"Bäim, däi ham zwoa Kepf" : Dialekt als dramaturgisches Medium grenzregionaler Identität in ostbayerischen Hussiten-Festspielen

Abstract

Numerous historical open air festivals with Hussite topics in Eastern Bavaria demonstrate that the Hussite wars (1419–1436) have left a deep impact in the collective memory of the region. The picture of the Bohemians developed since the late 19th century is – depending on the current political circumstances – subject to constant change until today. In 1983 the festival Vom Hussenkrieg (Neunburg vorm Wald) for the first time broke with the hitherto very reserved, partly confrontational tendencies towards the Czech neighbors. Its author, Peter Klewitz, tried to create an objective picture of the Hussite era and called for understanding 'the other side'. This impulse to collective action is, in this case, significantly transported by the language of the drama: the dialect(s) of Eastern Bavaria. By means of the dramatic text the article tries to focus on the dramaturgical possibilities of using regional language(s) of the festival region in regard to the integrative aims of the historical festival as a literary genre in order to initiate or modify certain perspectives on the common Bavarian-Bohemian history of the border region.

Keywords

• Eastern Bavaria
• Bohemia
• historical open air festival
• Hussite wars
• dialect