The actor Thomas Rühmann (70), together with colleagues from the doctor series "In aller Freundschaft" and "Die jungen Ärzte", brings a story of Nazi forced laborers to the stage. The staged reading "They were nine. Der Weg in die Freiheit" can be seen next week in the Nikolaikirche in Leipzig, in the cathedral in Wurzen as well as in Oschatz, Dresden and Rühmann's Theater am Rand in Oderbruch, according to the organizers.
The true story of nine young women who survived concentration camps, forced labour and death marches is told. Nine actresses - including Andrea Kathrin Loewig, Marijam Agischewa and Julia Jäger - take part.
The basis is the book "They were nine" by US author Gwen Strauss, which was translated by young people from the Evangelical Church Youth under the direction of deacon Fabian Hanspach. They were awarded the Margot Friedländer Prize for this in Wurzen in 2025.
The topic was important to him because we live in a time when many people want to reinterpret history, explained Rühmann. "There is the beautiful sentence by Christa Wolf: "The past does not go away"," he said. "If we forget our history, we can't manage the future either. Not the present anyway. Or only very hesitantly, as at the moment."
