The influence of Theatre and ParaTheatre on the Holocaust

Using knowledge and approaches from four disciplines: History, Theatre, Archetypal Psychology and the Arts Therapies, and divided into three parts, this thesis analyses the ways in which the Nazis used Theatre and ParaTheatre to promote their ideology. It suggests that Theatre was not only an element of Nazi propaganda but also contributed to the creation of a ‘culture of cruelty’ which psychologically prepares a population for genocide.

After reviewing the areas of study relevant to this research in Part I, Part II begins the analysis by exploring the nature and value of archetypal images in Nazi theatre, the correlation of these images with their equivalents in Nazi ideology and with the imagery in Weimar Culture and German propaganda from the First and Second World Wars. Part II includes two theatrical components: Theatre and ParaTheatre. Within Theatre it examines three of the major ‘genres’ of Nazi Theatre: Thingspiel, Historical Drama and the Classics while ParaTheatre deals with public events intended to be witnessed, including spectacles such as the Nuremberg Rallies and scenes of public humiliation, torture, or murder. Both types of theatre contributed to the dominant Nazi archetypes of ‘good’ and ‘evil’, corresponding to the ideological images of the Aryan and the Jew. The analysis concludes in Part III with the application of these images and their historical antecedents to theories proposed within the disciplines contributing to this thesis that discuss routes towards influencing individual and social behaviour and creating the cultural foundations necessary for genocide.