HISTORY

I really wanted to have a post including all the research I have done so far on the scene's and the different characters and how they connect to history, so that in the future it will be easier for me to refer to this post when we are devising scenes and need context. For some characters(for example Hitler and his Three Angels), I have done more detailed posts, so I won't be talking about them in this blog post.

• Arturo Ui → Adolf Hitler
• Giri → Hermann Göring
• Roma → Ernst Röhm
• Givola → Joseph Goebbels
• Dogsborough → Paul von Hindenburg
• Hindenburg served as the second president of Germany(1925-34), but before that he was a Prussian-German field marshal, statesman and a politician. He became known during WW1 with the victory of the battle of Tannenberg, which boosted Germany's confidence. He was a huge advocate for ethnic cleansing to Germanize the Russian, Polish and Ukrainian territories. He retired in 1919 only to come back in 1925 to be elected as President. As president he appointed the Nazi Party leader Adolf Hitler as chancellor of Germany. He personally didn't like Hitler, but Hitler had repeatedly and forcefully pressured Hindenburg to appoint him as chancellor. But, due to the continually weakening and politically unstable Weimar Republic, he appointed Hitler chancellor in January 1933, after breaking up the parliament twice. After the Reichstag Fire he issued the Reichstag fire decree that took away a lot of the civil liberties of German people(including the freedom from torture) and soon signed the Enabling act that gave Hitler legislative powers. The following year Hinderburg died and Hitler appointed himself the head of state.
• Dullfeet → Engelbert Dollfuß 
• Dollfuss was the Chancellor and later the dictator of Austria, before being assassinated in a failed coup done by the Nazi agents in 1934. When Hitler became the Chancellor of Germany, Dollfuss became alarmingly worried about the rise of Nazi party in Austria and because of the rising influence of Soviet Union in Europe, Dollfuss banned communism in May 1933 and then the Austrian Nazi party. Under the banner of Christian Social party he then declared to be the dictator of Austria, largely modeled after fascism in Italy.  
• Caulifower Trust → Prussian Junkers
• Landed nobility in Prussia who supported many German landowners. Their great estates were often maintained by peasant, who only had few right, which made them cheap. They made an important impact on the German military, political and diplomatic leadership by extending their political influence trough the Weimar Republic. Hindenburg was often connected with the Junkers who were urging him to appoint Hitler as German chancellor.
• Clark → Franz von Papen
• A German nobleman, General staff officer and politician. Served as the chancellor of Germany in 1932 and as a vice-chancellor under Hitler in 1933-34. Before Hindenburg's death, Franz von Papen worked as one of Hindenburg's closest advisers. He deeply believed that Hitler could be easily controlled once he was in the government and so was the one to persuade Hindenburg to appoint Hitler as Chancellor. Papen and his allies were however soon segregated by Hitler and he left the government after the Night of the Long Knives. 
• Vegetable dealers → Petty bourgeoisie
•  Bourgeoisie is a French term that originally meant "those who live in the borough" a.k.a. people who lived in the city, usually including merchants and craftsmen. Karl Marx used this term to define the stage of the bourgeoisie that was made out of small-scale capitalists such as shopkeepers and workers who manage the production, distribution and exchange of commodities owned by their employers. This is probably what Brecht was also going for with the vegetable dealers in RRAU, since he was an extreme Marxist. 
• Gangsters → Fascists
• Ideology originated from Italy, fascism was an opposition to liberalism, Marxism and traditional conservatism. They didn't see violence as something that is automatically negative, but a means of national rebirth by political violence, war, and imperialism. Their goal was a government ruler by a dictator and one single party with a martial government, since this would have been the only way the nation to be prepared for armed conflict. 
• Fish → Marinus van der Lubbe 
• the Danish Communist convicted of burning down the Reichstag. He claimed to have set the Reichtag on fire to rally the German workers to fight against the fascist rule, he had fled to Germany in 1933 to take part in the local communist underground. He had a previous criminal record for arson, but also had been part of leading strikes , whilst still living in Leiden where he learned some German. 
• In the play, Brech has made Fish to look like completely innocent man, but the research I have done has indicated that he might have had a part in the fire. It is arguable, since in 2007, after multiple re openings of the case, the sentence was nullified. The case of the Reichstag fire still remains a topic of discussion, whether it was as van der Lubbe testified or simply ordered by the Nazis. 

• Chicago → Germany
• Cicero → Austria
• Dock Aid scandal → Eastern Aid scandal
•  In the 1930's, after WW1, many countries in Europe were in deep depression. Many of the Prussian estates were going bankrupt. The Eastern Aid, also known as the Osthilfe was Germany giving a part of the Government funds to the bankrupt estates in Prussia. They did this to maintain the support of the Prussian Junkers. But it became a scandal since many of the Junkers had wasted the money on luxury items, such as cars and vacations, rather than maintain the estates functional. As they looked into the scandal more, it was reviled that the President of the Republic, Hindenburg had a connection to the scandal having estates to himself that were in deep debt. This weakened Hindenburg's position and then appointed Hitler as chancellor under the pressure of the industrialist.
• the Warehouse → the Reichstag
• Building that housed the parliament of Germany until 1918. The building was burned down in Fenbruary of 1933. Marius van der Lubbe was arrested and sentenced for the crime after being caught at the scene of the crime. The Nazis used this as evidence that the communists were planning against the German government and this has been seen as a important point in establishing the Nazi Germany. Hitler had been appointed Chancellor just four weeks before, rushed to have Hindenburg to pass an emergency degree to suspend civil liberties to fight against the communist attacks. After the degree was passed, the government ordered a mass arrest of communists, including all of the Communist parliamentary advocates.