In December 1963 opens in Frankfurt am Main the great trial against the crimes
committed in Auschwitz. It is the first public debate about the crimes of
the Shoah and about the German responsibilities for the Jews massacre after the
trials in Nurnberg. It concludes in August 1965. On the 19 October of the same
year in 16 European theatres Peter Weiss’ pièce Die Ermittlung is put on. It is a
great political and media event. Is Weiss’ Oratorium a documentary drama, based
on the acts of the trial or better the questioning about the same idea and possibilities
of the trial in so extreme facts?
