How to Make a Fascist

metroweekly.com:

Here There Are Blueberries, by Moisés Kaufman and Amanda Gronich, the photo album, which researchers determined belonged to SS Officer Karl Hoecker, forms the crux of an investigation into what roles the seemingly “good,” normal-looking people in the photos might also have played in the atrocities that took place at the camp.That investigation, in turn, reflects how fragile truth can be, how history can be preserved, or disposed of, revealed, or permanently obscured, depending on who’s left holding the evidence.“I think that the reason why I wanted to write the play is because I saw those people eating blueberries,” says Kaufman, noting a photo, projected onstage during the play, of a smiling Hoecker gleefully enjoying downtime alongside the camp’s corps of young, female secretaries and switchboard operators. “They were eating blueberries in a vacation resort in Auschwitz.”Artistic director of the Tectonic Theater Project, Kaufman, who conceived and directs Here There Are Blueberries, approached this story with the same investigative rigor the company applied to its landmark play The Laramie Project, which recounted the anti-gay murder of Matthew Shepard. “I consider myself an artist with a great passion for history, and a great passion for creating plays that deal with real-life events,” says Kaufman.Paraphrasing a patron he overheard after opening night of this play, Kaufman notes, “History is not something that’s given to us.

It has to be found.” Found, preserved, and taught, lest all its lessons be forgotten.METRO WEEKLY: It’s easy to see the present need for a story like Here There Are Blueberries.