Juliane
Juliane is a trained freelance actress, often working on a voluntary basis as an acting teacher and non-violence trainer in prisons, schools and other institutions. Juliane got involved with social-preventive theatre work as a result of being a mother of a dark-skinned daughter who wanted to make a practical contribution to prevent racism in Berlin and Brandenburg. When Juliane developed her first concept for theatre work in juvenile prisons in the 1990’s , she was directly confronted with right-wing extremism and various migration related phenomena of hate and violence.
Juliane personally experienced right-wing extremist violence in two ways. After living in New York for many years, she and her daughter were attacked in Brandenburg by a group of Neonazis in 1991. Additionally, as the single mother of a dark-skinned child living in East Berlin and Brandenburg, she experienced racist and sexist attacks (“prostitute”, “nigger-cunt” etc. ). On the other hand her father, born in the mid 1930s, was “a Nazi”, who deeply admired his own father, who died as a lieutenant colonel of the SS (“Obersturmbannführer”) in the Second World War. Juliane's father was an alcoholic, “ranted Nazi-speeches”, “beat up us kids” – and “drank himself to death”. Also Juliane’s mother tended to use racist expressions (Jews, Niggers etc.). She could “barely tolerate” the film Schindler’s List and deflected by speaking of Russian occupation soldiers and rapes, that she probably had observed as a child in the year 1945 – “we are also victims!”. Now, as the grandmother of a dark-skinned grandchild, Juliane's mother has reached a better understanding of racism.
Today Juliane says, she must have had a guardian angel who prevented her from “somehow” becoming a left-wing terrorist or a drug addict in the 1980’s, because that could happen so quickly, if one „is not given a good structure“ by family and environment. This was the case with herself as well as the young clients with whom she does her social therapeutic theatre work.
However a constructive radical nature has remained in her: “I am radically interested in people and stories“. Because of this she began working with perpetrators of violence out of a personal calling, even though she could have earned more money with little trouble as an actress. Juliane is especially successful with her work where other measures were in vain – especially where political education, the hot chair or prison psychologists made no headway (and sometimes unnoticedly acted sadistically).
Juliane emphasises that this kind of work requires one to „be touched“ as a person and to „go into contact“. When a voluntary and trusting agreement can be reached for a joint educational process (such as in a prison), Juliane says that she noticed that „Nazis are also just people with passion“, who often come from very troubled familial backgrounds. Like all people they can be reached best there, in their passion, for which every single person must be accorded unconditional respect.
Theatre and anti-violence work are emotionally and personally deeply affecting, and are therefore based on trust and discretion. Colleagues who want to do such work should be curious and open to all kinds of people. They should approach each of their clients with an attitude of „I am excited about you“ („provided that you allow yourself to be excited and fully enter into the work“).
Juliane recollects that even a young man who was very set ideologically and who couldn’t be reached by political education or prison psychologists, left the right wing scene through theatre work – and then also publicly acknowledged this.
However, for an external practitioner support from the institution is helpful, but not always available. Juliane says, when you work so personally and intensively as she does in schools and prisons, “colleagues are going to hate you sooner or later“.
In some cases the limits of intensive educational (theatre) work became clear to Juliane. Sometimes serious psychopathologies could be observed in right wing extremist men (deep attachment disorders, emotional control, sadism). Those men need forensic-/psychiatric treatment and are not suited for life in standard prisons. The vast majority of her clients are, however, easier to approach. Through her intensive work it has become clearer to Juliane, how much geopolitical conflicts (for example in Ex-Yugoslavia, Syria, Ukraine, North Africa) lead to young people getting involved with extremist and violent courses of life (often through transgenerational transfers within families). “This will further increase“, says Juliane, and hardly anybody in schools and prisons has adequate answers for the problem. „We need a larger plan“, because if we continue as before, „we will suffer a (social) shipwreck“.