When one thinks about the First World War in Germany, the reference points are primarily the battlefields on the Western Front.
Schlachtfeld Erinnerung 1914/2014 (Battlefield of Memory 1914/2014) changes the viewpoint, examining the different national historiographies in Yugoslavia, later Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, as well as in Turkey, Germany and Austria. What is remembered where and how? What images of the enemy get constructed, and what figures of identification? What role did these play in the recent way in the former Yugoslavia? Director Hans-Werner Kroesinger and filmmaker Regine Dura conducted research commissioned by the Goethe Institutes in Belgrade, Istanbul and Sarajevo. The world premiere at HAU Hebbel am Ufer compares the research materials acquired in Sarajevo, Belgrade and Istanbul with one another–historical newspaper articles, military reports, travel guides, person memories. The performers from the previous stations appear as competing traveling salespeople in matters of historical interpretation. Is the attack on the Austro-Hungarian heir apparent Franz Ferdinand viewed as a terrorist act or as a revolutionary one? And is the attacker Gavrilo Princip an extremist or a hero? What was the real purpose of the alliance between Germany and the Ottoman Empire? Based on their experiences in workshop performances, directors and performers ask other questions: How does the context alter the meaning of a document? What do the various versions of history say about the present? What is the objective behind each of the narratives?
Running time: 100 min.
The play can be seen on October 11th at 20:00 o’clock in Sarajevo War Theater (SARTR) on address Gabelina 16.
(Source: Sarajevotravel)
