Hans Litten: The Jew Who Cross-Examined Hitler – 01 February 2026

There is a line early on in Hans Litten: The Jew Who Cross-Examined Hitler in which Hans (Daniel Yaiullo) laughs at his father’s (Stan Buturla) notion that law is a form of art that changes the world while begrudgingly acknowledging and accepting that he is fated to become a lawyer. Within a few years, he finds himself in a court room, cross-examining Nazi party leader Adolf Hitler (Zack Calhoun), who is on the witness stand to defend the actions of two of his stormtroopers (Dave Stishan, Robert Ierardi). Educated on all of Hitler’s previous public statements (both oral and written), Litten succeeds at convicting the stormtroopers and making Adolf Hitler look and feel like a fool because of his contradictory statements on violence, calling attention to the many times that Hitler had endorsed it as an effective tool for getting what he wants. The tables turn when Hitler is elected. As Hitler rises to power, he seeks to punish Litten individually in addition to Jewish people collectively, and has Litten thrown in a work camp where his fingers are broken but his spirit is not. Several transfers later, Litten finds himself at Dachau, where he dies by suicide.

One would think that surviving as long as he did as a personal enemy of Hitler was Litten’s biggest achievement, but it was actually the poetry and music that he brought with him at every turn of events. Through sharing his love for Rilke and Mozart, Litten was able to inspire others to persevere past the point which he could not. His story is a compelling source for this play by Douglas Lackey, because Litten stands out as someone who was deeply human in a time forever earmarked in history as a time when the world sat back and lost their humanity in the face of great cruelty and mass murder. This theatrical adaptation is moving in all of its portrayals because no one depicts helplessness. Everyone who is ultimately on the losing side is strengthened by human connection, from Litten’s mother (Barbara McCulloh) to his fellow prisoners (Dave Stishan, Zack Calhoun, Whit K. Lee, Robert Ierardi). When faced with extreme violence and pain, Litten chooses to sing rather than to despair. In this way, he illuminates a path through the darkness for others.

The stormtroopers are portratyed as ignorant, constantly wiping their noses and completely incapable of a coherent thought at their trial. The guards (Whit K. Lee, Robert Ierardi), on the other hand, display cruelty towards items as insignificant as a picture from a library book. When the human spirit is depicted as so much louder and stronger, how is it that these few silent presences that stomp on the ground and tear paper to shreds were able to intimidate and annihilate six million people? What prevented those who stood up in spirit and in individual actions from standing together as a collective to push back? The answer circles back to Litten’s first trial and the conversation with his father that opens this play: human decency. Those who have experienced violence are frightened to perpetrate it. Those who understand the value of a human life only feel comfortable taking their own.

As a piece of theatre, Hans Litten: The Jew Who Cross-Examined Hitler serves many functions. It teaches a little known piece of history. It chronicles the rise of fascism starting in a place where something could have been done to prevent it. But most importantly, it reminds us of our ethics and humanity. It also reminds us that we have a choice to leave this world on our own terms, and that there is a great burden on those who keep a torch lit for others. Litten’s moral upstanding is a beacon, and also a cautionary tale: not every battle can be fought on behalf of the people in a court system. We have a responsibility to fight injustice when we see it, before it comes to a point where the only avenue is violence and our only choice is to be the victim or the perpetrator.

I attended this performance on a press pass from JT Public Relations.