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The 20th of July
Bernhard Schlink's first play is a disturbing mind game about the presence of the past and about the price of trade: being left with dirty hands.
The last day of school falls on the 20th of July, the anniversary of an assassination attempt on Adolf Hitler. The previous day, the right-wing party ›Deutsche Aktion‹ with their charismatic young leader won 37 percent of the vote in the regional election. In history class, a heated discussion arises between the final year students and their teacher: shouldn't the assassination attempt have been carried out 13 years earlier, in 1931? What can be learned for the future? Is it better to keep one's hands clean, or to risk getting them dirty?
A lesson about morals, responsibility and making decisions.
96 pages
2021
978-3-257-07160-3
»Bernhard Schlink’s contemporary play leaves (almost) all questions open – and stays in your mind.«
»A provocative depiction of a moment in time.«
»He plays through the thought in an almost classical way, in five scenes, awakening associations with Rolf Hochhuth or Hans Magnus Enzensberger.«
»In The 20th of July, Schlink expands his thinking about our present day, in which the clash of political forces suggests a turning point.«
»A successful, perfectly-timed mind game.«