HEIMWEH WONACH

An untold story

"I believed I could reshape the world, create a better and fairer world."

She is 17 when she is sent away from Berlin, German, Jewish, no longer a child and not yet an adult. The news of her mother's murder reaches her in exile. But then there is this vision that gives her a strength she never thought possible, the vision of helping to shape something completely new, of building a social order that wants justice and solidarity. This promise of communism allows her to return to a completely bombed-out Berlin, overcoming humiliation, pain and loss for the time being.

But what remains when the vision begins to totter dangerously? When their own resistance and doubts become insurmountable? It is much later when the daughter begins to ask questions and the mother searches for answers, her own answers.

HEIMWEH WONACH not only examines the major turning points in life, but also the everyday, family life between parents and children - sometimes tenderly and sensitively, and then again full of accusation. The play shows how a rapprochement between the generations can begin despite the pain experienced and the speechlessness about it.

"With merciless, ruthless ferocity, my mother worked her fingers with a wide variety of instruments. She was never careful or gentle. Blood often oozed out as she licked or sucked more. I watched her as she chose the right instrument like a craftsman. If she cut too deeply and the blood came out, she would scold me as if it was my fault."