Mauthausen-Erinnerungen 5: Arthur Alexander Becker

‘Friend!
This little book was written by a person who was, himself, forced to spend several years in a concentration camp, whom nothing was spared and who now goes through life as a cripple.

Perhaps you’ll be disappointed after reading this little book. It doesn’t drip with blood and there aren’t any beatings. […] But please, open your eyes and open your ears and read between the lines and listen for the voices that resonate in the dialogue.’

So wrote Arthur Alexander Becker in the foreword to his play ‘Mauthausen!’. It was premiered on 16 May 1946 at the Salzburg State Theatre with the title ‘Der Weg ins Leben’ (‘The Path to Life’) and subsequently published by Ried-Verlag in Salzburg. As a piece of theatre in classical dramatic form, this early text within the literature about the Mauthausen concentration camp is unique. While the main character – a political prisoner named Fritz Steiff – is fictional, the play also features ‘criminal’ prisoners and SS men with names that are historically documented.

This new edition of the unusual memoir includes a comprehensive afterword. It explores the glamorous life of Arthur Becker, who was put in ‘preventative detention’ by a Nazi court before being deported to Mauthausen and its Schwechat subcamp as a ‘criminal’ prisoner. The afterword also shines a light on the historical, sociological and literary context of the play.