TRANSFER!

Millions of people lost their homeland during and after the Second World War, unleashed by National Socialist Germany. The city of Breslau/Wrocław stands as an example of flight, displacement, and resettlement. Turned into a field of rubble by a senseless upholding of the Nazi “fortress”, it was subsequently, upon a resolution of the victorious powers, subjected to a complete exchange of population.

The Polish stage director and playwright Jan Klata, born in 1973 in Warsaw, is developing a theatre project on flight and displacement. It will have its premiere in Wrocław.
At the intersection of grand lines of history (displacement, plans of resettlement) and the personal narratives of contemporary witnesses, the project ventures an unusual approach to one of the most difficult chapters in German-Polish history. Especially the Polish members of Büro Kopernikus' expert committee showed strong interest towards a project which re-examines the culture of memory in both countries as well as the view on history and on perpetrator/victim-constructions.
The montage from absurd theatre scenes and historical film and sound material, the integration of contemporary witnesses, and Klata’s own socialisation by punk allow for a new perspective on an unmastered part of history. What does displacement mean today, sixty years later?

Thematic development and research for Transfer! was initiated and commissioned by Büro Kopernikus. German-Polish Cultural Projects. Currently Transfer! is being produced by Teatr Współczesny in Wrocław in cooperation with Adam Mickiewicz Institute (Warsaw), and Hebbel-am-Ufer (Berlin).
The premiere is on 18 November 2006 in Wrocław. Additional performances take place 18-20 January 2007 in Berlin.