Gerlind Reinshagen's Sonntagskinder - Fascism critic based on an analysis of everyday life in the Third Reich


This article focuses on the analysis of "Sundays Children" (Sonntagskinder) by Gerlind Reinshagen, the only women playwright of ...

Gerlind Reinshagen's Sonntagskinder - Fascism critic based on an analysis of everyday life in the Third Reich


This article focuses on the analysis of "Sundays Children" (Sonntagskinder) by Gerlind Reinshagen, the only women playwright of the seventies and eighties to be successful on the German stage which was hostile to the female playwrights and directors.
By focusing on the everyday life of ordinary people in the Third Reich, the drama reveals the structure of ideological background and identity of fascistic German society. Reinshagen brings the role of housewives into focus, who were regarded as innocent of a crime during the Nazi era. She depicts the housewives of this era as one who functions consequently as an active supporter of the system by internalizing the slogans and ideology of the Third Reich without any critics, and by influencing the children through their socialization with the fascistic ideology. The children are forced to obtain the identity the system requires, and their languages and emotions are controlled, their dreams and fantasies are forbidden as abnormity.
Reinshagen’s critics concentrate most of all on the opportunistic and pragmatic attitude of the people, who supported the NZ regime as a result of their political unconsciousness and opportunism. She criticizes that the smooth transition between Third Reich and the Postwar German society implies the outlook for the same materialism and the same pragmatic attitude of the people without any reflections or critics on their past.