Kampfgruppe Avantgarde

[Performance] [Hörspiel]

The Kampfgruppe Avantgarde represents a fascinating yet forgotten group of the antifascist resistance in Austria who were active in the border region between Styria, Carinthia, and Slovenia. Also known as the Koralm Partisans, they were made up of international resistance fighters, some of whom had previously been volunteers in the Spanish Civil War. Supported by the Soviet Union and driven by political ideals for a postwar Austria, they fought against the Nazis in the Koralpe region beginning in 1944.

While the partisans saw themselves as the country’s legitimate liberators, they played no more political role after the war and are largely forgotten today. Lukas Michelitsch’s piece is based on oral history and archival documents. Presented as a live radio play, the audience experiences it as a concentrated spoken-word performance with live sound. Kampfgruppe Avantgarde offers a new perspective on the region as a stage for “History with a capital H,” where the course for the postwar era and Austrian identity was set.

with

Pia Zimmermann
Etienne Halsdorf

Sounddesign

David Lipp