Eclipses

29 and 30 January 2011

Eclipses is the story of the first 10 women who became the protagonists of one of the most disarming fragments of holocaust history: the creation and opening of the first brothel for Buchenwald concentration-camp prisoners.
If, after the war, the survivors found it difficult to speak about their experiences in the lager, for the women who survived in the Sonderbau (the first camp brothel) talking was virtually impossible. The topic was, and still is, taboo.

Eclipses deals with the theme of forced prostitution in concentration camps. The first women recruited could not be Jews. They were mostly political prisoners, petty criminals or women who defied Nazi ideology by forging a relationship with a Jewish man. Eclipses could be defined as a film-documentary to be performed in a theatre. An encounter with history experienced on one's own skin and not only through history books, archives and video documentaries.

The performance and play unfolds through a series of small or large rooms, full or empty spaces. The audience will enter the Sonderbau, or Special House, like the unfortunate clients of that time. A foyer full of light, simply and elegantly decorated like a true 1930s city brothel. Above the bed, in the "service room" allocated to each woman, the portrait of Himmler, omnipresent eyewitness to all forced intercourse.

Hence, the design concept: the performing stage may be divided by walls, frames with glass, or key-holes from which to watch, spy or supervise the sordid activity without being seen. In each space the audience's gaze is overwhelming. In the play, scenography and dramaturgy meet through a forced journey, at once violent and tender, following the sad yet demonic reality of the Sonderbau seen through the eyes of the women involved.

Although pervading the whole play, man, or "the client", is completely absent.

Between 1942 and 1945, following a project by Heinrich Himmler, the Head of SS, brothels were created in at least 10 of the biggest concentration camps where the Sonderbauten were created to increase the productivity of male prisoners. Amongst the first brothels were Mauthausen-Gusen and Buchenwald. Then Flossenbürg, Neuengamme, Auschwitz I, Auschwitz - Monowitz, Dachau, Sachsenhausen, Mittelbau-Dora. The women or girls chosen amongst the better preserved came from Ravensbrück work-camp, enticed by the false promise of freedom after six month of service. None of the women were Jewish: they were of German, Polish or Russian origin and all under the age of 25.

When life in the Sonderbau turned them into worn-out alcoholics, these women were simply sent back to their original camp where they ended up being further exploited as guinea pigs in medical experiments or sent to Auschwitz for extermination.

A few women survived this horrible experience. Traumatised in body and soul, at the end of the war they tried to forget, crushed by the weight of ignominy and shame. For years none of these women had the courage or desire to speak out.

Prisoners paid 2 marks for a sexual intercourse. This money ended up in Nazi pockets. They often despised the brothel women, convinced that they had made their choice out of free will. They didn't understand that they were themselves victims of an incredible machine.

Jews and Russian war-prisoners were denied access to the brothel which was open to those with overseeing duties inside the lager (for example the kapos).

Clients were mostly German or the so-called privileged prisoners. Later on the SS also used brothels. The paradox and hypocrisy in Nazi ideology was this legalization of prostitution within the camps, whilst in society it was severely condemned. The reason often given was that it limited the spreading of homosexuality within the camps.

The code of access to the brothel was severely regulated: the prisoner, after presenting his request was put on a waiting list. He than waited to be called during roll call. Before entering the brothel they were subjected to an examination and a shower. If he didn't have a "bonus" the client had to pay his 2 marks for the service, which had a strict time limit of 15 minutes and allowed one position only.