Hanna & Heinz

The performance is based on the true story of Hanna Mothes, a young Norwegian woman who married a German soldier during World War II.

After the war, like thousands of other Norwegian women in the same situation, she was forcibly deported and stripped of her Norwegian citizenship. Using this real story as a starting point, NIE has created a performance filled with music, humor, and vitality. This is a tale of survival, love, loss of identity, and hope. It's about how a person’s identity is affected when they are unable to visit the geographical place to which that identity is tied.

It is also a performance about fighting for justice, and about how much one is willing to endure for the sake of great love.

No country in Europe punished its war brides as harshly as Norway. The story of Hanna and Heinz is the story of a woman who never gave up—because she was born in Norway and believed she had the right to return home. It took nearly 60 years.

Her great love was dead, and people could travel freely across Europe without a passport before she was finally allowed to reclaim her Norwegian passport.

This year marks 80 years since this injustice took place. Former Prime Minister Erna Solberg issued an official apology in 2019 to Norwegian women who lost their citizenship because of love—74 years after the war.

Performers: Helder Deploige and Hanne Henrichsen
Director/Concept: Kjell Moberg
Scenography and Costume: Katja Ebbel Frederiksen
Lighting Design: Simon Koci
Music: Helder Deploige
Producer: Iva Moberg
The performance is supported by Arts Council Norway.