About the work
Friedrich Wolf wrote "Die Matrosen von Cattaro" in 1930; it premiered on 8 November 1930 at Berlin's Volksbühne, directed by Günther Stark. The play dramatises the mutiny of Austro-Hungarian naval sailors in the Bay of Cattaro (Kotor) at the end of January and beginning of February 1918.
Plot
Led by petty officer Franz Rasch, sailors on ships including the "St. Georg" demand peace, better provisions and shorter working hours, seize their vessels and hoist red flags in protest against the war and their commanders. The mutiny collapses when a loyal battle squadron arrives from Pola and crushes the uprising by force.
Cultural significance
Wolf used the historical 1918 mutiny to comment obliquely on the failed Ruhr uprising of 1920, exploring how seizing power can prove easier than holding onto it. The play was banned soon after its early productions and remains, even among Wolf's own works, one of the more rarely staged, though it was later adapted for radio (1968) and television (1979).