House of Resistance

Packs, mobs, Fahrtenstenze, bubbles, Navajos, Ruhr and Edelweiss pirates: Everywhere in Nazi Germany, groups formed that did not identify with the state-prescribed youth culture. Their style of dress, music and leisure activities brought them together. Their appearance, but also their political actions, brought them into conflict with Nazi ideology and into the crosshairs of the Gestapo. In the 24/25 season, the Theater der Jungen Welt Leipzig and the Junge Oper am Rhein are devoting themselves to this youthful resistance in a music theater project based on the culture of remembrance. Under the artistic direction of director and musician Schorsch Kamerun, young people in Leipzig and Duisburg are exploring the history of these youth groups and the role of youth culture then and now: when does non-conformity become opposition, when does opposition become resistance?

Similar to the process in Leipzig, young people from Duisburg are working for a year on the history of these youth groups on the Rhine and Ruhr. How does the discourse on the culture of remembrance differ between East and West? What does the culture of remembrance mean in a city like Duisburg that is strongly characterised by migration history? And what role does popular culture play compared to high culture in the practice of resistance?

On 8 May 2025, the 80th anniversary of the end of the Second World War, the Duisburg Theatre will become the ‘House of Resistance’ for one day in a walk-in installation in which various Duisburg groups (from the citizens' choir to the youth orchestra) will perform in the theatre building with scenic and musical formats, performances, interventions and happenings. The day will conclude with a scenic concert on the theatre's main stage, featuring the Duisburg and Leipzig groups as well as singers from the Deutsche Oper am Rhein and members of the Duisburg Philharmonic Orchestra.