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In Vichy France in 1942, eight men and a boy are seized by the collaborationist authorities and made to wait in a building that may be a police station. Some of them are Jews. All of them have something to hide—if not from the Nazis, then from their fellow detainees and, inevitably, from themselves. For in this claustrophobic antechamber to the death camps, everyone is guilty. And perhaps none more so than those who can walk away alive.
In Incident at Vichy, Arthur Miller re-creates Dante's hell inside the gaping pit that is our history and populates it with sinners whose crimes are all the more fearful because they are so recognizable.
In Incident at Vichy, Arthur Miller re-creates Dante's hell inside the gaping pit that is our history and populates it with sinners whose crimes are all the more fearful because they are so recognizable.
79 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1964
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About the author
Arthur Miller
550 books3,243 followersWorks of American playwright Arthur Asher Miller include
Death of a Salesman
(1949), for which he won a Pulitzer Prize, and
The Crucible
(1953).
This essayist, a prominent figure in literature and cinema for over 61 years, composed a wide variety, such as celebrated A View from the Bridge and All My Sons , still studied and performed worldwide. Miller often in the public eye most famously refused to give evidence to the un-American activities committee of the House of Representatives, received award for drama, and married Marilyn Monroe. People at the time considered the greatest Miller.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_...
This essayist, a prominent figure in literature and cinema for over 61 years, composed a wide variety, such as celebrated A View from the Bridge and All My Sons , still studied and performed worldwide. Miller often in the public eye most famously refused to give evidence to the un-American activities committee of the House of Representatives, received award for drama, and married Marilyn Monroe. People at the time considered the greatest Miller.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_...
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 127 reviews
May 7, 2025
Claustrophobic, unsettling
But what is left if one gives up one’s ideals? What is there?
How would you respond when confronted with evil? Would you deny, resist, fight, try to escape or make a deal?
How would you react in the face of injustice? Would you choose silence or speak out and take action, even though it may cost you your life?
Set during World War II in the town of Vichy, this play in one act is about a group of men who are rounded up by Nazi officials on the pretext of checking the authenticity of their identity papers.
How upside down everything is.
As they wait, converse and speculate about the purpose of their arrest, the detainees soon uncover the real reason for the questioning: to identify Jews and send them to concentration camps.
What can ever save us?
The interrogators are a Captain, a ‘professor’ and an unwilling Major.
Among the group there is an Austrian aristocrat, a psychiatrist, a gypsy, a young boy, an old Jew, a businessman, a waiter,…
Not all the detainees are Jews; not all of them would be sent to the furnace; but who among these hopeless, terrified and disillusioned men would act and who would remain silent?
There is a burst of laughter from within the office. He glances there, as they all do. Strange; if I did not know that some of the interrogators in there were French, I’d have said they laugh like Germans. I suppose vulgarity has no nation, after all.
This psychological and philosophical drama focuses on each individual’s behavior and moral responsibly in the face of imminent atrocity.
I am only angry that I should have been born before the day when man has accepted his own nature; that he is not reasonable, that he is full of murder, that his ideals are only the little tax he pays for the right to hate and kill with a clear conscience. I am only angry that, knowing this, I still deluded myself. That there was not time to truly make part of myself what I know, and to teach others the truth.
But what is left if one gives up one’s ideals? What is there?
How would you respond when confronted with evil? Would you deny, resist, fight, try to escape or make a deal?
How would you react in the face of injustice? Would you choose silence or speak out and take action, even though it may cost you your life?
Set during World War II in the town of Vichy, this play in one act is about a group of men who are rounded up by Nazi officials on the pretext of checking the authenticity of their identity papers.
How upside down everything is.
As they wait, converse and speculate about the purpose of their arrest, the detainees soon uncover the real reason for the questioning: to identify Jews and send them to concentration camps.
What can ever save us?
The interrogators are a Captain, a ‘professor’ and an unwilling Major.
Among the group there is an Austrian aristocrat, a psychiatrist, a gypsy, a young boy, an old Jew, a businessman, a waiter,…
Not all the detainees are Jews; not all of them would be sent to the furnace; but who among these hopeless, terrified and disillusioned men would act and who would remain silent?
There is a burst of laughter from within the office. He glances there, as they all do. Strange; if I did not know that some of the interrogators in there were French, I’d have said they laugh like Germans. I suppose vulgarity has no nation, after all.
This psychological and philosophical drama focuses on each individual’s behavior and moral responsibly in the face of imminent atrocity.
I am only angry that I should have been born before the day when man has accepted his own nature; that he is not reasonable, that he is full of murder, that his ideals are only the little tax he pays for the right to hate and kill with a clear conscience. I am only angry that, knowing this, I still deluded myself. That there was not time to truly make part of myself what I know, and to teach others the truth.
December 6, 2017
I have been exposed to Arthur Miller my entire life. He is a Michigan man, so, granted, my father being a Michigan man, always thought highly of his work. Miller is revered as far as American playwrights go, penning classics as Death of a Salesman, the Price, and the Crucible, and winning a Pulitzer for his work. Last week I read a lesser work by another American great playwright and was referred to Miller's an Incident at Vichy. Reading through goodreads reviews regarding this play as both important and timely, I had my curiosity piqued and decided to read this vintage Miller play for myself.
It is the time of the Vichy government in France. French soldiers collaborating with Nazis have begun to round up Jews and Gypsies and question them as to their true identity. The play takes place in a waiting room of a police station as a myriad of Jews, one Gypsy, and an Austrian noble await their fates. Each character has distinct views on what it means to be Jewish as well as the ability to love their fellow man. The news of the concentration camps has not yet spread to France, and most of the characters are living in a state of denial. When questioned by authorities, each character does not openly deny their Jewishness because they do not believe that a fellow human being would have the capacity to send them to slaughter in cattle cars. As a result, one by one, each character awaits their fate.
The dialogue in this play is as powerful as in any Miller play, especially the exchanges at the end between the Austrian noble Prince Von Berg and Dr. Leduc as they are the last two personas to be questioned. The two men have a distinct view of love and hatred, the Austrian making excuses for the Nazi regime whereas the Jewish Dr. Leduc is appalled that educated people in other nations would view him as the scum of the earth. As Leduc deduces manners in which he could escape the fate befalling his fellow Jews, the script comes to an impassioned denouement. Not being one to show emotions while reading, I was moved as I read this short yet powerful script.
I have been exposed to the Holocaust and its literature for my entire life, and it is easy to become desensitized after reading many testimonies and histories. With survivors dying out, each piece of Holocaust related literature is important as it is some of the few surviving memories. Miller's noted classics are studied at length, but Incident at Vichy should be regarded at their level, and hopefully taught in schools as well. A true masterpiece, by an American master playwright, I am grateful that for once I took the advice of a Goodreads recommendation.
5 stars
It is the time of the Vichy government in France. French soldiers collaborating with Nazis have begun to round up Jews and Gypsies and question them as to their true identity. The play takes place in a waiting room of a police station as a myriad of Jews, one Gypsy, and an Austrian noble await their fates. Each character has distinct views on what it means to be Jewish as well as the ability to love their fellow man. The news of the concentration camps has not yet spread to France, and most of the characters are living in a state of denial. When questioned by authorities, each character does not openly deny their Jewishness because they do not believe that a fellow human being would have the capacity to send them to slaughter in cattle cars. As a result, one by one, each character awaits their fate.
The dialogue in this play is as powerful as in any Miller play, especially the exchanges at the end between the Austrian noble Prince Von Berg and Dr. Leduc as they are the last two personas to be questioned. The two men have a distinct view of love and hatred, the Austrian making excuses for the Nazi regime whereas the Jewish Dr. Leduc is appalled that educated people in other nations would view him as the scum of the earth. As Leduc deduces manners in which he could escape the fate befalling his fellow Jews, the script comes to an impassioned denouement. Not being one to show emotions while reading, I was moved as I read this short yet powerful script.
I have been exposed to the Holocaust and its literature for my entire life, and it is easy to become desensitized after reading many testimonies and histories. With survivors dying out, each piece of Holocaust related literature is important as it is some of the few surviving memories. Miller's noted classics are studied at length, but Incident at Vichy should be regarded at their level, and hopefully taught in schools as well. A true masterpiece, by an American master playwright, I am grateful that for once I took the advice of a Goodreads recommendation.
5 stars
February 1, 2025
How can fascism, such as the likes of what happened in Germany, happen? Can you believe it will happen where you live? Is it just something unfortunate, like death, that happens to other people? “An Incident at Vichy” is a one-act play by Arthur Miller written in 1964 about a group of men who await interrogation and racial “identification” by German soldiers and French Police in Vichy, France. Most of them would seem to be Jews, though there is a non-Jewish (Gentile) businessman and a gypsy. They talk among themselves as they await their turn. Some are confident that everything will be ultimately okay. Others are terrified; they have heard rumors of Jews deported on trains to camps in boxcars, and mass murder.
This play takes a close-up view of a particular moment in time, in 1942, when people were just beginning to hear rumors of concentration camps--oh, that's not possible! Why would the Germans exterminate people? They need workers! The men, most of whom will actually end up in concentration camps, we know, get their noses actually measured, and they have their penises examined for evidence of circumcision. They have, most of them, fled from other, more completely Nazi-controlled areas of France. They are guilty! Yet the men waiting inspection doubt that they can be in any real trouble; they’re law-abiding citizens! Their papers are in order! Some (even the Jews here) seem to be at least passively complicit in supporting the Nazi-French regime. They go along to get along, hoping they will be able to maintain their status quo. Hey, they’re doing the best they can in a tough situation, our French cops! Don’t rock the boat.
This play is chilling in showing how one of the most horrific events in human history took place for ordinary people, slowly, incrementally, quietly, in terrified denial. In case you are wondering if this little “minor” play from Miller has any relevance to Trump's America, or what is happening in many countries in the world, I quote from Manny’s fictional review: “When your country has been taken over by a gang of racist lunatics, there's no point in pretending that really everything is fine.”
This play takes a close-up view of a particular moment in time, in 1942, when people were just beginning to hear rumors of concentration camps--oh, that's not possible! Why would the Germans exterminate people? They need workers! The men, most of whom will actually end up in concentration camps, we know, get their noses actually measured, and they have their penises examined for evidence of circumcision. They have, most of them, fled from other, more completely Nazi-controlled areas of France. They are guilty! Yet the men waiting inspection doubt that they can be in any real trouble; they’re law-abiding citizens! Their papers are in order! Some (even the Jews here) seem to be at least passively complicit in supporting the Nazi-French regime. They go along to get along, hoping they will be able to maintain their status quo. Hey, they’re doing the best they can in a tough situation, our French cops! Don’t rock the boat.
This play is chilling in showing how one of the most horrific events in human history took place for ordinary people, slowly, incrementally, quietly, in terrified denial. In case you are wondering if this little “minor” play from Miller has any relevance to Trump's America, or what is happening in many countries in the world, I quote from Manny’s fictional review: “When your country has been taken over by a gang of racist lunatics, there's no point in pretending that really everything is fine.”
June 18, 2017
[A Gestapo holding center in 1942 Vichy France. Several visibly terrified prisoners are under the guard of the German MAJOR. The phone rings]
THE MAJOR: Ja? [He listens] Ja. Ja. Jawohl. In Ordnung. [He puts the phone down] It's a message from the future.
THE OLD JEW: From the future?
THE MAJOR: Yes, from 2017. America is in trouble. Newt Gingrich wants everyone to read Arthur Miller. The Crucible has already offered to help. We're being asked if we're also willing to come in.
THE GYPSY: I not understand. I not thief.
FERRAND: [Angrily] You don't have to understand. Just do what you're told and you'll be alright.
BAYARD: But what can we do? We're just one of Miller's minor plays. We're not famous like The Crucible. No one will listen to us.
LEDUC: It doesn't matter. You can always do something, as long as you don't give up hope. Mr. Gingrich asks for our help. Let's try to help him.
BAYARD: But what--
LEDUC: Don't just sit there repeating yourself. Think! For example, we could say how important it is to look facts in the face.
MONCEAU: What kind of facts?
LEDUC: For example, the fact that when your country has been taken over by a gang of racist lunatics, there's no point in pretending that really everything is fine.
MONCEAU: Please, not this again. These tired fantasies of concentration camps and gas ovens. As I have told you before, the Germans are practical and logical. If we obey the laws, they will too.
LEDUC: No! I'm sure that's the very last thing Mr. Gingrich wants to hear. We're dealing with people who have no respect for the law at all. They are the exact opposite of practical and logical, they are poets of evil. And something tells me Mr. Gingrich has the same problem. We must give him our full support. Now who is with me? [No one will meet his eye] Someone? Anyone?
PRINCE VON BERG: I will help you. To the extent I can. I like the sound of this Mr Gingrich.
LEDUC: Thank you, Von Berg. Now let's get to work.
CURTAIN
[Coming up next: Death of a Salesman]
THE MAJOR: Ja? [He listens] Ja. Ja. Jawohl. In Ordnung. [He puts the phone down] It's a message from the future.
THE OLD JEW: From the future?
THE MAJOR: Yes, from 2017. America is in trouble. Newt Gingrich wants everyone to read Arthur Miller. The Crucible has already offered to help. We're being asked if we're also willing to come in.
THE GYPSY: I not understand. I not thief.
FERRAND: [Angrily] You don't have to understand. Just do what you're told and you'll be alright.
BAYARD: But what can we do? We're just one of Miller's minor plays. We're not famous like The Crucible. No one will listen to us.
LEDUC: It doesn't matter. You can always do something, as long as you don't give up hope. Mr. Gingrich asks for our help. Let's try to help him.
BAYARD: But what--
LEDUC: Don't just sit there repeating yourself. Think! For example, we could say how important it is to look facts in the face.
MONCEAU: What kind of facts?
LEDUC: For example, the fact that when your country has been taken over by a gang of racist lunatics, there's no point in pretending that really everything is fine.
MONCEAU: Please, not this again. These tired fantasies of concentration camps and gas ovens. As I have told you before, the Germans are practical and logical. If we obey the laws, they will too.
LEDUC: No! I'm sure that's the very last thing Mr. Gingrich wants to hear. We're dealing with people who have no respect for the law at all. They are the exact opposite of practical and logical, they are poets of evil. And something tells me Mr. Gingrich has the same problem. We must give him our full support. Now who is with me? [No one will meet his eye] Someone? Anyone?
PRINCE VON BERG: I will help you. To the extent I can. I like the sound of this Mr Gingrich.
LEDUC: Thank you, Von Berg. Now let's get to work.
CURTAIN
[Coming up next: Death of a Salesman]
May 5, 2024
They are poets. They are striving for a new nobility — the nobility of the totally vulgar…You must not calculate these people with some 19th century arithmetic of loss and gain. Their motives are musical, and people are merely sounds they play. And in my opinion, win or lose this war, they have pointed the way to the future.
Incident at Vichy is a short, one act play. Why would Arthur Miller tackle Nazism, the greatest evil of his lifetime, his century, with one of his shortest plays? Perhaps because logic and reasoning have little to nothing to do with it. Instead, Miller shows us the monster ready to devour its victims, and shows us how the victims react. Eight men and a boy, snatched off the street, left in a guarded room waiting for their dooms. Their panic, denial, ideals, dogmas, passivities — all the various cacophonies of their separate reactions effectively paint the horror of the monster.
Because it is so inconceivably vile — that is their power — to do the inconceivable. It paralyzes the rest of us.
Miller reminds us that this horror is not unique to a time, place, or nation. Everyone has a Jew, he tells us. His play is not a remembrance, but a warning. In this time when alt right neo Nazis, Christian Nationalist, and white supremacist have all been normalized within a major American political party, that warning remains critical.
Incident at Vichy is a short, one act play. Why would Arthur Miller tackle Nazism, the greatest evil of his lifetime, his century, with one of his shortest plays? Perhaps because logic and reasoning have little to nothing to do with it. Instead, Miller shows us the monster ready to devour its victims, and shows us how the victims react. Eight men and a boy, snatched off the street, left in a guarded room waiting for their dooms. Their panic, denial, ideals, dogmas, passivities — all the various cacophonies of their separate reactions effectively paint the horror of the monster.
Because it is so inconceivably vile — that is their power — to do the inconceivable. It paralyzes the rest of us.
Miller reminds us that this horror is not unique to a time, place, or nation. Everyone has a Jew, he tells us. His play is not a remembrance, but a warning. In this time when alt right neo Nazis, Christian Nationalist, and white supremacist have all been normalized within a major American political party, that warning remains critical.
August 19, 2018
First staged in 1964, Arthur Miller’s Incident at Vichy remains as up to date as Donald Trump’s latest tweet. A group of men have been rounded up by the Vichy police soon after the German occupation begins. It’s early yet in World War II, and the vast majority of the French have no idea what’s already begun in Poland. The men — one Gypsy, a gentile nobleman and the rest Jews — nervously try to come up with excuses of why it’s only a papers check or a possible mistake. But one by one, they’re taking for interrogation.
Miller explores who has the right to life and what can an individual do when an entire society turns to authoritarianism. In the Age of Trump, Incident at Vichy is more relevant than ever. And L.A. Theatre Works’ dramatization makes the play really come alive.
Miller explores who has the right to life and what can an individual do when an entire society turns to authoritarianism. In the Age of Trump, Incident at Vichy is more relevant than ever. And L.A. Theatre Works’ dramatization makes the play really come alive.
August 19, 2022
American playwright known for A view from the Bridge, The Crucible, All My Sons, Death of a Salesman, The Price
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Incident at Vichy is a harrowing play set in France during German occupation. 6 men are being detained in a room. "It must be a routine document check."
.
Throughout the play you feel a cloud of sadness enter as they speak to one another. As they talk about stories of trains filled up with people, locked from the outside, heading to Poland. Are they going to be sent away too?
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I’ve only seen A View from the Bridge by Miller on stage and it was magnificent. I intend to read more of his plays and hope to see them performed one day...
.
Incident at Vichy is a harrowing play set in France during German occupation. 6 men are being detained in a room. "It must be a routine document check."
.
Throughout the play you feel a cloud of sadness enter as they speak to one another. As they talk about stories of trains filled up with people, locked from the outside, heading to Poland. Are they going to be sent away too?
.
I’ve only seen A View from the Bridge by Miller on stage and it was magnificent. I intend to read more of his plays and hope to see them performed one day...
July 10, 2019
I can not remember how I came across Arthur Miller's play, "Incident at Vichy", I had thought it was from an OTR (Old Time Radio) show but I think I was wrong there and for some reason this crossed my path. The play ran from December 3, 1964 until May 7, 1965 for 32 performances which seems very little amount. Though it run was limited and years after The Holocaust and WW 2, it is an important play for you feel you are in this building made into a police questioning center with these men, Miller shows us through his drama how people were taken away and without resisting due to not believing the worst could happen to them, fearing to leave the detention area or attempt to do so. How rumors that are true are not believed and the duty of the police to do this work or they will suffer, so fear for themselves brings others to suffer. As I read this I felt for these men and the hopelessness that pervades them. This play could only skim the surface of what feelings, reality and suffering that people experienced in that reality.
After reading my second play after about 40 years when I read a couple of plays in High School, I am beginning to see how Miller writes like Ibsen, that was brought to my attention because Miller thought of Ibsen's The Wild Duck when writing "All My Sons". In my early twenties, I loved reading any Ibsen paperback book that came available at the local bookstore, I remember that his plays had a moral significance besides entertaining the audience. Miller it seems follows Ibsen's lead and that is why Miller is a favorite playwright of mine as Ibsen has been for years.
The play in short- The scene 1942 France Vichy and different men are picked up for questioning but think it might be more than that.
I did not read this edition but a collection of his works which I have more highlights and notes.
"CAPTAIN: Try to avoid taking anybody out of a crowd. Just cruise around the way we did before, and take them one at a time. There are all kinds of rumors. We don’t want to alarm people."
"MONCEAU: In my opinion you’re hysterical. After all, they were picking up Jews in Germany for years before the war, they’ve been doing it in Paris since they came in—are you telling me all those people are dead? Is that really conceivable to you? War is war, but you still have to keep a certain sense of proportion. I mean Germans are still people."
After reading my second play after about 40 years when I read a couple of plays in High School, I am beginning to see how Miller writes like Ibsen, that was brought to my attention because Miller thought of Ibsen's The Wild Duck when writing "All My Sons". In my early twenties, I loved reading any Ibsen paperback book that came available at the local bookstore, I remember that his plays had a moral significance besides entertaining the audience. Miller it seems follows Ibsen's lead and that is why Miller is a favorite playwright of mine as Ibsen has been for years.
The play in short- The scene 1942 France Vichy and different men are picked up for questioning but think it might be more than that.
I did not read this edition but a collection of his works which I have more highlights and notes.
"CAPTAIN: Try to avoid taking anybody out of a crowd. Just cruise around the way we did before, and take them one at a time. There are all kinds of rumors. We don’t want to alarm people."
"MONCEAU: In my opinion you’re hysterical. After all, they were picking up Jews in Germany for years before the war, they’ve been doing it in Paris since they came in—are you telling me all those people are dead? Is that really conceivable to you? War is war, but you still have to keep a certain sense of proportion. I mean Germans are still people."
June 23, 2017
I can’t see that we are ever so good that this play can be missed. At its most obvious it’s about what the Germans and their collaborators did to Jews and other inferior types. But even to extrapolate to present day is an inadequate representation of what it’s about.
It is a discussion of the human condition, its wretchedness, and the capacity of a few to rise above it. The amazing Hora, who did much to see to the shaping of the philosopher Raimond Gaita in Gaita’s younger years, believed that always
…even in the most appalling circumstances, there has been a handful of men and women who redeemed humanity by the nobility of their vision and their courage to be true to it. He told me this often. Each time he paused, visibly moved….
Hora and his migrant friends had lived through WWII in Europe. This play, Incident at Vichy, captures one of these moments. An Austrian aristocrat, caught in a roundup meant for not the likes of him, is sitting with Jews and a Gypsy waiting to be interrogated. We know that most, if not all of them, will never be let out. Whilst waiting, they share their various views on the nature of the Germans and whether it is really possible that the things they don’t want to mention are really happening. One says it’s a ridiculous idea, that the Germans would want to kill them. The Germans are rational. Of course they simply want them for labour. No biggie.
The Austrian prince passionately explains what is really happening. How could you be so stupid as to think it is about being rational. These people are nothing and they make themselves something by what they do, by what they believe in. What they are doing, the mass murdering of Jews is a moral principle.
At some point he gives a great speech where he too says the same as Hora. It is a tiny number of people who redeem the rest of us. Unfortunately I don’t have the play, or I’d share it. And then, at the end, and I didn’t see this coming though I should have, he turns out to be that man. He goes in second to last, reappears with a get out of gaol free card and gives it to the waiting French Jew so that he can escape. We assume that the prince will be killed in his place.
And all this made me remember a book I have, a book of little consequence I expect.
Rest here:
https://alittleteaalittlechat.wordpre...
It is a discussion of the human condition, its wretchedness, and the capacity of a few to rise above it. The amazing Hora, who did much to see to the shaping of the philosopher Raimond Gaita in Gaita’s younger years, believed that always
…even in the most appalling circumstances, there has been a handful of men and women who redeemed humanity by the nobility of their vision and their courage to be true to it. He told me this often. Each time he paused, visibly moved….
Hora and his migrant friends had lived through WWII in Europe. This play, Incident at Vichy, captures one of these moments. An Austrian aristocrat, caught in a roundup meant for not the likes of him, is sitting with Jews and a Gypsy waiting to be interrogated. We know that most, if not all of them, will never be let out. Whilst waiting, they share their various views on the nature of the Germans and whether it is really possible that the things they don’t want to mention are really happening. One says it’s a ridiculous idea, that the Germans would want to kill them. The Germans are rational. Of course they simply want them for labour. No biggie.
The Austrian prince passionately explains what is really happening. How could you be so stupid as to think it is about being rational. These people are nothing and they make themselves something by what they do, by what they believe in. What they are doing, the mass murdering of Jews is a moral principle.
At some point he gives a great speech where he too says the same as Hora. It is a tiny number of people who redeem the rest of us. Unfortunately I don’t have the play, or I’d share it. And then, at the end, and I didn’t see this coming though I should have, he turns out to be that man. He goes in second to last, reappears with a get out of gaol free card and gives it to the waiting French Jew so that he can escape. We assume that the prince will be killed in his place.
And all this made me remember a book I have, a book of little consequence I expect.
Rest here:
https://alittleteaalittlechat.wordpre...
February 18, 2026
20 people took this copy out of The Kent County Library before me which is nice to know. I wonder what they thought. I thought very enjoyable.
April 16, 2020
Preciso ler mais Arthur Miller
November 2, 2022
Totalitarian power feeds on and distorts fears and desires.
December 17, 2023
What is one to believe when no set of ideas can make sense of the atrocities taking place, yet belief is the only means of survival?
March 29, 2024
If I could give six stars I would. (But I'm not lowering to four my other miller :)
April 17, 2025
An absolute MUST READ and something to be added to the “Books to Read in Your Lifetime” or “Books to Make You a Better Person” category. This tragically and eloquently puts into words the things I want to shake into people when they choose silence, non-partisanship, and neutrality to avoid conflict. We must learn from past injustices and be active and LOUD and dare to be political or we are bound to repeat them. This critique on fascism, nationalism, and prejudice was as timely and applicable in the 40s, as it was in the 60s, and as it unfortunately is today. There’s so much incredible dialogue on questioning complicity and the moral responsibility of being more than just a witness to others as they have their rights and humanity stripped from them. It’s abetting the oppressors when we find reasons to ameliorate their crimes by saying, “at least it’s not me” or “it’s only the criminal ones” or “it’s just THOSE or THEM people” attitudes. Waiting until it happens to someone you love or until it happens to you is not an option.
Throughout reading I was reminded of these quotes that have rallied me over the past few years:
By philosopher Paulo Freire:
“Washing one’s hands of the conflict between the powerful and the powerless means to side with the powerful, not to be neutral.”
By author Elie Wiesel:
“We must take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented”
By archbishop Desmond Tutu:
“If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor”
And truly so much by MLK Jr.:
“An individual has not started living until he can rise above the narrow confines of his individualistic concerns to the broader concerns of all humanity.”
“He who passively accepts evil is as much involved in it as he who helps to perpetrate it. He who accepts evil without protesting against it is really cooperating with it.”
“In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.”
“Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.”
“The ultimate tragedy is not the oppression and cruelty by the bad people but the silence over that by the good people.”
“There comes a time when silence is betrayal.”
“We may have all come on different ships, but we’re in the same boat now.”
“The hottest place in Hell is reserved for those who remain neutral in times of great moral conflict…[an individual] who accepts evil without protesting against it is really cooperating with it”
“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”
“The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.”
Throughout reading I was reminded of these quotes that have rallied me over the past few years:
By philosopher Paulo Freire:
“Washing one’s hands of the conflict between the powerful and the powerless means to side with the powerful, not to be neutral.”
By author Elie Wiesel:
“We must take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented”
By archbishop Desmond Tutu:
“If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor”
And truly so much by MLK Jr.:
“An individual has not started living until he can rise above the narrow confines of his individualistic concerns to the broader concerns of all humanity.”
“He who passively accepts evil is as much involved in it as he who helps to perpetrate it. He who accepts evil without protesting against it is really cooperating with it.”
“In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.”
“Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.”
“The ultimate tragedy is not the oppression and cruelty by the bad people but the silence over that by the good people.”
“There comes a time when silence is betrayal.”
“We may have all come on different ships, but we’re in the same boat now.”
“The hottest place in Hell is reserved for those who remain neutral in times of great moral conflict…[an individual] who accepts evil without protesting against it is really cooperating with it”
“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”
“The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.”
November 17, 2025
Maybe it's because I was listening to My Chemical Romance while reading in a single go, but goddamn this wrecked me.
If my classmates say they didn't like it, I understand why: We study suffering for so long we forget how it feels, we forget empathy on a degree trying to hyper-rationalize the study of suffering. "We murder to dissect"; we kill feeling and intuition with a constant feeding into emptiness, pessimism and pain. Sadly I had already murdered and dissected my own empathy long ago, and I learned it back with much effort so that no matter the long list of dreadful readings we do, I have always felt pity, guilt, and sadness. It is a skill and effort many others should acquire, in my humble opinion.
That is not to say I cried, but I felt fear not for the characters, which are fictional and only live as long as we read them; but I felt fear, because many actually lived this, and many continue to live this, and will continue to do so because we are not Von Berg, and we do not have a Leduc, nor are we confronted with the consequences of our passivity.
My immediate commentary after finishing this play shouldn't be considered in any way objective. It is highly sensitive, and it means I will not think of the bad as much as I will the good.
This play follows a raw logic of succession: the arrival, the building of action of their speculation, the sudden revelation of their actual end, and it only keeps rising until the very last annotation. The pace is masterful, and I can only imagine the audience leaving in tears, and the actors dissected out of their emotions after rehearsing the play so regularly.
The characters are varied, and it gives every audience a sense of relatability: those from a humble working background, the patriots, the nobility (or, nowadays, middle class), those with children, all of them can see themselves in at least one of these characters at some point. Yet they all meet the same fate. Only one frees himself: the businessman, the money-hungry, the capitalist. Only he is freed, probably despite his Jewish inheritance. Does this mean that capitalism actually means something in the face of sadist fascism? I do not think so. At the end of the play, it only shows a new group of men to follow the same tragic procedure our characters did. They already came for a nobleman, for an actor, for a military officer: they will eventually run out of the unfortunate low class, and build they way up until it is only them left. This means, next time the businessman might try to bribe or show some authority as he did here, will his money mean the same again? Will his inheritance means his business will suffer? The only hope is he might leave after he's freed.
If my classmates say they didn't like it, I understand why: We study suffering for so long we forget how it feels, we forget empathy on a degree trying to hyper-rationalize the study of suffering. "We murder to dissect"; we kill feeling and intuition with a constant feeding into emptiness, pessimism and pain. Sadly I had already murdered and dissected my own empathy long ago, and I learned it back with much effort so that no matter the long list of dreadful readings we do, I have always felt pity, guilt, and sadness. It is a skill and effort many others should acquire, in my humble opinion.
That is not to say I cried, but I felt fear not for the characters, which are fictional and only live as long as we read them; but I felt fear, because many actually lived this, and many continue to live this, and will continue to do so because we are not Von Berg, and we do not have a Leduc, nor are we confronted with the consequences of our passivity.
My immediate commentary after finishing this play shouldn't be considered in any way objective. It is highly sensitive, and it means I will not think of the bad as much as I will the good.
This play follows a raw logic of succession: the arrival, the building of action of their speculation, the sudden revelation of their actual end, and it only keeps rising until the very last annotation. The pace is masterful, and I can only imagine the audience leaving in tears, and the actors dissected out of their emotions after rehearsing the play so regularly.
The characters are varied, and it gives every audience a sense of relatability: those from a humble working background, the patriots, the nobility (or, nowadays, middle class), those with children, all of them can see themselves in at least one of these characters at some point. Yet they all meet the same fate. Only one frees himself: the businessman, the money-hungry, the capitalist. Only he is freed, probably despite his Jewish inheritance. Does this mean that capitalism actually means something in the face of sadist fascism? I do not think so. At the end of the play, it only shows a new group of men to follow the same tragic procedure our characters did. They already came for a nobleman, for an actor, for a military officer: they will eventually run out of the unfortunate low class, and build they way up until it is only them left. This means, next time the businessman might try to bribe or show some authority as he did here, will his money mean the same again? Will his inheritance means his business will suffer? The only hope is he might leave after he's freed.
April 23, 2019
This play is spooky. And while it may be relegated to dusty shelves of the past, it feels more like a premonition. I am so saddened by it all. A mere eight decades have passed since the Holocaust, and brown-skinned Latin Americans have become the latest nativist American scapegoat. For them, as for ourselves, there remain but a few more detents before those without a voice will be met by those who failed to speak up to the intolerant and arrogant.
"...Until you know it is true of you, you will destroy whatever truth can come of this atrocity. Part of knowing who we are is knowing that we are not someone else. And "Jew" is only the name we give that stranger, that agony that we cannot feel that, death that we look at like a cold abstraction. Each man has his 'Jew" what with the black, the yellow, the white. It is the other. And the Jews have their Jews! And now, now - above all you must see that you have yours. The man whose death leaves you relieved that you are not him - despite your decency. And that is why there is nothing and there will be nothing until you face your own complicity with this, your own Humanity."
"...Until you know it is true of you, you will destroy whatever truth can come of this atrocity. Part of knowing who we are is knowing that we are not someone else. And "Jew" is only the name we give that stranger, that agony that we cannot feel that, death that we look at like a cold abstraction. Each man has his 'Jew" what with the black, the yellow, the white. It is the other. And the Jews have their Jews! And now, now - above all you must see that you have yours. The man whose death leaves you relieved that you are not him - despite your decency. And that is why there is nothing and there will be nothing until you face your own complicity with this, your own Humanity."
January 16, 2024
This wasn't the most enjoyable of the Arthur Miller plays I've read. It's got a good premise: a couple of people in Vichy France are detained by officials and they await their fate as they are set to be interrogated. Yet I felt the conversations were all over the place. There's really no character development and the tension of being interrogated doesn't really make an impact. It was easy to get through, but it didn't leave me feeling much.
Arthur Miller's "Incident at Vichy" attempts to grapple issues regarding the horrors of Nazism and being a Jew during the height of WWII, but I couldn't really discern what he was trying to say. I understood the threat being a Jew is during that time for the people living in Vichy France, but I couldn't quite understand what he wanted to say. I can empathize for the characters, but the messaging seemed a bit off.
I guess I wasn't impressed by the play, but I was able to get through it because it was short enough. There are bits and pieces in it that reveal some insights, but ultimately the play just ends.
Arthur Miller's "Incident at Vichy" attempts to grapple issues regarding the horrors of Nazism and being a Jew during the height of WWII, but I couldn't really discern what he was trying to say. I understood the threat being a Jew is during that time for the people living in Vichy France, but I couldn't quite understand what he wanted to say. I can empathize for the characters, but the messaging seemed a bit off.
I guess I wasn't impressed by the play, but I was able to get through it because it was short enough. There are bits and pieces in it that reveal some insights, but ultimately the play just ends.
January 27, 2020
On this Day of Remembrance of the Holocaust.
An incredibly powerful piece of Theatre recounting events as relevant and important today as they were seventy-five years ago.
It forces us to face up to the same moral challenges of the current era as the French Jews and German Citizens had to during the Holocaust. Will we have the courage to try to do The Right Thing in the face of Evil?
An incredibly powerful piece of Theatre recounting events as relevant and important today as they were seventy-five years ago.
It forces us to face up to the same moral challenges of the current era as the French Jews and German Citizens had to during the Holocaust. Will we have the courage to try to do The Right Thing in the face of Evil?
April 30, 2018
A claustrophobic one-room one-act play set in Occupied France that puts the characters in a situation we hope we never have to face- awaiting a fate dependent on the will of the power who gets to decide which race, creed, or colour gets to survive. Tense and fraught.
February 28, 2020
Goooodddd
October 12, 2023
Von Berg Best Guy
October 4, 2018
A brilliant play that could be applied to today’s politics.
July 15, 2025
Would have been five stars without the noble gesture from an aristocrat at the end
November 25, 2016
The poison of ideals. How does everything get to backwards? So perverse? And what can anyone do to slow the momentum-heavy locomotive? How can we do anything to change 1942?
This play is amazing. I so want to go see it now. It puts real people in the place of the millions we hear about. A dozen people in a room; the story of the fear and impotence of struggle. Everyone has a theory, but nothing seems to tell the whole story. What do we do now? What can we do now? How do we get out of this trap we have fallen into? What can one do? Why is no one trying to help us?
#relevantForToday #change2016
This play is amazing. I so want to go see it now. It puts real people in the place of the millions we hear about. A dozen people in a room; the story of the fear and impotence of struggle. Everyone has a theory, but nothing seems to tell the whole story. What do we do now? What can we do now? How do we get out of this trap we have fallen into? What can one do? Why is no one trying to help us?
#relevantForToday #change2016
July 26, 2014
Miller examines the passivity which enabled the Holocaust to take place. The paralysis and inability of people to determine their personal moral compass amidst turbulent times, and determine a series of actions from that points to a recurrent theme in society again and again. When faced with the unspeakable, the reactions of trying to comprehend, engage and then draw a line of resistance is not easy. To keep the eye on the end game despite chaos, is the only way we will survive with our morality intact.
May 19, 2015
It’s a minor play about the Holocaust, taking responsibility and guilt. Characters are rounded up and waiting to be interviewed by Police in France.
Maybe I'd love to see a production of this, as I did All My Sons, a couple of years ago, but reading it, immediately after reading After the Fall, no thanks.
Maybe I'd love to see a production of this, as I did All My Sons, a couple of years ago, but reading it, immediately after reading After the Fall, no thanks.
August 30, 2018
One of the best, most searing plays I have ever read. This cements Arthur Miller in my mind as one of the most important American artists of the 20th century; he has a piercing, unnerving ability to reveal the ways we harm one another through group (in)action, how unconfronted histories destroy us, and how evil nearly always takes banal shapes cloaked in authority.
What Miller has to tell us about America and human behavior is as urgent in our time as it was in his own. I wish it was not so, but I am grateful to be able to read and re-read and reflect on his work.
What Miller has to tell us about America and human behavior is as urgent in our time as it was in his own. I wish it was not so, but I am grateful to be able to read and re-read and reflect on his work.
August 2, 2013
I like the Crucible, but I am not a huge fan of Death of a Salesman. I understand why it’s great, but the play never did it for me. And I am more of a Neil Simon fan.
But this play. This play. This they should use in schools. It would resonate more than the Crucible.
Most powerful play ever.
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