Mrs. Stern Wanders the Prussian State Library – 25 October 2024

Remarkably profound, Mrs. Stern Wanders the Prussian State Library explores a woman with a doctorate who is arrested and detained by the Gestapo on suspicion of exposing Germany’s antisemitism to the international community by mailing mimeographs of political cartoons abroad. Mrs. Hannah Stern (Ella Dershowitz) finds herself under arrest by a Gestapo officer who is new to the political division of the Nazi party with a background in criminal investigations named Karl (Brett Temple). Karl has an innate curiosity, is very well read, and takes an interest in Hannah’s publications. Hannah keeps him talking and continues bonding. In the end, Karl agrees to free Hannah and her mother from the political prison, and strongly urges them to leave Germany, which is a devastating proposition for Hannah who, despite everything, loves her country and her mother tongue.

Hannah carefully calculates the right level of openness and honesty to gain Karl’s trust. Like a scientist, she tests behaviors and discovers that he likes being complimented on how well he does his job despite the constantly changing metrics. She flatters him without seducing him. She confesses that despite 200 years of family history in Germany she still sees herself as a Jew. She puts her faith in Karl instead of the Zionist lawyer, Erich (Drew Hirschfield) who is interested in defending her because she fears that it will tie her to the Zionist movement and prevent her from being released. She would rather trust a single human being to do the right thing than put her faith in a movement that she cannot see, hear, or fully understand.

Ella Dershowitz gave a very deadpan performance, leaving all of the subtext in the hands of the audience. She lit up when she spoke of reading and meeting her husband and her search for the perfect strudel. She cried at the thought of losing the homeland that was such an important part of her concept of self. But beyond that, she stayed calm and collected. It was difficult to discern what she had planned to try as a tactic, what she was experimenting with, and what required her to think on the fly. A little more dynamic contrast in Dershowitz’s performance would have added some variety to the audience experience and helped raise the stakes. If the audience had been able to watch her think and process, it would have been easier to connect to her plight on a personal level. While she did candidly expose the absurdity of being arrested for wandering the library, her stoicism, which would have been an asset to this situation in real life, somewhat hindered the dramatic structure of telling the story on stage.

For his part, Brett Temple was extraordinarily clear. Despite his monotonous voice and the harshness to his instructions, it was clear from his questions what he was personally interested in and what the Nazi party was interested in. His transition from following orders to giving them caused him distress and anxiety to the point where his prisoner was soothing and reassuring him. Karl served as a powerful reminder that people hurt people, no matter who they work for. Hannah saw his conscience and his moral compass—and she, the prisoner, exploited it. She saw who Karl might have been, that his interests were different than those of his employer, and that, in another world, they might have been friends. And yet she gets him to free her—and to think that he thought of it himself. She compromises his job and ability to feed his family so that she and hers may escape. In the Third Reich, obedience was taken very seriously. What will happen to this man who showed her kindness, brought her coffee, and wanted to discuss her life’s research? She trades her life for his, and seems not to feel guilt. What kind of philosophical moral compass beats in her chest?

Mrs. Stern Wanders the Prussian Library spoke of unfairness, cruelty, and human nature in ways that are remarkable. On its journey through the mundane, we also uncover the extraordinary. And on the journey through the extraordinary, we uncover some ugly truths. As human beings, we do what we have to do to survive as individuals, not as a collective, connected humanity. The dehumanization and disregard for human life that Hannah shows is no different from Karl’s. To me, that’s frightening. Individual connection is not enough to bridge the divide between people who take pride in the uniqueness of their identities. I hope someday society is able to help each other, no just ourselves. Karl’s version of the adage “all’s fair in love and war” is his one moment of laughter during Hannah’s detainment. He says, “you can tell anything to your prison guard.”

I attended this performance on a press pass from Berlin Rosen.