- Frank Castorf: 'The AfD is the revenge of the East'
Theater Director Frank Castorf (73) believes he knows the motivations of voters for the Alternative for Germany (AfD). "I think they are driven by a very simple thought. The AfD is the revenge of the East," says the 73-year-old in an interview with the "Berliner Zeitung" (already online, print 10.8.). That the AfD also achieves quite good results outside of East Germany, Castorf ignores at this point.
"It's a scandal, after all: Who leads the editorial boards, theaters, museums, universities, who sits on the benches of the courts?", Castorf asks further in the interview. "Christoph Hein has accurately described how the West professors, who didn't get any positions at home, pushed from the second row into the open wound of East Germany." Revenge triggers "the Pavlovian reflex on the other side".
He doesn't like it, says the 1951-born Castorf in Berlin (East): "One feels a bit ashamed that it's being voted like this, but one can't forbid it. The state doesn't please me, but I can't say anything about it because I don't see a proper solution." He has "a little hope, when I look at France and the Front Populaire, that left forces can strengthen again".
The former Intendant of the Volksbühne Berlin (1992 to 2017) also expresses himself in the conversation about the demos against the right, which took place at the beginning of the year and at which leading politicians of the traffic light coalition such as Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz or Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock also participated.
"The many who go onto the streets against the right, or what they think it is, remind me more of the demonstrations for the Day of the Republic and the 1st of May in the GDR," says Castorf, "where everyone waved at Erich Honecker, who was actually in the Nazi prison in Brandenburg, with their red flags and then quickly turned off to have a nice free day. With the motto: I do what you want, but otherwise, lick my ass."
The next theater project of Castorf is an implementation of the Fallada novel "Little Man, What Now?" in the Berliner Ensemble (premiere on 14 September).
Interview "Berliner Zeitung"
"Castorf's new theatre project will bring 'Little Man, What Now?' to the Berliner Ensemble, a significant venue in the city's theatrical scene."
"Despite his criticism of the political climate, Castorf still finds hope in the potential strength of left-wing forces, as seen in France with the Front Populaire."
