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Play About Nazi False Flag Operation That Launched World War II Is Stunning
Ken King and Richard Hollis in “Canned Goods” presented by the American Theater Group. Photo: Lianne Schoenwiesner, Spotlights Photography.
The three innocent men held in jail have a feeling they’re going to be killed.
They don’t know how or when, and it’s not easy to get answers from the SS Major, who toys with their minds and their souls. In their own way, they try to battle back.
That’s the setup for the unforgettable play Canned Goods presented by the American Theater Group.
The show gets its name from “Operation Grandmother Died,” in which Hitler needed the world to see some reason for invading Poland — so a false flag operation was launched to make it appear that Poles attacked Germans in a radio station in the German border town of Gleiwitz. Those who would be sacrificed were called “canned goods” by Germans, and at least one corpse was used to make it look more legit, as if the person was killed in the attack.
SS Major Alfred Naujocks was in charge of the plot, which was a success. Ken King delivers an out of this world performance as Naujocks, who has boxed before and enjoys verbally jousting with the three prisoners — Birnbaum, Kruger, and Honiok.
Birnbaum, a Jew who has been taken from Dachau, is played magnificently by Simon Feil, who displays wit and humor. His character is the first to realize they are going to be killed, and has the nerve to ask Naujocks why he was starved in one camp but is now being fed well.
Feil has a cryptic chemistry with Steven Rattazzi, who plays Kruger, a naïve man who thinks kissing up to the SS major and complimenting his hat may save his life. Rattazzi has an uncanny intensity and displays excellent comedic timing and an ability to nail the heavy moments, like when he asks the SS major if they will be killed.
Birnbaum is clever, and his boisterous banter is his rebellion. Kruger is antisemitic and explains why he felt he had a right to steal from his Jewish boss, who withheld a bonus. As Honiok, Richard Hollis is impressive, giving the role the feel of a deer in the headlights. Dalton Gordon is also convincing as a menacing prison guard.
It’s hard to believe that this is Erik Kahn’s debut play, because the script has a mature brilliance that is not often found when combining fictional characters along with real ones. Paired with Charlotte Cohn’s direction, Canned Goods is a slow-burning eerie emotional earthquake that buries you in rubble. Falling somewhere between an amazing episode of The Twilight Zone and Jean Paul Sartre’s No Exit, the 80-minute show is claustrophobic and chilling. Kudos to Kahn and Cohn for one of the most controversial and provocative endings to a play I’ve ever seen.
The play has incredible parallels to today, something Cohn told me about in a discussion after a recent performance at The Sieminski Theater in Basking Ridge, New Jersey. “It’s incredible to see the parallels for today. There is propaganda and political theater. We have to always learn about history but look at what’s behind what’s happening today and perhaps become more empathetic and be able to walk in someone else’s shoes. Maybe it can move us towards peace, somehow.”
Canned Goods is a fresh look at how evil is justified, war is theatrical, and how — while we may think we are the king of our proverbial castles — we might be pawns and we can easily be knocked off the board altogether, even if we don’t make a wrong move. Sometimes, the best weapon is the right question.
The author is a writer based in New York.
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Missle from Yemen Targets Dead Sea Area
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stands in front of an F-35 stealth fighter at the IAF’s Nevatim base, July 9, 2019. Photo: Amos Ben Gershom / GPO.
i24 News – The Israel Defense Forces said that a Houthi missile was intercepted outside of Israeli territory, although sirens blared in the eastern Negev and Dead Sea area. The Yemen-based, Iran-backed terrorist group said that they had targeted the Nevatim airbase.
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Iran Says ‘Extremely Cautious’ on Success of Nuclear Talks with US
US President Donald Trump’s Middle East envoy-designate Steve Witkoff gives a speech at the inaugural parade inside Capital One Arena on the inauguration day of Trump’s second presidential term, in Washington, DC, Jan. 20, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Carlos Barria
Iran and the United States have agreed to continue nuclear talks next week, both sides said on Saturday, though Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi voiced “extreme cautious” about the success of the negotiations to resolve a decades-long standoff.
US President Donald Trump has signaled confidence in clinching a new pact with the Islamic Republic that would block Tehran’s path to a nuclear bomb.
Araqchi and Trump’s Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff held a third round of the talks in Muscat through Omani mediators for around six hours, a week after a second round in Rome that both sides described as constructive.
“The negotiations are extremely serious and technical… there are still differences, both on major issues and on details,” Araqchi told Iranian state TV.
“There is seriousness and determination on both sides… However, our optimism about success of the talks remains extremely cautious.”
A senior US administration official described the talks as positive and productive, adding that both sides agreed to meet again in Europe “soon.”
“There is still much to do, but further progress was made on getting to a deal,” the official added.
Earlier Omani Foreign Minister Badr Albusaidi had said talks would continue next week, with another “high-level meeting” provisionally scheduled for May 3. Araqchi said Oman would announce the venue.
Ahead of the lead negotiators’ meeting, expert-level indirect talks took place in Muscat to design a framework for a potential nuclear deal.
“The presence of experts was beneficial … we will return to our capitals for further reviews to see how disagreements can be reduced,” Araqchi said.
An Iranian official, briefed about the talks, told Reuters earlier that the expert-level negotiations were “difficult, complicated and serious.”
The only aim of these talks, Araqchi said, was “to build confidence about the peaceful nature of Iran’s nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief.”
Trump, in an interview with Time magazine published on Friday, said “I think we’re going to make a deal with Iran,” but he repeated a threat of military action against Iran if diplomacy fails.
Shortly after Araqchi and Witkoff began their latest indirect talks on Saturday, Iranian state media reported a massive explosion at the country’s Shahid Rajaee port near the southern city of Bandar Abbas, killing at least four people and injuring hundreds.
MAXIMUM PRESSURE
While both Tehran and Washington have said they are set on pursuing diplomacy, they remain far apart on a dispute that has rumbled on for more than two decades.
Trump, who has restored a “maximum pressure” campaign on Tehran since February, ditched a 2015 nuclear pact between Iran and six world powers in 2018 during his first term and reimposed crippling sanctions on Iran.
Since 2019, Iran has breached the pact’s nuclear curbs including “dramatically” accelerating its enrichment of uranium to up to 60% purity, close to the roughly 90% level that is weapons grade, according to the U.N. nuclear watchdog.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said this week Iran would have to entirely stop enriching uranium under a deal, and import any enriched uranium it needed to fuel its sole functioning atomic energy plant, Bushehr.
Tehran is willing to negotiate some curbs on its nuclear work in return for the lifting of sanctions, according to Iranian officials, but ending its enrichment program or surrendering its enriched uranium stockpile are among “Iran’s red lines that could not be compromised” in the talks.
Moreover, European states have suggested to US negotiators that a comprehensive deal should include limits preventing Iran from acquiring or finalizing the capacity to put a nuclear warhead on a ballistic missile, several European diplomats said.
Tehran insists its defense capabilities like its missile program are not negotiable.
An Iranian official with knowledge of the talks said on Friday that Tehran sees its missile program as a bigger obstacle in the talks.
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Palestinian Leader Abbas Names Likely Successor in Bid to Reassure World Powers
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas attends the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, April 28, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Hamad I Mohammed
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas named close confidant Hussein al-Sheikh as his deputy and likely successor on Saturday, the Palestine Liberation Organization said, a step widely seen as needed to assuage international doubts over Palestinian leadership.
Abbas, 89, has headed the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and the Palestinian Authority (PA) since the death of veteran leader Yasser Arafat in 2004 but he had for years resisted internal reforms including the naming of a successor.
Sheikh, born in 1960, is a veteran of Fatah, the main PLO faction which was founded by Arafat and is now headed by Abbas. He is widely viewed as a pragmatist with very close ties to Israel.
He was named PLO vice president after the organization’s executive committee approved his nomination by Abbas, the PLO said in a statement.
Reform of the PA, which exercises limited autonomy in the West Bank, has been a priority for the United States and Gulf monarchies hoping the body can play a central role in resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Pressure to reform has intensified since the start of the war in Gaza, where the PLO’s main Palestinian rival Hamas has battled Israel for more than 18 months, leaving the tiny, crowded territory in ruins.
The United States has promoted the idea of a reformed PA governing in Gaza after the war. Gulf monarchies, which are seen as the most likely source of funding for reconstruction in Gaza after the war, also want major reforms of the body.
CALL FOR HAMAS TO DISARM
Israel’s declared goal in Gaza is the destruction of Hamas but it has also ruled out giving the PA any role in government there. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said he opposes the creation of a Palestinian state.
Hamas, which follows a militant Islamist ideology, has controlled Gaza since 2007 when it defeated the PA in a brief civil war after winning an election the previous year. It also has a large presence in the West Bank.
At a meeting of the PLO’s Central Council on Wednesday and Thursday that approved the position of vice president without naming an appointee, Abbas made his clearest ever call for Hamas to completely disarm and hand its weapons – and responsibility for governing in Gaza – to the PA.
Widespread corruption, lack of progress towards an independent state and increasing Israeli military incursions in the West Bank have undermined the PA’s popularity among many Palestinians.
The body has been controlled by Fatah since it was formed in the Oslo Accords with Israel in 1993 and it last held parliamentary elections in 2005.
Sheikh, who was imprisoned by Israel for his activities opposing the occupation during the period 1978-89, has worked as the PA’s main contact liaising with the Israeli government under Abbas and been his envoy on visits to world powers.
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