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University of Warwick Centre for Translation and Comparative Cultural Studies Terence Gould 24 June 2005 /2 January 2006 Words -79,584 PhD Thesis Filename e:ThesisCombinedDoubleSpaced (As submitted 1 July 2005, and revisedfollowing Viva) A historical study of the political and religious influences on the Alsatian language theatre " 's isch nonit alles fiitti " (Germain Muller, in Malou Schneider. ed. 1988,8) © Terence Gould, 2005. 1 Acknowledgements I would like to thank my study supervisor, Dr John Gilmore, for his availability and his meticulous care in dealing with any problems, large or small, which may have arisen during the course of this study. Also, my wife Pamela, whose support, forbearance and practical assistance in detailed checking of the text has been an essential ingredient in the preparation of this thesis. Those who welcomed me and shared their knowledge and wisdom with me in Alsace include all those mentioned in Section 7.1 , (Alsatian citizens and others, interviewed and cited). In particular, and in alphabetical order, to be mentioned are Raymond Bitsch, Pierre Kretz, Marcel Lindershaus, Aline Martin, Prof. Raymond Matzen, Joseph Schmittbiel, Roger Siffer, Marcel Spegt, Paul Sutter and Raymond Weissenburger. 2 Index Page Foreword 9 1 Methodology 11 1.1 The object of this thesis 11 1.2 Where are you coming from? 12 1.3 Ethical considerations 12 In carrying out the research 12 Using data and evidence gathered 14 1.4 Whyme? 15 1.5 Why does this subject matter? 16 1.6 The problem of finding reliable information 17 Documentary evidence from archives 20 1.7 The breadth of this study 21 Comparisons with parallel cases 21 Completeness 22 1.8 Access 23 To practitioners of the performing arts 23 To the required knowledge 23 To documents 23 To literature related to the performing arts in Alsace 24 To the speakers of the language 25 To the research techniques 25 To the plays 26 1.9 The advantages 27 1.10 Working definitions 27 1.11 The translations 28 1.12 The main themes 29 1.13 Glossary 30a 1.14 Map of Alsace 30b 3 2 Political history and culture of the region 31 2.1 The geographical region of Alsace 31 Regional identity - a working definition 32 Lorraine 35 2.2 The political history of Alsace 35 Until 1870 35 From 1871 to 1918 41 The Inter-war Years 43 Autonomist and Separatist movements 46 The Second W orId War 48 From 1945 51 Strasbourg as the Focus of Europe 55 Alsace in Recent Decades 57 2.3 The influence of religion upon Alsace 58 Catholic and Protestant 58 Judaism 61 Islam and others 63 2.4 Understanding the culture of Alsace 63 A working definition of Community 68 Artistic culture and folk culture 68 Artistic culture 69 Folk culture 69 Elements of a working definition of Alsatian culture 70 3 The history and present political situation of the language 74 3.1 Alsatian - a language or a dialect? 74 A working definition 82 Why does it matter? 89 3.2 Alsatian versus French 94 4 Code switching? 96 3.3 Regional languages in the UK 99 3.4 The survival of the Alsatian language 102 What right does a language have to survive? 102 Why do languages flourish or die? 103 Tests of a language's viability 106 Why has Alsatian fared so badly? 109 3.5 What the French Government says, and what it does, about Regional Languages 113 3.6 Alsatian language teaching and pressure groups 123 3.7 The printed media 126 4 The politics of the Alsatian language theatre 127 4.1 A working definition of 'The performing arts' 127 4.2 Theatre 127 4.3 Political Theatre 128 A working definition of 'Theatre' 129 A working definition of 'Political' 131 A working definition of 'Political theatre' 135 Political theatre in Alsace 135 4.4 The history of the theatre in Alsace 136 From earliest times until 1800 136 The Alsatian Theatre Movement from 1800 to 1900 140 Patriotism in the theatre in Alsace from 1871 to 1918 144 Working definitions of Dialekt Theater and Alsatian Language Theatre 145 Dialekt Theater of the 20th century 148 Between the two world wars 155 The theatre in Alsace in World War Two 164 The situation in the north of Alsace 172 5 The dramatic political monologue 177 Theatre performances 179 Cabaret in World War Two 182 The situation in the south of Alsace 183 Theatre performances 186 After World War Two 188 Dialekt Theater 188 Patriotic theatre 190 Alsatian Miracle Plays 192 4.5 The influence of the Church on the theatre in Alsace 193 4.6 Into the twenty-fIrst century 201 Theatre 201 Racism 204 Present day politics and the National Front 204 Racism in village theatre productions 205 Joining in the conspiracy 207 Cabaret 208 The cabaret D 'Choucrouterie in Strasbourg 209 Jewish theatre 211 Art- and Folk-songs 211 Conteurs - Oral poetry and story telling 212 Cinema 214 Television 216 Radio 218 4.7 Government support for the performing arts 218 5 Analysis of five Alsatian plays 221 5.1 Der Pfingstmontag 222 Language 223 Political influences 225 6 Religious influences 227 The place of this play in the canon of Alsatian language theatre 227 5.2 So sinn mr halt ! 228 Language 229 Political influences 230 Religious influences 232 The place of this play in the canon of Alsatian language theatre 232 5.3 Gabrielle 232 Language 233 Political influences 235 Religious influences 236 The place of this play in the canon of Alsatian language theatre 236 5.4 Karfridaa 236 Language 237 Political influences 238 Religious influences 238 The place of this play in the canon of Alsatian language theatre 239 5.5 D'Antigonn 240 Language 241 Political influences 243 Religious ittfluences 243 The pla~e of this play in the canon of Alsatian language theatre 243 5.6 Commehts 244 6 Conclusions 245 6.1 An overview of the Alsatian language theatre 245 6.2 Political and religious influences on the Alsatian language theatre 247 6.3 The culture and the theatre are out-of-step 249 6.4 Racism in the theatre in Alsace 252 6.5 What if there had been no political or religious influences on the Alsatian language theatre ? 255 7 6.6 Ways in which 'Alsatian-ness' is dealt with in the theatre 256 6.7 The political agenda of the Alsatian language theatre 257 6.8 Prospects for the future of the Alsatian language theatre 260 Appendix One - Local dialects of Alsatian 264 Appendix Two - Synopsis of each play analysed in Section 5 269 7 Works consulted, performances seen, persons interviewed 274 7.1 Primary Sources Plays studied or consulted or cited, but not seen in performance Plays seen in performance Alsatian citizens and others, interviewed and cited 7.2 Secondary Sources Bibliography Websites consulted (See also footnotes in text) 8 Foreword My home is in England, where I am married and have a house. At first it appeared possible to carry out the study by spending periods of up to one month in Alsace. However, my wife insisted that we go to live in Alsace for the period required. After a great deal of time and effort our house was let to tenants for an indefinite period. After three visits to Alsace we found an apartment in Haguenau, which is a stronghold of the regional language and culture, and is situated 20 miles north of the regional capital, Strasbourg, and where I had lived previously. Being retired, the availability of time is not a problem. The investigation into the possibility of this subject as suitable for study started in November 2001, with three short investigative trips. We then moved to Alsace in October 2002, for eighteen months, returning in March 2004. A further period of one month in Strasbourg followed in October 2004. Money, however, is always a limiting factor. The period abroad was financed by the rent from my house in England, which was fortunately greater than the rent of our apartment in France. Having lived in Alsace for one year, from 1955 to 56, I have some experience of the region, dating from fifty years ago. This experience is bound to be limited. It is also dated, which may in itselfbe an advantage, in enabling comparisons with present day situations. At that time I was a recent graduate in politics, and came as an English Assistant in a French lycee in Haguenau, a small town in the northern half of Alsace. In addition to studying French at the university in Strasbourg, and to provide additional income I worked as a bus and tram conductor in the city, all as mentioned previously, above. 9 Recent statistics show that the town of Haguenau has the second largest percentage of Alsatian language speakers in the whole of the region, being 81 %, as against Selestat 1 with 83% (1997 Survey by INSEE , quoted in Schimpf 1998, 76). It was very pleasing to discover that a colleague, Paul Adolf, who was a student teacher at Haguenau in those days is now one of the acknowledged authorities on the language, having obtained two doctorates at Strasbourg, and having published a monumental dictionary.