Die Welle

Based on a true story

The Nazi era is over. Today, the world is enlightened and safe. That’s true, isn’t it? In history class, a group of students discusses this and other questions as they cover World War II in their curriculum. The students agree that a dictatorship could never happen in Germany today. To prove how easily people can be seduced, manipulated, and exploited, the teacher begins an experiment. The class is to function as a group through discipline and community. As “The Wave,” the students become increasingly immersed in the experiment. The sense of community they experience inspires many students, and some from other classes even join in. But then everything spirals out of control, and the experiment unleashes a dangerous momentum of its own.

The 1981 bestseller “The Wave” is based on a real experiment. Teacher Ron Jones conducted this experiment in 1967 at a California high school. Jones wrote a short story (“The Third Wave”) about the seductive power that his fictional movement “The Wave” unleashed over the course of a few days; since its publication, the story has developed a pull all its own. The material has been adapted countless times in a variety of ways. It has inspired stage plays, musical works, and films. Among the most famous adaptations is the novel *The Wave* by Morton Rhue. The book *THE WAVE* by Morton Rhue was published by Ravensburger Buchverlag Otto Maier GmbH.

Approx. 120 minutes, one intermission