The Deputy (Cyclopedia of Literary Characters)
At a glance:
- Author: Rolf Hochhuth
- First Published: 1963
- Type of Work: Play
- Type of Plot: Historical
- Time of Work: August, 1942, to November, 1944
- Setting: Berlin, Rome, and the Auschwitz-Berkenau extermination camp in Poland
- Genres: Drama, History play, Tragedy
- Subjects: 1940’s, God, Duty, Good and evil, Ethics, Catholics or Catholic Church, Popes or papacy, Holocaust, Jewish, Concentration camps, Jesuits, Berlin
- Locales: Berlin, Germany, Rome, Italy, Poland, Auschwitz-Berkenau
Characters Discussed
Father Riccardo Fontana, an idealistic young Jesuit priest who opposes the Catholic church’s concordat with Adolf Hitler and who tries unsuccessfully to persuade the pope to speak out against the Nazi atrocities against the Jews. Joining a group destined for Auschwitz, he becomes, in effect, the pope’s representative, or “deputy,” accepting for himself the morally correct role he believes the pope has abdicated.
Kurt Gerstein, an officer in the SS and member of the Protestant Confessing church. Gerstein is a devout Christian who attempts to...
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