German subscription cinema and literature
2. Andorra
Reasons to study this work
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The play like other post war plays commonly studied examines the collective guilt of the German nation and how it is up to individuals to assert themselves when unfair persecution is taking place. It is interesting from that point of view and it is also one of the shortest and easiest works to read, especially with our vocabulary list.
The interest of the work
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This short, very accessible play set in a fictional Andorra, rather than the real one, takes place as a menacing army gathers on the borders threatening the existence of anyone who happens to be Jewish.
Andri who was adopted as a baby by his teacher father thinks he is Jewish and as the play progresses is imbued with all the stereotypical characteristics of a Jewish person. Although he is an excellent woodworker he is pulled out of the workshop to sell the furniture products-because that is what Jews do.
A range of characters come forward during the play to deny their role in the eventual death of Andri, echoing the institutions of German society before and during World War 2.
