Le théâtre de Nathan Katz

Abstract

Nathan Katz (1892- 1981) was the author of two works for the theatre : a marvellous tale entitled D'Ardwibele (1924), and a drama, Annele Balthasar (1930). They are both in the idiom of the Sundgau, an isolated area in southern Alsace, and set in a village where religious consensus reigns. In the background of this ideal image there appears a nightmare vision. The Sundgau was infamous for the execution of witches. The village community torments one of its members, whose values differ from those of the majority, to a point where he loses both reason and life. The village then admits the victim's innocence, and harmony restored until the next explosion of hatred. Both of Nathan Katz's works include a charitable, non-violent hero, the bearer of a messianic hope which can be heard in the echo that resounds at night in the gardens of his restricted fatherland. The themes evoked by Nathan Katz, such as the persecution of innocent victims, the foul smell of burning flesh, the survivors' endless mourning, are reinterpreted by the A. of this article in terms of the persecutions inflicted by the Nazis