degree. I look forward to returning the favour during your own graduate work. A special thanks to Shane Golden who, more than anyone else, had to tolerate all my groans, grumbles, and gripes about commas, sources, edits, and new drafts while I finished this work. Thank you for tolerating my grumpiness while I finished this. I owe my greatest thanks to my parents, John and Heather Wyatt. They have never failed to be my biggest supporters. Thank you, Mom and Dad, for your unending support of all my adventures, both academic or otherwise. This work is dedicated to my mother, who showed the most remarkable rally of support and counsel in the push to complete this work. Her deft wielding of a red pen at the 11th hour – despite illness - helped immeasurably. Thank you, Mom. iii Table of Contents Abstract ......................................................................................................................................................... ii Acknowledgements ...................................................................................................................................... iii List of Figures ............................................................................................................................................... v Introduction – Setting the Scene ................................................................................................................... 1 Theatre in the Third Reich ........................................................................................................................ 6 The Thingspiel ........................................................................................................................................ 10 A Modernist Influence ............................................................................................................................ 17 Chapter 1 The Frankenberg Dice Game and Das Frankenburger Würfelspiel........................................... 20 Chapter 2 Plot – Defining Memory............................................................................................................. 24 An All-Important Community ................................................................................................................ 26 The Noble Peasant .................................................................................................................................. 31 Beyond the Reich’s Borders ................................................................................................................... 35 The Nazi’s Power .................................................................................................................................... 38 Redefining Social Memory ..................................................................................................................... 42 Chapter 3 People – Creating Community ................................................................................................... 44 Internalising Meaning ............................................................................................................................. 48 Binding Community ................................................................................................................................ 56 Chapter 4 Place – Reinforcing Identity ....................................................................................................... 66 Memory and Landscape .......................................................................................................................... 70 Memory and the Body ............................................................................................................................ 74 Conclusion – After the Curtain ................................................................................................................... 80 A Way Forward....................................................................................................................................... 85 Bibliography ............................................................................................................................................... 87 iv List of Figures Figure 1. Poster art for Das Frankenburger Würfelspiel. ........................................................................... 15 Figure 2. Photo showing the placement of the chorus. ............................................................................... 47 Figure 3 Production photo showing costumes of accused .......................................................................... 61 Figure 4. Production photo showing costumes of peasants ........................................................................ 62 Figure 5. Stage crew installing microphone. ............................................................................................... 68 Figure 6. Dietrich-Eckart-Bühne Stage lighting tower. .............................................................................. 69 Figure 7. Production photo showing Dietrich-Eckart-Bühne Stage’s wooded setting ............................... 70 v Introduction – Setting the Scene The community of 20,000 audience members left the theatre deeply moved. This play that is more than a play, that is German history, has touched hearts powerfully. And all those who followed with an open mind feel, recognize and know all of the sudden – here a new chapter of German theatre history is about to begin. -Review of Das Frankenburger Würfelspiel, Schwedter Tageblatt, August 3rd, 1936 Eberhard Wolfgang Möller’s theatrical work Das Frankenburger Würfelspiel – The