Szczecin International School - Szkoła warta zachodu

In 1961 Max Frisch wrote his drama “Andorra”, which is about fascism and the persecution of Jews.

The action takes place in Andorra, which doesn’t have anything to do with the real Andorra because it is just a model of a country called Andorra, and there is also no exact time given, for when these events happen.

Everything started 20 years ago when a teacher named Can from Andorra went to the country of the so called Black, where he had an affair with one of the inhabitants, the Senora. This resulted in her becoming pregnant and him taking the baby with him back to Andorra, pretending it was a Jewish child that he had saved from getting killed by the Blacks.

So when Andri was a child his father was admired for his bravery, but when he grew up the racist prejudices against Jews started to come out.

Back to present time Andri is a grown man, living and working in Andorra as a dishwasher, dreaming of becoming a carpenter. He is also very much in love with a young woman called Barblin, who is actually his half-sister, but he doesn’t know that yet and during the St.George’s Day procession he tells her that he wishes to marry her.

But the problems with the other locals get worse all the time, and he gets bullied a lot, and so he thinks that he is not allowed to marry Barblin because he is a Jew.

Andri doesn’t accept that he is a Jew, and so he talks with the priest, who convinces him to accept himself as a Jew.

After that rumours of the Blacks wanting to invade Andorra become more frequent.

Later the young Senora from the country of the Black comes walking in and shortly after that Andri comes in and he starts a fight with the soldier which Andri loses.

He gets beaten badly, but refuses to accept any help, so the Senora asks him to take her to his father.

At home Andri refuses to believe that he’s not an adopted Jewish child, but the real son of the teacher. At the same time the Senora gets killed by a stone, that Andri is said to have thrown.

Andri finds out that Barblin had an affair with the soldier.

He begins to of accept the fact that he is Can’s son, and he has a long talk with Barblin, when the Black soldiers come in and take Andri to be examined to see if he is a Jew or not. There he is accused of being Jewish and taken away to death. His father who has been trying to convince everyone that Andri is not Jewish commits suicide and Barblin, who had tried to stop everyone from participating in the show, was taken, shaved bald, and then she went insane.

German Summary

Das Drama "Andorra", geschrieben von Max Frisch (1961), behandelt das Thema Judenverfolgung. Es handelt sich dabei um ein Modell, das zeigt, wie Antisemitismus ensteht und sich schnell ausbreiten kann.

Alles begann vor 20 Jahren, als ein Lehrer aus Andorra in das Nachbarland der Schwarzen, die als feindlich und antisemitisch gelten, reiste. Dort hatte er mit einer Einheimischen (Senora) eine Affaere, die daraufhin ein Baby gebar. Die Senora wird spaeter vom Wirt mit einem Stein erschlagen. Der Lehrer nahm das Kind Andri mit nach Andorra, behauptend es sei ein Jude, den er vor den Schwarzen gerettet hat. Dafuer wurde er respektiert und geachtet. In der Gegenwart ist Andri zum Mann herangewachsen und lebt in Andorra. Er liebt Barblin, die, wie beide nicht wissen, seine Halbschwester ist. Mit der Zeit treten die versteckten oder unterdrueckten antsemitistischen Ansichten und Vorurteile der Bewohner von Andorra hervor. Diese verstaerken sich im Verlauf der Handlung. Nachdem die Schwarzen das Land eingenommen haben, wird Andri bei der Judenschau hingerichtet. Daraufhin erhaengt sich der Lehrer und Barblin wird verrueckt.