Munich (dpa / lby) – Two Jewish student associations have criticized the play “Birds” by Wajdi Mouawad in the Munich Metropoltheater’s production as anti-Semitic. It makes “Holocaust relativization and Israel-related anti-Semitism socially acceptable,” wrote the Jewish Student Union Germany and the Association of Jewish Students in Bavaria in an open letter on Friday. The audience is made aware that their own anti-Semitic resentments are not taboo and can be freely expressed.
Director and director Jochen Schölch was shocked by the allegations. “Vögel” is one of the most frequently performed contemporary pieces. “It is seen everywhere as a piece of the hour and referred to as the modern ‘Nathan the Wise’,” Schölch told dpa. “Under these conditions I staged the play, I didn’t add a word.”
Schölch emphasized that the quotes given by the student associations were taken out of context. Unfortunately, the authors of the open letter did not accept the offer for a clarifying discussion. Instead, a moral guillotine is now damaging the reputation of a private theater that stands for humanistic plays and reconciliation, and putting it in financial distress through calls for the cancellation of funding.
So far, however, the city of Munich sees no reason to reconsider its funding. “It’s always inherent in art and culture, especially when it comes to very discursive topics, that injuries can also happen,” said a spokeswoman for the culture department. The border area between criticism of Israel and anti-Semitism is a very fine line. “You can only offer one conversation there.”
The former Mayor of Munich, Christian Ude, also emphasized in his function as chairman of the circle of friends of the theater after seeing the play the evening before: “I experienced an extremely human, humanistic play that rejects all prejudices and genetically based judgments about people and reconciliation demands what no man of good will could misunderstand.” In his eyes, the authors of the letter are concerned with “publishing a hot topic on November 9th and not with seriously dealing with a work of art – and certainly not with initiating a dialogue”.
