"Ach, Gussie!" – Auguste Adenauer und ihr Mann Konrad

In the organizer's words:

It is actually a day of celebration, September 25, 1944. But instead of celebrating their silver wedding anniversary, Gussie and Konrad Adenauer are sitting in different cells in the Gestapo prison in Brauweiler, unaware of each other... It is the sad low point of a period of inner emigration that begins in 1933 with the National Socialists' seizure of power.
Auguste "Gussie" Adenauer was Konrad Adenauer's second wife. Over the garden fence in 1917, the 21-year-old befriended the newly elected mayor of Cologne, widower and father of three, converted to the Catholic faith and married Adenauer in 1919 against all odds. She is a housewife and mother, and also takes on social and charitable tasks and opposes the rise of the National Socialists in vain.
In March 1933, the Nazis remove Adenauer as Lord Mayor and a period of constant threat begins. After the Stauffenberg assassination attempt in July 1944, Adenauer is arrested, but manages to escape in an adventurous manner. The Gestapo then imprisoned and interrogated Gussie and threatened to imprison her family. In order to protect her children, she reveals her husband's hiding place and suffers so much from this "betrayal" that she tries to take her own life in prison. She died as a result of this suicide attempt in 1948, shortly before Konrad Adenauer was elected the first Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany.

"Ach, Gussie!" shows - with original documents from the Konrad Adenauer Archive in Rhöndorf, some of which have not yet been published - the life and thoughts of an extraordinary woman that have received little attention to date. It is about politics, love, everyday worries and the responsibility for seven children.
Beyond the historical story, the play raises the question of civil courage, courage and cohesion in times of resurgent populism.

Price information:

The usual discounts at our hotel apply