READING: URTEILE

A documentary theatre text about the victims of NSU

2 May 2017, 8 pm

How was it possible for a racist gang of murderers operating underground to wreak havoc for ten years and go unpunished? Why didn’t the tremendous efforts of police investigation lead to the detection of these crimes? Why did the police only look for perpetrators among the family and friends of the victims? What was the role of the media, the intelligence service and political actors?

The documentary play Urteile (Verdicts) by Christine Umpfenbach and Azar Mortazavi, first performed at Residenztheater Munich, answers these questions by consistently taking on the victims’ perspective. Thus it uncovers gaps and structures that were made possible by the failure of the security agencies and the media. The publication of this play is aimed at giving those that were not heard a voice, keeping their testimony of the events alive, against all cover-up strategies, despite the destruction of documents.

The publication of Urteile is presented at Ballhaus Naunynstraße by the editors Azar Mortazavi and Christine Umpfenbach, as well as other contributing authors. Complementing and expanding on the text of the play, the book published in 2016 with Unrast Verlag includes contributions by writers such as Bilgin Ayata, Heike Kleffner, Kien Nghi Ha, Massimo Perinelli, Azadeh Sharifi, and Deniz Utlu, shining a light on various dimensions of structural racism.

Reading with Azar Mortazavi, Christine Umpfenbach, Massimo Perinelli and Deniz Utlu, hosted by Mutlu Ergün-Hamaz

An event by Kultursprünge at Ballhaus Naunynstraße gGmbH. With the friendly support of Unrast Verlag, Münster.