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First staged in 1963, The Deputy stirred up more controversy and caused greater repercussions than any other postwar work. Based on Rolf Hochhuth's research into Vatican activities during World War II, the play's treatment of Pope Pius XII -- the "deputy" of Christ on earth -- and the Church during the Nazi persecution of the Jews made it the object of impassioned praise and violent denunciation. It is a powerful, shocking work. This new paperback edition includes an appendix about show more Hochhuth's research. show less

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10 reviews
A history lesson. The fact that some voices in Church disclaim it proves you'll have just rewards watching it. The relationship between church and Nazis is a lesson about what happens between power centers no matter ideology, race or political differences. This play is telling us: Warning, don't trust politicians, they always are lying to you. And on the other side you have a priest who is a symbol of human dignity, a man who is a real hero, because he is a hero even when he doesn't want to be one. Brilliant in all ways , with proved militancy and compromise with real themes of last century
I spent the last couple of days with the edited version of "The Deputy - a christian tragedy". The play is bursting with details, rich in character and burdened by tortuos stage directions. The dialogue is dramatically brilliant. It's an important piece of...history/theatre. Should work well as a radioplay. Will now check out Costa Gavras film "Amen" (2002).
A Papal Legate becomes aware that the Pope of WWII, Pius XII, was complicit with, if not openly aiding, the Nazis. It was a bestseller, in its day.
public principal versus human life
A history lesson. The fact that some voices in Church disclaim it proves you'll have just rewards watching it. The relationship between church and Nazis is a lesson about what happens between power centers no matter ideology, race or political differences. This play is telling us: Warning, don't trust politicians, they always are lying to you. And on the other side you have a priest who is a symbol of human dignity, a man who is a real hero, because he is a hero even when he doesn't want to be one. Brilliant in all ways , with proved militancy and compromise with real themes of last century
½
Sep 29, 2025English (UK)
Non c'è, nelle cronache letterarie, un'opera che come Il Vicario sia stata al centro di polemiche cosi acri e di contrasti cosi accesi, che abbia suscitato denigrazioni accanite e consensi entusiastici. Molti hanno ritenuto di potersene sbarazzare più facilmente contestandole ogni valore artistico o contrapponendole opere storiche più moderate nelle conclusioni. Ma anche senza voler entrare nel merito del problema della validità letteraria o documentaria del Vicario, su cui giudicherà il lettore, non si può negare allo Hochhuth il merito di essere andato al fondo di una delle questioni più scabrose dei nostri tempi. Al centro di quest'opera è la figura di Papa Pio XII che l'autore - sulla scia di giudizi già espressi da molti show more (tra gli altri ricordiamo Camus e Mauriac) - accusa di avere assistito, senza elevare la sua protesta, allo sterminio dei sei milioni di ebrei compiuto dai nazisti nei campi di concentramento durante la seconda guerra mondiale. Molti cattolici hanno reagito violentemente alle accuse di Hochhuth ritenendole blasfeme e dimenticando che il papa è infallibile solo quando parla ex cathedra di dottrine di fede o di morale, essendo nel resto, come tutti gli uomini, soggetto a colpe e a errori; ma non sono mancate parole coraggiose di sacerdoti, i quali per l'appunto hanno visto nel testo di Hochhuth l'invito a un esame approfondito, spietato delle nostre colpe, delle nostre omissioni, della prima rinuncia nei confronti della violenza e del male..." (C. Bo). Tra gli elementi che hanno contribuito al successo del Vicario sono il vigore, l'energia, l'appassionata partecipazione con cui l'autore si sforza di interpretare la cruda materia storica, la volontà di comprendere la nostra epoca attraverso la sua problematica più scottante. show less

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When The Deputy, an epic drama in the manner of Schiller, was simultaneously published and performed on stage by Erwin Piscator's company in Berlin in 1963, it created a furor, "almost certainly the largest storm ever raised by a play in the whole history of drama" (Eric Bentley). Reading "like a German doctoral dissertation in verse," (New show more Republic), it is a searing indictment of Pope Pius XII, "God's deputy" on earth, for not having intervened publicly when Hitler organized and carried out the massacre of six million Jews. A Jesuit priest, the only invented character, reasons with the Pope in the play and in despair "becomes" a Jew and goes off to his death at Auschwitz. "To me," said Hochhuth, "Pius is a symbol, not only for all leaders but for all men . . . who are passive when their brother is deported to death." The storm raged---with bannings, picketings, and riots in various parts of the world, and countless articles pro and con. Cardinal Spellman and Pope Paul VI were only two of the Catholic churchmen who came to the defense of Pope Pius, the latter on the ground that had the Pope spoken out he "would have been guilty of unleashing on the already tormented world still greater calamities involving innumerable innocent victims." Unfortunately, this work is no longer in print, nor is Hochhuth's almost equally controversial play The Soldiers (1967), in which Winston Churchill is accused of being personally responsible for the death of the Polish general Vladislav Sikorski. (Bowker Author Biography) show less

Some Editions

Boehkle, Henning (Cover designer)
Kouwenaar, Gerrit (Translator)
Piscator, Erwin (Preface)
Vranken, Katja (Contributor)
Winston, Clara (Translator)
Winston, Richard (Translator)

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Common Knowledge

Canonical title*
Der Stellvertreter
Original title
Der Stellvertreter
Alternate titles*
Stellvertreter (rugtitel) (rugtitel)
Original publication date
1962
Important places*
Deutschland
Related movies
Amen. (2002 | IMDb)
Original language
German
*Some information comes from Common Knowledge in other languages. Click "Edit" for more information.

Classifications

Genre
Fiction and Literature
DDC/MDS
832.914Literature & rhetoricGerman & related literaturesGerman drama1900-1900-19901945-1999
LCC
PT2668 .O3 .S813Language and LiteratureGerman, Dutch and Scandinavian literaturesGerman literatureIndividual authors or works1961-2000
BISAC

Statistics

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447
Popularity
68,518
Reviews
7
Rating
(3.82)
Languages
9 — Dutch, English, Estonian, French, German, Hebrew, Hungarian, Italian, Spanish
Media
Paper
ISBNs
17
ASINs
26