Peter Weiss, Die Ermittlung [The Investigation]

Janelle Blankenship (University of Western Ontario)

Ed. by Jennifer Marston William, Purdue University
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.4.1: German-language Writing and Culture: Germany, 500-present.
Vol. editors: Nicole Kennedy (University of Newcastle), Gerhard P. Knapp (University of Utah), Jennifer Marston William (Purdue University), Herbert Rowland (Purdue University), Jill E. Twark (East Carolina University)

Dates

First circulation or publication 1965

Places

Germany (Country of Origin; Publication/ performance)

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Play

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On 13 March 1964 in the midst of rehearsals for his play

Marat/Sade

, German-Jewish author Peter Weiss attended the legal proceedings of the first Frankfurt Auschwitz trial, one of Germany’s largest trials of Nazi criminals (the first Auschwitz trial took place in 1947 in Kraków, Poland). Weiss jotted down snippets of speech from the cold, clinical affair, interspersed with his own impressions:

Lawyer on the occasion of discussing the site plan [of the camp]: “I don’t know, I wasn’t there.” […] “Did you think that [gassing] was legal? – Yes” [...] “Hand-wringing, ceaselessly [stating] ‘I wash my hands’”. No, I can’t do it anymore. A spasm of tears. (Notizbücher I: 1960-1971, 224-25; my translation and clarifications)

Lawyer on the occasion of discussing…

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3006 words

Citation: Blankenship, Janelle. "Die Ermittlung". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 26 March 2025 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=41876, accessed 31 March 2025.]

Peter Weiss, Die Ermittlung [The Investigation]

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