A theatrical game about Nazi forced labor in Weimar for people age 14 and older
It is a lesser-known chapter in the Nazi dictatorship: during the Second World War, millions of people were forced to perform forced labor in Germany. Not only prisoners of war and concentration camp prisoners, but also civilian forced laborers had to work on farms, in quarries, in factories, and in private households. The mostly young people were deprived of the right to determine their fate in many different ways.
At and together with the Deutsches Nationaltheater Weimar, the new theatrical game of machina eX takes a look at the lives of civilian forced laborers who had to live and work in Weimar. In the Redoute, which serves as the venue for the production, the audience embarks on a journey through time into the twentieth century. Visitors take on the role of employees of the “Zentrum für Zeitsichtungen”, which investigates the history of forced laborers in Weimar. With the help of a tablet, voices from the past can be found and experienced as audio plays in detailed staged rooms. Documents, informations from relatives and solved puzzles provide further biographical fragments. Layer by layer, the audience uncovers the fates of three fictional characters who were forced to perform domestic and industrial labor in Weimar. To this end, machina eX has condensed real events and reports into three biographies not only including the time during the forced labor in Weimar, but also the circumstances before the deportation and after the liberation.
The production is part of the week “Ressource Erinnerung” at the Deutsches Nationaltheater Weimar and is aimed at school classes and young people aged 14 and over as well as adults. It is funded by the Stiftung Erinnerung, Verantwortung und Zukunft (EVZ foundation) and the Bundesministerium der Finanzen (BMF) as part of the educational agenda on Nazi injustice and is being produced in collaboration with the Museum Forced Labor under National Socialism.
Premiere / Venues
Premiere on 30. March 2025 at Deutsches Nationaltheater Weimar
Credit: Candy Welz
Concept and Game Design: machina eX /// Performance: Marcus Horn, Martin Schnippa, Anna Windmüller /// Performance (voice): n.n. /// Direction: Anton Krause /// Text: Clara Ehrenwerth /// Interaction Design, Programming: Lasse Marburg, Benedikt Kaffai /// Dramaturgy: Lena Vöcklinghaus, Carsten Weber /// Interface and UX Design: Elisa Haubert /// Szenography: Barbara Lenartz /// Costumes: Sophie Lichtenberg /// Sound Design: Matthias Millhoff /// Production management: Sina Kießling /// Assistance direction: Christoph Dechamps /// Assistance Stage and Costumes: Kristin Franke /// Internship: Reneé Schüsterl
Production: machina eX. Co-production: Deutsches Nationaltheater und Staatskapelle Weimar. Funded by: Bildungsagenda NS-Unrecht von der Stiftung Erinnerung, Verantwortung und Zukunft (EVZ) und dem Bundesministerium der Finanzen (BMF)