On the 100th birthday of the resistance fighter, schoolgirls from all over Germany commemorate Sophie Scholl with a performance on Munich's Königsplatz.
The project was initiated in Haar.
Hair - It is a commemoration in body pictures, extraordinary for a "birthday serenade", but suitable for the unusual young woman: 100 young people celebrate the 100th birthday of Sophie Scholl for 100 minutes. It is a theatrical rally on May 9th on Königsplatz. In a calm, yet visually effective appearance, the performers - including students from Ernst-Mach-Gymnasium in Haar - trace the life line of Sophie Scholl and relate the work of the resistance fighter to herself. The performance is accompanied by documented texts, including many original quotes.
The performance is registered as a demonstration so that it can even be carried out during the pandemic.
The patron is Munich's Lord Mayor Dieter Reiter (SPD), the memorial was initiated by the White Rose Foundation and played by 100 young people involved.
The whole thing was staged by Farina Simbeck, who came up with the idea of the “100”, and EMG teacher Thomas Ritter as part of his theater workshop “Blickwechsel”.
As always, however, the school theater group from Haar played a leading role in the elaboration. In a research phase, the young people traced Scholl's life and created some scenic moments from it.
EMG: It's been a long time since school theater
The duo Ritter / Simbeck and their troupe are taking another big step in the world of special forms of theater.
Both of them and their students have long since exceeded the normal level of school theater, and they jumped the Haarer borders with the play “Search for traces”, which was shown well over 100 times in Germany.
Ritter and Simbeck document, but also make issues, documents and problems visible that affect the present or originate from it.
The starting point is “theatrical remembering”, which offers excellent opportunities to stage historical-political events and facts as well as very personal experiences.
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The Nazis imprisoned and executed the resistance fighters of the White Rose.
A schoolgirl shows the picture of Sophie Scholl.
© Private
Sophie Scholl and her colleagues from the White Rose infected Ritter two years ago when he was a guest at the award ceremony of the Geschwister-Scholl-Prize at the LMU.
It quickly became clear to him that he wanted to and will make the brave resistance fighter an issue in a completely different way.
The plan was to put a performance on stage with the Weisse Rose Foundation in which the ideas of the resisters would be related to the realities of life of the young people.
"Due to Crona, however, the project has to be postponed to the coming year," explains Ritter.
But that doesn't mean for him that Sophie Scholl will go home empty-handed for her birthday.
"It became the outdoor commemoration event."
The 101st birthday is also celebrated
To achieve this, he and Simbeck managed to get 100 theater students from all over Bavaria to set a clearly visible sign on Sunday and remember Sophie Scholl and the resistance of the White Rose. The theater teachers at the various schools in Germany are now familiar with it. Ritter: “It wasn't difficult to get some and their students excited about this campaign.” What sounds simple, is complex in detail: Extensive online rehearsals and precise planning and consultation with the city of Munich were necessary to be able to realize the project. After the performance, the paths of the 100 actresses quickly parted ways, conforming to the corona. Nevertheless, they will celebrate together, "on Sophie's 101st birthday, hopefully under completely different conditions," said Ritter.
Watch - this is how it works:
There is a limited contingent for the appearance on Königsplatz (start: 11 a.m.). You can see it online here in the stream
