Fremd I Ruhrfestspiele 2025

Fremd based on the text by Michel Friedman
A project by Katharina Bach and Katrin Lindner
Munich Kammerspiele

What does it mean to be a stranger - in a society, in one's own history and in oneself? Michel Friedman addresses this question in his haunting text "Fremd".

In it, Friedman, a lawyer, journalist and philosopher, deals with his Jewish family history and the experiences of Holocaust survivors. The 54 chapters of the monologue represent 50 lost and four rescued family members, including mom, dad, child and grandmother. Rescued by Oskar Schindler, the family emigrates after a failed return to Krakow in Poland, first to Paris and finally to Germany.

The child, whose perspective Friedman takes, impressively describes the struggle to lead a "normal" life in Germany: as a "life translator" for the parents, whose education and participation were massively restricted by fascism and war. As a bitter consequence, the father insists on education, because: "They can't take away what's in your head." Friedman's text deals with the attempt to deal with the burden of history, to say goodbye and at the same time to overcome the recurring shadows of exclusion, fear and anti-Semitism.

Katharina Bach, one of the defining actors of the Münchner Kammerspiele, has brought Friedman's text to the stage as a monologue with director Katrin Lindner. Together they have created a haunting evening. It is not just about the story of a Jewish child, but about the experiences of people who have experienced discrimination, persecution and exclusion: Migrants, queer people, minorities - and about those who look the other way, trivialize or do not empathize. Friedman's text and Bach's monologue are not just a theater experience, but an existential encounter - with history and with ourselves.

Talk with the author Michel Friedman and the actress Katharina Bach: May 20, after the performance

Age indication: 14+