Carl Zuckmayer

Carl Zuckmayers play about the morality of a nuclear physicist’s work in the face of its destructiveness was first staged in 1955 by Gustav Gründgens and performed in 29 other theatres still in the same year. The plot draws a parallel to the story of Claus Fuchs who was convicted of espionage in the UK for helping the USSR construct their own warheads after the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, thereby counteracting the advantage of the US and establishing the system of mutually assured destruction a reality of the late 20th century.

„The quintessence of the play is not the splitting of atoms, but the crisis of trust, and, in broader dimensions, the crisis of thought and belief of today.“ (Carl Zuckmayer)