Der aufhaltsame Aufstieg des Arturo Ui

“Der aufhaltsame Aufstieg des Arturo Ui,“ subtitled “A Parable Play,” is a 1941 play by German playwright Bertolt Brecht. It chronicles the rise of Arturo Ui, a fictional 1930s Chicago mobster, and his attempts to control the cauliflower racket by ruthlessly disposing of the opposition. The play is a satirical allegory of the rise of Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party in Germany prior to World War II. Brecht’s decision to frame the rise of Hitler as the story of Al Capone in Prohibition-era Chicago was an attempt to provide a milieu familiar to American audiences. The work was meant for the American stage as a warning against the dangers of fascism.