German Translation of THIN EDGE OF THE WEDGE

With immense gratitude to …

German gymnasium history teacher Amos Kraemer in Heidelberg, Germany, whose generosity enabled the translation of the nonfiction play THIN EDGE OF THE WEDGE into German by the professional translator Claudia Radecki.

After much email consultation, we chose the following title for the play in German:

SCHRITTE IN DEN ABGRUND (Steps into the Abyss)

For a copy of the play in German, please email in English to pzmiller@gmail.com

Amos Kraemer, born in Reutlingen, Germany, studied history and physics at the universities of Tuebingen and Greifswald . Since the year 2000 he has been working as a high school teacher at the Internationale Gesamtschule Heidelberg, teaching these subjects from the basic level to the final exams.

 

Claudia Radecki, born in Rothenburg ob der Tauber, Germany, spent two years in London and obtained a degree in translation from the Johannes Gutenberg University Germersheim for English and Spanish, specializing in technical translation. She has been working as a freelance translator for 18 years, initially translating mainly operating manuals but later broadening her spectrum to include promotional material, travel guides, training materials, company home pages, astronomical magazine articles and books about geography as well as the translation and proofreading of subtitles for TV series and movies. The translation of a theatre play in close consultation with the author was a new and exciting experience.

Benefactor Amos Kraemer wrote in German about his personal commitment to this project. Thanks to Google translator, here are his comments in English:

I am writing to you as the one who made the German translation of the piece “Steps in den Abgrund / Thin Edge of the Wedge” possible. For 20 years I have been working in the state school service at a Heidelberg gymnasium school in the subjects of history and physics. I got to know Ms. Zimbler Miller and her project at a Zoom meeting on a different topic. I found the approach of having a play that is directly based on reports from contemporary witnesses interesting.

I have taught the subject of the Holocaust many times and as a teacher you always ask yourself how you can convey this sensitive subject, especially in a limited time. The play is first and foremost a reading, not so much real theater with the plot and interaction of the actors. As such, it can be read by the students, in whole or in part, in class or on a school stage.

Such a presentation, which gives an overview of the various fates of persecution from Eastern Europe, may offer a different and more emotional approach than if one were to work on written material or watch films. At the same time, the play does not work with dramatization and fictionalization, so it remains very much on the factual-historical level and therefore perhaps has a special credibility. The narrative figure of the author gives the individual fates a bracket and creates a reference to today.

The author does not want any money for the use of the piece and I financed the professional translation into German as a donation on my part. I think it would be nice and useful to make the text for the piece perceptible and accessible for history teachers, maybe in an indicative article or link.

— Amos Krämer, Internationale Gesamtschule Heidelberg