The Investigation is a dramatic reconstruction of the Frankfurt War
Crimes trials, based on the actual evidence given. This testimony,
concerning Auschwitz and the atrocities which were enacted there, has
been edited and extracted by Peter Weiss into a dramatic document that
relies solely and completely on the facts for its effectiveness.
There is no artistic license, no manipulation of facts and figures, no
rearrangement of events for theatrical effect. Nameless witnesses stand
and recall their appalling memories of Auschwitz, allowing us to bear
witness to their painful and painstaking search for truth and,
ultimately, justice. What emerges is a chastening and purging
documentary of deeply moving power.
Peter Weiss was born in 1916 and settled in Sweden before the outbreak
of World War II. Apart from his writing, he was also well known as a
painter, theatrical and operatic director, and a film maker. His
magnificent play Marat/Sade, which is also available from Marion
Boyars Publishers, established his reputation among English-speakling
audiences as a revolutionary dramatist, and has continued to be a
bestselling classic. He died in 1982.