Actor needs bulletproof vest for Hitler reading

Actor needs bulletproof vest for Hitler reading
REUTERS

POTSDAM, GERMANY, FEB 11: Actor Serdar Somuncuhas publicly read from the pages of Hitler's banned book "Mein Kampf" 1,000 Times as part of a public satire on extreme right-wing ideology.

But it was not until a reading in the town of Potsdam nearBerlin last month that the actor felt threatened enough to wear a bullet-proof vest.

A group calling themselves the "National Movement" faxed achilling threat to the theatre just hours before the actor, who is of Turkish extraction, took to the stage to read excerpts from Hitler's banned work.

"The blood will flow of those who think they can glamorisethemselves by attending this performance," the statement ran.

Somuncu went on stage regardless and was met with a big voteof solidarity from the audience.

"There have been threats before, but none to this extent,"he told Reuters. "There were 400 police there -- it was very strange to sit there on stage reading 'Mein Kampf' with all the pressure."

The performance is made up of a 90-minute reading from "MeinKampf", detailing Hitler's theories on the inferiority of Jews and his rise to political power. The reading is interspersed with Somuncu's reflections on life in present-day Germany.

BULLET-PROOF VEST

Police urged Somuncu to wear the bullet-proof vest, and usedmetal detectors to check the audience for weapons as they arrived.

The performance took place on the 68th anniversary ofHitler's rise to power, when he was appointed Chancellor of the new Third Reich on January 30, 1933.

"Mein Kampf" is banned in Germany and Austria underlegislation that prohibits any material relating to the glorification of the Nazis or denial of the Holocaust.

"Banning it only gives it a cult following," Somuncu said."Reading it aloud demystifies it. It shows what's inside -- how ridiculous his (Hitler's) ideology was and how ridiculous the 'right' ideology is.

"It's my artistic way of making a stance against thisextremism."

Somuncu has toured with the show in Germany, Austria, theGerman speaking portion of northern Italy, Lichtenstein, Denmark, and the Netherlands.

He says he will do 150 readings of the book this year alone.

The reading has attracted an audience from across thepolitical spectrum, including Holocaust survivors and skinheads.

With such a bizarre mix in the audience, tour directorNadine Hieronimus said reactions have been extremely diverse.

"Yes, there have been skinheads or Left-wingers who havestood up and interrupted the reading," she said. "But then there are Jewish people, and even Holocaust survivors who have a positive reaction to the performance."

Somuncu says satire is a welcome approach to "Mein Kampf"for many survivors.

"Most of the Holocaust survivors appreciate my readingbecause it is easier to laugh about Hitler than to be threatened by him," he said.

Germany has seen a rise in right-wing extremism andracially-motivated attacks in the decade since German unification in 1990.

The government says 30 people have died in the past decadein xenophobic violence, while other groups representing foreigners put the number at more than 100.

Nearly 10 percent of Germany's 82 million population isforeign-born. In the former communist East, where a proportionately high number of the attacks have taken place, the population is less than two percent foreign.