Alte Sätze in neuen Wörtern
zu Ernst Tollers Nie wieder Friede
(Old Sentences in New Words: On Ernst Toller’s Nie wieder Friede)

Under the title Never Again Peace, steirischer herbst ’25 linked today’s wars—and the renewed sense that war is once again a real possibility—to Ernst Toller’s 1930s play Nie wieder Friede. In this dark comedy, Napoleon and Francis of Assisi argue about war and pacifism. To make their point, they create a fake declaration of war and put the residents of a peaceful small town to the test. The result? Immediate eagerness for war—something that, unfortunately, doesn’t feel unfamiliar today.

In Alte Sätze in neuen Wörtern, we read and discuss key passages and rewrite them for the present. Here, political education meets reflection on language and social change.