Can Love Be a Sin? Queerness in Fascism: The Case of Bruno Balz - Premiere

"The world won't end because of this
Even if it sometimes looks grey
One day it will be colourful again
One day it will be sky-blue again"

When librettist Bruno Balz writes the classic "The world won't end because of this" for a propaganda film in 1941, he is sitting in prison. The Gestapo arrested him for his homosexuality. His lyrics, set to music by Zarah Leander, are hugely successful - yet his name can no longer appear publicly, his photographs are destroyed, and he is forced into a heterosexual marriage.

Paragraph 175 was not repealed until 1994. Since 2001, same-sex couples have been able to enter into registered partnerships. Yet a sense of insecurity is growing: political persecution of trans people in the USA, arson attacks on queer cafés in Berlin, repeated bans on Pride marches. People who do not conform to heterosexual norms are once again subjected to physical and verbal violence.

In a blend of music and monologue, singer and actor Dominik Müller brings the figure of Bruno Balz back to the stage - directed by Franziska Detrez. Through his case, one can trace the transformation from the open society of the 1920s to the fascism of the 1930s and 1940s. What conclusions can we draw from this for today - and what kind of society do we want to live in?

Version and direction: Franziska Detrez
Performance and singing: Dominik Müller