Rising from the ruinsCharacter cards

Narrator 1 (N1) **

You and the other Narrators explain what is happening in each scene. You understand the history of the EU.

Costume: Black top, skirt or trousers

Narrator 2 (N2) **

You and the other Narrators explain what is happening in each scene. You understand the history of the EU.

Costume: Black top, skirt or trousers

Narrator 3 (N3) **

You and the other Narrators explain what is happening in each scene. You understand the history of the EU.

Costume: Black top, skirt or trousers

Narrator 4 (N4) **

You and the other Narrators explain what is happening in each scene. You understand the history of the EU.

Costume: Black top, skirt or trousers

Director ****

You and the Stage Manager tell the characters when and where to move. You control the action in this play.

Your lines are written in italics, like this:

Director: (Enter Josef Stalin and a blood-soaked USSR.)

Costume: Black top, skirt or trousers

Stage Manager*****

You and the Director tell the characters when and where to move. You control the action in this play.

Your lines are written in italics, like this:

Stage Manager: (Enter Narrators. They stand to the left of the whiteboard.)

Costume: Black top, skirt or trousers

Konrad Adenauer**West Germany

You are a lawyer and a politician. You are Mayor of Cologne when Hitler comes to power. You refuse to hang swastika flags, so the Nazis sack you and freeze your bank accounts. They plot to assassinate you. You are arrested in 1934 and again in 1944. You are about to be sent to a concentration camp, but the camp doctor helps you to escape. Your wife is interrogated; she tries to kill herself. You live in hiding as Germany is bombed and invaded by the USA and Britain. After the war, you return as Mayor of Cologne. You set up a political party called the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), to unite Catholic and Protestant Germans in one party.In 1949, you are elected Chancellor of the new Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany). You are a skilful and pragmatic. Under your guidance, Germany becomes a stable democracy. You help to reconcile West Germany with the countries you fought in World War Two.

You look tough. You have scars on your face from a car accident.

You have a lot of energy. You have a powerful temper.

You are intelligent, charismatic and honourable.

You are a good negotiator. You are a strong Catholic. You are older than the other

founders of the EU. Your nickname is ‘Der Alte’, which means ‘The Elder’.

You get on well with Robert Shuman, the French Foreign Minister.

Costume: Dirty prison uniform

Walter Hallstein**West Germany

You are the youngest university professor in Germany.

When the Second World War breaks out, you join the Nazi army. You are sent to occupy France. In 1944, you are taken prisoner and sent to a prisoner of war camp in America. You teach other prisoners their legal rights.

After the war, you return to university teaching in Germany and America. You believe that the new Republic of Germany (West Germany) should create a united Europe by joining with other European democracies.

The German Chancellor, Konrad Adenauer appoints you Secretary of State in the Foreign Office. You want West Germany to join NATO and the ECSC (European Coal and Steel Community).

You are full of energy and enthusiasm.

You are very persuasive. You are the first President

of the European Commission from 1958 to 1967

You are a Protestant. You get on well with Jean

Monnet, the French ‘Father of the European Union’.

Costume: Prisoner of war uniform

West Germany***

You embody the essence (spirit) of post-war West Germany (also called the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG)). You are similar to a ‘daemon’ in Philip Pullman’s book: ‘His Dark Materials’. You are the persona of the more fearful and suspicious people in your country. You express the fears, suspicions, and instinctive nationalism that sizable numbers of individuals are voicing in your country’s cafes, shops, bars, buses and trains. You say out loud, things that politicians dare not say.

You were ruled by Adolf Hitler and the Nazis from 1933 to 1945. Your cities were bombed, your people were killed and finally you were conquered by the USA, the USSR, Great Britain and the Free French.

You have been carved into four sectors and occupied by the Russian, British, French and American armies.

You are traumatised by the war

You are angry about your defeat.

You grieve for your dead citizens.

You feel guilty for the atrocities committed by Hitler and the Nazis.

Costume: Blood-stained rags. On your back, you carry the guilt of Nazism.

Netherlands*

You embody the essence (spirit) of the post-war Netherlands. You are similar to a ‘daemon’ in Philip Pullman’s book: ‘His Dark Materials’. You are the persona of the more fearful and suspicious people in your country. You express the fears, suspicions, and instinctive nationalism that sizable numbers of individuals are voicing in your country’s cafes, shops, bars, buses and trains. You say out loud, things that politicians dare not say.

You were invaded by Adolf Hitler and the Nazis from 1940 to 1945. Your cities were bombed, your people were killed and your Jewish citizens were gassed in the concentration camps. Your people lived in terror.In 1944, the Nazis cut off your food supply and sent it to the German Army. Your people starved.

Finally, you were liberated by the USA, the USSR, Great Britain and the Free French in 1945.

You are traumatised and angry about what happened to you in the war.

You had the highest per capita death rate of all Nazi occupied countries.

You grieve for your dead citizens.

You are bitter that cities like Rotterdam, Arnhem and Nijmegen have been bombed so heavily. You want to take a chunk of German land in revenge ( the Bakker Shut Plan)

You do not want people with German passports to stay in the Netherlands. You deport them back to Germany (Operation Black Tulip)

Costume: War damaged, blood-stained rags

Johan Willem Beyen*Netherlands

You are a rich international banker. You became Director of Unilever, then you work in the Dutch Ministry of Finance. In 1940, when the Nazis invade the Netherlands, you escape to London.At the Bretton Wood Conference, you plan a new post-war financial structure for the whole of Europe. You believe that regional economic co-operation is the only way to create wealth and employment and prevent war.After the war, you become Dutch Minister of Foreign Affairs. You represent the Netherlands on the board of the World Bank and at the International Monetary Fund (the IMF).You help to plan an economic union between the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg. You remove trade barriers between your countries, which become known as the Benelux countries.In 1948, America offers Europe $17 billion in economic aid. This is called Marshall Aid after Secretary of State, George Marshall. Sixteen European countries join the Organisation for European Economic Co-operation (OEEC) to co-ordinate this aid. The OEEC becomes the foundation for the European Union (EU).

You come from a wealthy family.

You trained as a lawyer. You are cosmopolitan and

well-travelled. You are charming and

likeable.

Costume: wartime suit, shirt and tie

Sicco Manscholt**Netherlands

You are a Dutch farmer. You are a socialist. You belong to the SDAP (the Social Democratic Workers’ Party). When the Nazis invade the Netherlands in 1940, you become a resistance fighter. You pass intelligence information to the British government. You hide refugees on your farm. You send food to Jewish people in hiding. After the war, you become Minister of Agriculture, Fishery and Food Distribution. You are the youngest minister, but you have the hardest job: you have to feed the starving population of the Netherlands. You do your job well. You restore food supplies quickly, but you remain haunted by memories of the Dutch famine. You believe that Europe’s farmers should work together to maintain food supplies. You want Europe to adopt a common agricultural policy so that hunger is banished from Europe.

You are physically and mentally strong.

You have an honest and upstanding character.

You are charismatic. You are concerned about the

welfare of ordinary people in Europe and Europe’s former colonies.

You believe migrant workers should be treated as Dutch citizens.

You help to set up the Ann Frank Museum in Amsterdam.

Costume: rough work clothes

Props: a pistol

Italy**

You embody the essence (spirit) of post-war Italy. You are similar to a ‘daemon’ in Philip Pullman’s book: ‘His Dark Materials’. You are the persona of the more fearful and suspicious people in your country. You express the fears, suspicions, and instinctive nationalism that sizable numbers of individuals are voicing in your country’s cafes, shops, bars, buses and trains. You say out loud, things that politicians dare not say.

You were ruled by Benito Mussolini and the Fascists from 1929 to 1943. Mussolini was a close ally of Adolf Hitler and the Nazis. You had America, British and German armies fighting across your land. Your cities were bombed, your people were killed and finally you were conquered by the Allies.

You are traumatised by the war. You are humiliated by your defeat.

You are shocked by the bomb damage to cities like Foggia, Naples and Genoa.1

Over 291,000 military personnel and over 153,000 civilians are dead or missing.2

You grieve for your dead citizens.

After the war, you have to pay compensation to the countries you fought in the war: Yugoslavia, the USSR, Greece, Albania and Ethiopia. You resent this.

Costume: Blood-stained rags. In your pocket, you carry some guilt for Mussolini’s Fascist regime.

France***You embody the essence (spirit) of post-war France. You are similar to a ‘daemon’ in Philip Pullman’s book: ‘His Dark Materials’. You are the persona of the more fearful and suspicious people in your country. You express the fears, suspicions, and instinctive nationalism that sizable numbers of individuals are voicing in your country’s cafes, shops, bars, buses and trains. You say out loud, things that politicians dare not say.You are invaded in a Blitzkrieg attack in 1940. You are occupied by the Nazis for five years. 80% of your food is taken to feed the Nazi army. Your townspeople go hungry. 2 million French soldiers are sent to Germany as forced labour. Your Jewish citizens are deported and gassed in the concentration camps. Some of your people (often Communists) become resistance fighters, they pass intelligence to the British and American governments, they help Allied airmen and spies, they carry out sabotage. Your cities are bombed, especially during the Allied invasion in 1944. You are second only to Germany in bomb damage. 600,000 of your people die as a result of war. You are finally liberated by the USA, Great Britain and the Free French in 1944.

You feel a mixture of pride and shame about your conduct in the war. You feel guilty for the deportation and murder of French Jews, Communists and Nazi opponents.

You grieve for your dead citizens.

You are angry with Marshall Petain, who was a German puppet in charge of the Vichy government in the south of France. At the end of the war, you put him on trial for treason.

1 http://humanities.exeter.ac.uk/history/research/centres/warstateandsociety/projects/bombing/italy/2 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_II_casualties#Total_deaths

You feel anger towards Germany. You want revenge. You want to make sure Germany can never attack you again.

You are suspicious of Stalin. You are afraid the USSR is trying to take control of Europe.

Costume: Blood-stained rags. Props: A pistol

Alcide de Gasperi*Italy

You are the son of a policeman. Your family is Italian, but you live the first part of your life in Austria-Hungary. This land is returned to Italy after the First World War. You go back to Austria when you go to university. You are poor. Your only hot food comes from a soup kitchen. You have no warm clothes. You take comfort in the Catholic Church.You become a journalist on a Catholic newspaper and then a politician. You set up the Partito Popolare Italiano (the Italian People’s Party). You are against Mussolini and the Fascists. Mussolini bans your party and sends you to prison. The Pope gets you released and gives you a job in the Vatican library. You work there for the next fourteen years. Secretly, you set up the Christian Democratic Party and, after the war, you are elected Prime Minister of Italy. You remain in power from 1945 to 1953.

You live by your Catholic faith. Your daughter is a nun. You have no interest in becoming rich.

You believe in compromise. You believe in democracy and international co-operation.

You think that Italy should forge strong economic ties with other European countries.

You encourage countries to look for solutions rather

Altiero Spinelli*Italy

You are a young man from Rome. At seventeen years of age, you join the Communists to fight against Mussolini’s Fascist Party. You are sent to prison for sixteen years. Mussolini offers to pardon you if you will renounce your political beliefs. You refuse.

In the prison, you educate yourself by reading and learning from the other political prisoners. You are a Communist, but also an independent thinker: you criticise Stalin for purging the leaders of the USSR. This gets you into trouble with the Italian Communist Party.

In prison, you write a secret manifesto, saying that Europe should become a federation of states, tied together so closely that war would be impossible. You write your manifesto on cigarette papers and your wife, Ursula, smuggles them out of the prison. She gives them to the Italian Resistance.

After the war, you set up the Federalist Movement in Italy. You create the Institute for International Affairs in Rome. You are an advisor to Prime Minister Alcide de Gasperi.

You are intelligent and courageous.

You stand up for what you believe.

You are a Communist, but

than bear grudges. You help to reconcile Italy

with its former enemies, France and West Germany.

Costume: A ragged suit with shirt and tie.

you are not afraid to criticise Stalin.

Costume: Prisoner’s uniform

Robert Schuman***France

You are a true European: your mother was from Luxembourg, your father was born in Alsace, which was part of France until it was annexed by Germany in 1871. Alsace returned to France after the First World War. That is the reason you speak French with a German accent. You love both countries and their people.You study law, economics, political philosophy, theology and statistics at university. You become a politician in the Christian Democratic Party. You become a junior minister in the French government. When the Nazis invade France in 1940, you join the French resistance. You are taken prisoner and interrogated. A friend warns you that the Nazis plan to send you to Dachau concentration camp. You escape and stay in hiding in France for the next three years. After the war, you become France’s Minister of Finance, Prime Minister and Foreign Minister. You are famous for the Shuman Declaration of 9th May 1950. You propose the joint control of coal and steel production, the key industries for waging war. This day is now ‘Europe Day’.You are the first President of the European Parliament (1958-60),

You have a very strong Roman Catholic faith. You never marry. You live a celibate life.

You are shy and quiet. You do not like speaking in public.

You believe that it is your destiny to bring lasting peace to Europe.

Jean Monnet***France

You are a young man from Cognac. At sixteen years of age, you leave school to work for your father. You live in London and travel to Scandinavia, Russia, Egypt, Canada and the USA on business.You know the wealthiest people in the world: the Rockefellers in the USA, the Bosch family in Germany and the Wallenburgs in Sweden. During the First World War, you get the French and British governments to co-ordinate their war supplies. After the war, you are, briefly, Deputy Secretary General of the League of Nations. You are so skilful at international finance that the governments of Rumania, Poland and China ask your advice on trade matters. In the Second World War the British government sends you as an envoy to the USA. You persuade President Roosevelt to help the British war effort. America sends planes, weapons and ammunition free, under the ‘Lend Lease’ scheme. You get on well with Roosevelt. You tell him that a united Europe is the only way to guarantee future prosperity and peace. You return from the USA and join the French government in exile in Tangiers.After the war, you take charge of modernising the French economy. In May 1950, you and Robert Schuman (France’s Foreign Minister), draft the ‘Schuman Declaration’. You propose the joint control of coal and steel production, the key industries for waging war.

You are an optimist. You are charming and persuasive.

You are energetic. You are always in a rush to get things done.

You are the first President of the High Authority of the European Coal and Steel

Costume: A dark wartime suit Community You are nicknamed the

‘Father of Europe’.

Costume: Smart wartime business suit, shirt and tie.

Joseph Bech*Luxembourg

You study law in Switzerland and France. You become interested in politics. You join the conservative Christian Party and get elected to the Luxembourgian Chamber of Deputies.

In the First World War, Luxembourg is occupied by Germany for four years. You are shocked at how powerless Luxembourg was at this time. After the war, Luxembourg and Belgium form an economic union. In 1926, you become Prime Minister, and Minister of Foreign Affairs. Three years later, in 1929, the Wall Street Crash causes economic collapse in Europe.

In 1940, the Nazis conquer Luxembourg. You and your government flee to England with Grand Duchess Charlotte. You form a government in exile. With the exiled governments of Belgium and the Netherlands, Luxembourg agrees to form a customs union, called the Benelux Treaty, allowing free transport of goods within their borders.

You believe that international co-operation is the only way to make Luxembourg secure in the future.

You join the ECSC (the European Coal and Steel Community). You are delighted when its headquarters are built in Luxembourg.

Costume: Wartime suit, shirt, tie and Homberg hat

Paul Henri Spaak**Belgium

Your mother, uncle and grandfather are politicians, but your father is a poet and playwright. You are fifteen when the First World War breaks out. As German troops march through Belgium, you try to join the Belgian army, but you are captured and imprisoned in a German prisoner of war camp.After the war, you study law. You become famous for defending an Italian student who tried to assassinate Crown Prince Umberto of Italy, who was on a state visit to Belgium.You are a Socialist and you join the Belgian Labour Party. In 1938, you become Prime Minister of Belgium. When the Nazis invade Belgium in 1940, you escape, hiding in the false floor of a lorry. You join Belgium’s government in exile in London as Minister of Foreign Affairs. The exiled governments of Luxembourg, Belgium and the Netherlands agree a customs union, called the Benelux Treaty, allowing free transport of goods within their borders. After the war, you are enthusiastic about international co-operation. You are the leading figure in compiling the Treaty of Rome. You are President of the Consultative Assembly of the Council of Europe and you preside over the Common Assembly of the ECSC (European Coal and Steel Community).

You are a brilliant, inspirational speaker. You make people listen. You understand the art of persuasion.

You are much respected in the USA.

You are President of the first full meeting of United Nations in 1946.

You are Secretary General of NATO from 1957 to 1960.

You are an excellent tennis

player. You played in Belgium’s 1922 Davis Cup team.

Costume: Smart wartime business suit, shirt and tie.

Luxembourg*

You embody the essence (spirit) of post-war Luxembourg. You are similar to a ‘daemon’ in Philip Pullman’s book: ‘His Dark Materials’. You are the persona of the more fearful and suspicious people in your country. You express the fears, suspicions, and instinctive nationalism that sizable numbers of individuals are voicing in your country’s cafes, shops, bars, buses and trains. You say out loud, things that politicians dare not say.

You are invaded by Adolf Hitler and the Nazis from 1940 to 1945. 10,000 of your citizens become refugees and your government goes into exile in London. You have no control over your own country; Luxembourg is run by the Nazis. Your citizens are forbidden to speak French. Your young men are conscripted into the German Armed Forces. 3000 die during the war. Your Jewish citizens are wiped out in the Holocaust. Only 36 are known to have survived the war.Some Luxembourgers form resistance groups. Some protect Jewish citizens, some pass intelligence to the Allies, some fight during the liberation of Luxembourg.

Finally, you are liberated by the USA, the USSR, Great Britain and the Free French in 1944.

You are angry about what happened to you in the war.

You have changed your mind about neutrality. It did not keep you safe. You decide you must be part of a united Europe.

Costume: Poor clothing

Great Britain**

You embody the essence (spirit) of post-war Great Britain. You are similar to a ‘daemon’ in Philip Pullman’s book: ‘His Dark Materials’. You are the persona of the more fearful and suspicious people in your country. You express the fears, suspicions, and instinctive nationalism that sizable numbers of individuals are voicing in your country’s cafes, shops, bars, buses and trains. You say out loud, things that politicians dare not say.You fight Adolf Hitler and the Nazis for five years. Your women work in factories, your men go into the armed forces. 384,0003 of them die in the war. Your cities are bombed: London, Hull, Liverpool, Manchester and Coventry are badly damaged in the Blitz of 1940 to 1941. Over 67,000 civilians are killed. Many more were injured.With the help of your allies: the USA, and the USSR, you invade Europe and defeat the Nazis in 1945.

You are exhausted by five years of war.

You are angry about the death and destruction you suffered.

You want revenge on the Nazis; you are glad their leaders are on trial for their crimes.

At the same time, you are suspicious of Stalin. You are afraid the USSR is trying to take control of Europe.

Your country is almost bankrupt. You are no longer a world power.

Costume: War-damaged, bloodied clothing

3 Figures include soldiers from British colonies

Belgium**

You embody the essence (spirit) of the post-war Belgium. You are similar to a ‘daemon’ in Philip Pullman’s book: ‘His Dark Materials’. You express, out loud, the hopes and fears of the Belgian people. You say things that politicians dare not say.

You are invaded by the Nazis in a Blitzkrieg attack in 1940. You are occupied for five years. Your soldiers become prisoners of war and civilians are taken to Germany as forced labour. Your Jewish citizens are deported and gassed in the concentration camps. Some people (often Communists) become resistance fighters, they pass intelligence to the British and American governments, they help Allied airmen and spies, they carry out sabotage. Your cities are bombed, especially during the Allied invasion in 1944. 88,000 of your people die as a result of war. You are finally liberated by the USA, Great Britain and the Free French in 1945.

You are angry about what happened to you in the war.

You want compensation for war damage and the sufferings of your people.

You grieve for the loss of your citizens.

You have changed your mind about neutrality. It did not keep you safe. You decide you must be part of a united Europe

Costume: Scruffy wartime clothing

Winston Churchill** Great Britain

You are the son of an English Lord and a wealthy American. When you are 21 years old, you join the army and fight in India, Sudan and South Africa. You are a man of action. You deliberately get posted into dangerous war zones. You become a politician. You believe in free trade. In the First World War, you are in charge of Britain’s navy. You are responsible for the disastrous Gallipoli campaign. You resign from the government and go to fight on the Western Front. You return to England and become Minister of Munitions.

You are Prime Minister throughout the Second World War. You get on well with Presidents Roosevelt and Truman. You do not trust Stalin; you think he is planning to take over Europe.

You are an inspirational leader. You kept up morale throughout the war.

You believe that a united Europe is the only way to guarantee lasting peace and prosperity

You are one of the first people to call for the creation of a 'United States of Europe'.

Costume: Jacket, trousers, shirt and tie.

Props: Cigar (a fat felt pen)

General George Marshall***USA

You are a five star general in the United States Army. You fought in the First World War and you are President Roosevelt’s most senior military adviser in the Second World War. You attend the Teheran Conference in 1943 and the Yalta and Potsdam Conferences in 1945, where you meet Josef Stalin. You do not trust him. You think he is trying to take over the whole of Europe and turn it into a Communist bloc.

At the end of the war, living conditions in Europe are so bad, that President Truman is afraid that countries may turn communist. In June 1947, he makes $17 billion of economic aid available to any countries willing to remove trade barriers and modernise their industry. Countries which received Marshall Aid had to remain democratic. You are in charge of organising this aid. It is called the Marshall Plan. Stalin forbids any Communist countries to accept Marshall Aid.

You hope Marshall Aid will help Europe become prosperous again

You believe that an economically strong and stable Europe is the only way to prevent hold back Communism.

You receive a Nobel Peace Prize for Marshall Aid in 2007.

Costume: U.S. style general’s uniform

Josef Stalin***USSR

You are the son of a cobbler and a housemaid. You become a Bolshevik4 revolutionary, aiming to overthrow the Tsar of Russia. You lead strikes, you rob banks, you kidnap and assassinate people. You are sent to Siberian prison camps. You always manage to escape. In 1917, the Bolsheviks seize control of Russia. When Lenin, the Bolshevik leader, dies, you purge (eliminate) all your rivals and become leader of the USSR (the new name given to Russia). You are a dictator. You rule by terror. In 1941, the USSR is invaded by the Nazis in a Blitzkrieg attack. You forge an alliance with Great Britain and the USA. Thousands of hectares of Russian land is laid waste. Leningrad, Stalingrad and Moscow are besieged. The Red Army fights back heroically, pushing the Nazis out of the USSR, Poland, East Germany, Czechoslovakia, Romania and Bulgaria. You deliberately keep control of these countries because they form a buffer protecting the USSR from invasion. You do not trust your old allies, Great Britain and the USA. They did not share the secret of their nuclear bombs. You think that they plan to destroy you as soon as the war against Nazi Germany is over.

The USSR has suffered unimaginable destruction: 20 million people died in the war: starved, killed, exterminated by the Nazis.

You want revenge and compensation.

You have started stripping East Germany of its industry, plant and natural resources to help rebuild the U.S.S.R.

You are an intimidating, ruthless individual

4 Bolsheviks were a faction of the Marxist Russian Social Democratic Party, led by Lenin and Bogdanov.

Props: a dollar bill You are a skilful negotiatorCostume: Military style jacket and smart trousers.Props: A small Teddy representing Berlin.

USSR**

You embody the essence (spirit) of the post-war USSR5. You are similar to a ‘daemon’ in Philip Pullman’s book: ‘His Dark Materials’. You are the persona of the more fearful and suspicious people in your country. You express the fears, suspicions, and instinctive nationalism that sizable numbers of individuals are voicing in your country’s cafes, shops, bars, buses and trains. You say out loud, things that politicians dare not say.You were invaded by the Nazis in a Blitzkrieg attack in 1941. Thousands of hectares of your land were laid waste. Leningrad, Stalingrad and Moscow were besieged. More than 20 million of your people died of starvation, in battle, or were exterminated by the Nazis. You are proud of your leader, Stalin. He led the USSR to victory and you believe he is the only person strong enough to protect you from attack in the future. You do not trust your old allies, Great Britain and the USA. They did not share the secret of their nuclear bombs. You think that they plan to destroy you as soon as the war against Germany is over.

You are worn out and traumatised by five years of war.

You are stunned by the death and destruction you have suffered. You grieve for the loss of your citizens.

You want revenge on the Nazis; you want to annex their land and strip out its industry and raw materials.

You are proud of your victory, but you fear for your own safety. You think that your former allies, Great Britain and the USA are plotting against you.

Costume: Battle torn, blood-stained uniform

USA**

You embody the essence (spirit) of post-war USA. You are similar to a ‘daemon’ in Philip Pullman’s book: ‘His Dark Materials’. You are the persona of the more fearful and suspicious people in your country. You express the fears, suspicions, and instinctive nationalism that sizable numbers of individuals are voicing in your country’s cafes, shops, bars, buses and trains. You say out loud, things that politicians dare not say.After the First World War, you isolated yourself from Europe. You did not want to get dragged into another European war, but when Pearl Harbour was attacked in 1941, you had no choice but to fight again. The Second World War cost you $296 billion6 and 420,000 dead citizens. You realise that you can never isolate yourself from Europe again. You are the only country powerful enough to stand up to the Communist USSR. You think that Stalin is trying to take over the whole of Europe and turn it into a Communist bloc. You are proud that your President Truman stands up to Stalin and the Communists, but you do NOT want to spend another $317 billion on economic aid for European countries, to stop them turning Communist.

You are feeling good, despite five years of war. You are proud of your victory.

You feel powerful: you have just exploded the world’s first nuclear bombs. You are the only country with this technology.

You grieve for the loss of your citizens.

You want to punish Nazi leaders, but you are determined to help Germany

5 The USSR is the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, of which Russia was the largest state.6 ttps://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/natsec/RS22926.pdf

Props: A big Teddy representing Czechoslovakia

get back on its feet. You are afraid that a weak Germany could turn Communist.

Costume: Dusty military uniform Palmiro Togliatti

ItalyYou are from a middle class family from Genoa. You work as a tutor and a journalist. You are wounded in the First World War and invalided home. After the war, you set up the Communist Party of Italy. You become the senior leader after Antonio Gramsci is imprisoned by Mussolini. You are one of the few Italian Communists to escape arrest when the Fascist regime bans your party in 1926. You find refuge in the USSR.You organise secret Communist Party meetings in France and Germany. In 1939, you are arrested by the French authorities. On your release, you move to the USSR and stay there throughout the Second World War, broadcasting messages of resistance to the Italian people. In the USSR, you see first-hand the terrible suffering inflicted by the invading Nazis.In 1944, you return to Italy and form a government of national unity. You serve first as Deputy Prime Minister under Alcide de Gasperi and then as Justice Minister. You commit to the cause of democracy and so move the Italian Communist Party to the right. Despite this, the USA still views you as a Cold War enemy. In 1948, you survive an assassination attempt. You are shot three times, but survive.

Under your leadership, the Communist Party becomes the second biggest party in Italy and the largest non-ruling Communist party in Europe.

You develop the idea of polycentrism: unity in diversity within Communist parties in all countries

You have been accused of being

PowerPoint OperatorA non-speaking part

Your teacher will provide you with a PowerPoint programme to operate from the computer.

Every time there is a change of scene, you change the picture on the screen.

Your instructions are in the script. They look like this:

(Change to PowerPoint Slide 3 :)

a Stalinist, arguing against Italy accepting Marshall Aid

Costume: Scruffy wartime clothing