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

"The world won't fall apart
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 fall apart" in 1941 for an upcoming propaganda film, he is sitting in prison. The Gestapo arrested him shortly before for his homosexuality. Although his lyrics, set to music by Zarah Leander, are enormously successful, his name can no longer appear publicly. His photographs are destroyed and he is forced into a heterosexual marriage.

Not until 1994 is Paragraph 175 repealed and homosexuality no longer prosecuted in Germany. Since 2001, same-sex couples can enter into a registered partnership. Yet many feel increasingly unsafe. Political persecution of trans people in the USA, arson attacks on queer cafés in Berlin, and repeated bans on Pride marches are just the tip of the iceberg. People who do not conform to heterosexual norms face renewed physical and verbal violence.

A look at the past serves as a possible glimpse into the future. In a blend of music and monologue, Bruno Balz is brought back to the stage by singer and actor Dominik Müller under the direction of Franziska Detrez. Through his case, we can trace the transformation from the open society of the 1920s to the fascism of the 1930s and 40s. What lessons can we draw for today's society? What kind of society do we want to live in?

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