Listening to the Generals (Naslouchání generálům, 2009)

Přidal: Přemek |

Červen 10, 2011

Adam Ganz. Režie Eoin O’Callaghan.

Osoby a obsazení: Helen (Rebecca Saire), Purfleet (Malcolm Tierney), Anton (Matt Addis), Charles (Benjamin Askew), von Thomas (Nick Dunning), Cruwel (Sam Dale), Boes (Paul Rider), Mayer (Jonathan Tafler), Hardt (Philip Fox), zpěvák (David Revels).

Nastudováno v Belfastu 2009. Premiéra 15. 8. 2009 (BBC Radio 4, 14:15 h.).

Pozn.: Hra, kterou autor napsal podle vzpomínek svého otce, přibližuje málo známou zpravodajskou akci druhé světové války. Rozhovory německých důstojníků v anglickém zajetí byly tajně nahrávána a analyzovány briitskou kontrarozvědkou. Na jejich záznamu, překladech a analýze se podílel i …německý židovský uprchlík Peter Ganz. K poslechu online na BBC RADIO 4 do 22.6.2010.

Lit.: anonym: Listening to the Generals. In web Radio Drama Reviews Online, červen 2010 (anotace). – Cit.: Based on his father’s experiences during World War II, Listening to the Generals told the story of the secret recording of German officers who were captured between 1942 and 1945 and interned at Trent Park, a large mansion with extensive grounds in North London. This strategy provided the British with much valuable information both during the War and afterwards, when it was intended to be used as evidence during the Nuremberg Trials.
The play itself focused on the experiencesd of the central character Helen (Rebecca Saire), who took on the role of listener, spending up to eight hours a day overhearing the prisoners‘ conversation. She discovered to her horror that several of her colleagues were German Jews who had been forced to flee their homeland and had resettled in England. Many of them, notably Anton (Matt Addis) found their job almost unbearable as they overheard the details of Nazi policy discussed in a coldly matter-of-fact way by the prisoners.
While the play recounted the listeners‘ experience with a harrowing directness, it was spoiled on occasions by unnecessary anachronisms. Major Purfleet (Malcolm Tierney), the head of the entire operation, referred on one occasion to Helen missing her „loved ones“ – an expression which according to the Oxford English Dictionary only entered current British English usage in the early 1970s. Elsewhere he talked about „getting inside the heads“ of the German officers – another colloquialism which did not enter current usage until well after the War had ended. This might seem like nit-picking, but I do believe that dramatic characters should speak dialogue appropriate to the play’s socio-historical context. The director of this Afternoon Play was Eoin O’Callaghan.

Lit.: anonym: Afternoon Play – Listening to the Generals. In web BBC, červen 2011 (anotace). – Cit.: In 1943, the secret recording of captive German officers, provided invaluable information to the allied war effort, but placed an intolerable burden on the mostly Jewish ‚listeners‘ who transcribed details they often couldn’t bear to hear.

Between 1942 and 1945 captured high-ranking German officers were imprisoned in Trent Park, a large mansion with extensive grounds in North London. This was no Colditz. The captives were treated well, given access to films and newspapers, and taken for walks in the capacious grounds. Churchill was horrified to discover that they were even being taken on daytrips to Windsor and Eton. But the aim was to get them to relax – and talk. The newspapers and films were carefully chosen to provoke conversation and they made use of stoolpigeons to get the officers talking. And then through bugs placed in every room and even in the garden, the British Intelligence Service listened as they talked amongst themselves. Everything was recorded and transcribed – for use as evidence at what was to become the trials at Nuremburg.

One of the Jewish ‚listeners‘ tasked with the, at times, infuriating job of recording and transcribing, was Peter Ganz – the author’s father.

During World War Two, German generals were imprisoned in Trent Park in North London. Unbeknownst to them their conversations were being recorded and transcribed by German Jews, forced to flee the Nazis.