Women of Aktion: Performance, Gender, and the German Revolution of 1918

Abstract

The role of women in the 1918 German revolution has largely been neglected in the historiography, recent commemorative events, and popular understanding of the end of World War I. One hundred years on, the revolution is seen as the cornerstone of German democracy. Leaving women out therefore excludes them from their own democratic history and distorts the historical narrative. In 2018 a new play, Women of Aktion, toured the UK and Germany, placing the forgotten female revolutionaries at center stage. It was the result of a close collaboration between academics and the theater group Bent Architect. The creation and staging of the play uncovered and performed the history of German women's resistance, and the performance itself intervened in the historiography and public narratives to resist the erasure of revolutionary women.