"Schaukler". Book presentation with Selma Mahlknecht

"Schaukler" begins after the First World War and leads through fascism, National Socialism and the Cold War to the present, in which the world is once again divided. Hans, the main character, is an illegitimate child who is notorious as a "cripple" and a "boy of shame" in the South Tyrolean village of Naturno. He has to watch as friends go to war, the fascists and Nazi bigwigs terrorize the population and his mother marries one of them. But Hans, who became a decorative painter, also experienced how the village gradually changed, grew and became more cosmopolitan and prosperous, but without eliminating inequality. Through Hans' eyes, who repeatedly finds refuge in the world-famous frescoes of St. Prokulus Church, which were only rediscovered in 1924, the thoughts and feelings of the ordinary people become visible, who help shape local history with their actions. As border areas, Graubünden and the Münstertal play a special role.

The writer and dramaturge Selma Mahlknecht combines international and local history and embeds it in the symbolism of the famous frescoes of St. Prokulus. The village of Naturno and its eventful stories and characters act as a magnifying glass under which 100 years of contemporary European history are traced in a lively and entertaining way. The motto of the book is telling: "The stories are invented, the story is true".