1961: “Der Herr Karl”

A political-historical picture of Austria is depicted in this one-hour monologue written by Carl Merz and Helmut Qualtinger, who shined in the Austrian television premiere on November 15, 1961. Lachrymose self-pity when it concerned the self, underhandedness in action when it concerned other people, and brutality against all weaknesses characterise that attitude which suppresses the reality of Austria's participation in National Socialism. The TV production prevented the silencing of the play at a time when the works of other authors who were addressing this subject were being widely ignored in public. This affected Gerhard Fritsch with this novel Fasching (1967), as well as Otto Basil’s Wenn das der Führer wüßte (1966), Hans Lebert’s Die Wolfshaut (1960), or the work of Albert Drach (Z.Z. das ist die Zwischenzeit, 1968; Unsentimentale Reise, 1966).