(German: Der aufhaltsame Aufstieg des Arturo Ui) Play by
Bertolt Brecht completed in 1941.
Brecht's play that draws parallels with
Hitler's rise in
Germany. Set in 1920 Chicago,
Brecht modeled the plot and characters on Al Capone’s mafia rule in order to demonstrate
the dangers of both
National Socialism and
fascism.
Parallels:
In the Play In Real Life
Ernesto Roma Ernst Röhm (SA Chief)
Giuseppe Givola Joseph Goëbbels
Emanuele Giri Hermann Göring
Old Dogsborough President Hindenberg
Ignatious Dullfeet Dollfuss (Chancellor of Austria)
The Cauliflower Trust East Prussian Landowners
The Warehouse Fire The Reichstag Fire
Dock Improvement The East Aid Scandal
Roma's Murder The Night of the Long Knives
Chicago Germany
Cicero Austria
The Play
In
Chicago a sales crisis has brought the
cauliflower trade down. Arthur Ui, a gangster boss,
offers his help to the Cauliflower Trust: his people can force the small dealers to buy these
addictive vegetables.
The Trust however already asked help from the honourable Dogsborough's: he has asked a loan the
from the City for supposedly constructions of new docks.
Dogsborough succeeds in getting the loan for the Trust. Ui's men, disappointed, ask Arturo
to take action. Arturo, who found out about the loan, confronts Dogsborough with the
facts of the loan and promises him protection from
police raids. Dogsborough,
who beliefs he can take care of the upcoming
scandal himself, throws the
maffia boss out
of his house.
When an official
investigation has started to find out where the loan has gone, Dogsborough
is forced to cooperate with Ui. Ui makes sure that all the testimonies are killed
and his man are taking over the protection of the cauliflower business.
However, the small shop owners see no reason to pay for their protection. To
make sure that these merchants are backing him, Ui orders Giri to set a
warehouse
on fire. An unemployed Fish is found quilty. Finally the small shop owners
pay their tribute to Ui.
After settling the internal matters, The Trust is working with the city Cicero to
expand their cauliflower business. However, the newspapers' editor, Dulfleet,
doesn't want to do anything with the Trust's gunmen and
rowdies.
Roma asks Ui to get rid of Givola and Giri, who are collaberating
with the Trust: it seems that the Trust finally wants to compromise
Ui with Dogsborough's testament and get rid of him.
Ui first agrees, but then changes his mind and kills Roma and his followers.
Parting from Roma's ideas, Ui finally looks acceptable in the Trust.
In Givola's flowershop, he makes contact with Dullfleet and his wife.
Dullfleet still has reservations towards the Cauliflower Trust. Ui
finally eliminates Dullfleet and at his funeral he offers his wife
protection.
Sources:
The International Brecht Society