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podcast ORF Salzburg

Rudi Hauser

PAUL

stücktext deutsch

Das Stück spielt an der Seewiese Altaussee von TAUROA und am Fuß der Trisselwand. Wetter, Wand, Wald, Wiese, der See und der Weg, das Gasthaus und der Ausblick spielen im Wortsinn mit. Sie schwingen in Resonanz mit dem Publikum und den Darstellern. Sie fügen sich nicht den Zurichtungen eines traditionellen Theaterbetriebs, sie sind quasi “unverfügbar”.

Der revidierte Text wird hier ab August zur Verfügung stehen.

PAUL

text english

Speakers

Paul
Mina
Narrator (rather factual, neutral, official)
Voice (personal address, with the basic feeling of sitting next to each other)
Voice Barbara Frischmuth (if the quotes remain)
Elementary school children's voice

August 26, 2025 (dialogues recorded as language samples)

PAUL

The audience disembarks from the Plätten (local term for Zillen) at the landing stage and walks the short distance to the inn. There they are familiarized with the radio receivers (with earbuds) and then led to the spot on the lake where Hannah watches Paul's friend and climbing companion Relly from a raised rock with a bench. Emmy joins them.

1 – ARRIVAL – AT THE JETTY

Relly in the water, fishing for the sword.
Music (Schönberg Piano Concerto III) as the beginning.

Paul (holding rope and hooks): Relly! (throws the hooks to Relly in the lake and wants to throw him the rope as well).
Relly: Give it to Hannah.
Paul: But YOU carry it!

Music (Schönberg Piano Concerto III) continues.

Narrator: Is it really not allowed to use wall hooks when climbing? Must we despise those who secure themselves with ropes? At terrifying, monstrous heights? Under adventurous overhangs! Must we really climb "freely" – and without aids?

Voice: We went as we were: in climbing shoes, wearing only climbing jackets, without backpacks, without provisions – and without a single hook.[1]

Mina (putting things into perspective, objection): Paul wasn't one of those summit climbers. It was more the possibilities, the obstacles – the solutions that particularly interested him.

Voice (slightly aggressive): Mr. Preuß, you must be a cold-hearted monster if you could stand next to the shattered corpse of your best climbing companion, who fell to his death where a small artificial aid, a single miserable piton, would have saved his life and those of his loved ones[2] .

Mina: "Just come with us, Hannah! Come on!" Perhaps out of a feeling that they couldn't just leave her behind as she sat lost at the table—where a wonderful, exciting weekend lay ahead for the others.

Live, on site
Emmy: And Paul?

Relly: Already ahead. In Steinfeld.

Hannah (to Emmy): In Steinfeld?

Relly (somewhat dismissively): We'll be there soon.

Mina: She seemed hurt from the start. And the attempts to cheer Hannah up—but at the same time keep her at a distance—only made Hannah keep a close eye on Relly and stay close to him.

(Emmy gets into the water with Relly and tries to help him with his search).

Narrator: Paul Preuß is twenty-five when he meets up with his friend Emmy Eisenberg—and Paul Relly, a more than good friend from Munich—for a weekend in Altaussee. To climb the Trisselwand, a mountain that has inspired Paul with great respect since childhood, and for which he is still struggling to find the ideal route.

Speaker (Paul): Would it be possible to climb it? "There, over there," our thoughts whisper, "through that chimney and over that ledge" [...] Quickly, our thoughts leave all difficulties behind – it is an effortless victory they achieve.[3]

Mina: It made me nervous when he—as far as the Trisselwand was concerned—had his friends from the big city come just now. Hannah, of all people. What was he thinking! But he remained silent, staring into space. If Paul doesn't say something himself, you can't get anything out of him.

Emmy: Hannah, can you see anything?

Narrator: October 1911. Paul Preuß, who lives in Munich, plans to visit Altaussee, the summer resort of his childhood, with his friends. Until he was ten years old, he had traveled to Altaussee on vacation with his sister Mina and his parents.

Mina: Some people knew and recognized Paul, but not all of them greeted him. Even among those who did say "Grüß Gott" (hello), some swallowed hard.

Narrator: Paul has been thinking about a route on the west pillar of the Trisselwand, a remarkable rock formation at the foot of Lake Altaussee, which he wants to be the first to climb and which no one else knows about yet.

Speaker (Paul): For years, I had been tempted to climb the enormous pillar that descends vertically from the summit –– and thus to climb the completely straight ascent through the wall.

Narrator: He goes on many of his climbing tours and mountain adventures with Emmy, a childhood friend.

Voice: Or with Relly, his friend from Munich.

Narrator: Or alone.

Voice: Like on the Mandlkogelkante.

Speaker (Paul): Now that I finally had the start, I still didn't know whether a wall-smooth section of rock, visible in the upper part of the pillar, would repel all attempts.

Voice: Paul and Emmy – who have been friends since childhood.

Mina: At times, I was unsure whether Emmy wasn't the better, the "real" sister for him. The one Paul wanted. And I was offended. I could have put up with a couple in love... but these two, Paul and Emmy, with their obtrusive "heart and soul"; they created – whenever they felt like it – a togetherness that really got on your nerves. Where everyone feels excluded! 

Narrator: Emmy Eisenberg, barely younger than Paul Preuß, educated, close friends with Paul, fearless. She is considered persistent, ambitious, the best climber of her time. She never complains. Neither about the difficulty of a tour nor about any inconveniences.

Voice (slightly dismayed): She climbed alone with men—even though it seemed morally reprehensible! And could ruin a woman's reputation[4] .

Narrator: Emmy is "modern," a woman who does not follow conventions.

Hannah (when Emmy's skirt hem gets wet): Emmy, your skirt!
Emmy: It doesn't matter. (perhaps also in French) "Je dois changer de toute façon." I have to change anyway.

Narrator: Emmy Eisenberg, who supports Paul not only in his daily goals. Emmy is coming on the train from Vienna to meet Paul and Relly.

Voice: Relly. Doctor Relly. A close friend and fellow student of Paul's. In the "wall hook dispute," in the "may one use aids dispute," he does not really stand behind Paul.

Narrator: For Paul, there is no doubt that climbing hooks should only be used in emergencies, if at all.

Speaker (Paul): "To put it briefly: I consider belaying with driven wall hooks, in many cases even belaying in general, as well as abseiling and all other rope maneuvers that so often enable mountain climbing or at least

used in the process, to be artificial aids and therefore, from the point of view of both mountaineers and climbers, to be flawed and unjustified." [5]

(Somewhere around here, the group could set off towards the mountain and rock face.)

1a. WEG

Voice: "I don't understand at all how anyone can be so cruel as to want to restrict climbing; people go to the mountains to get rid of restrictions! They go to the mountains to escape all constraints, not to stumble upon an even more dangerous constraint."[6]

Speaker (Paul): "[7] , my opponent, is he forgetting all those climbers who can be seen every Sunday on trips to the Vienna or Munich excursion areas, who blindly trust wall hooks and abseiling slings to tackle the most difficult routes without being in the least bit up to them and without knowing the proper use of those beautiful things with which they have stuffed their bags?"[8]

Voice: "We'd rather hang on the safety rope (perhaps with a broken leg) than have the ravens feast on our corpses in the dark abyss."[9]

Speaker (Paul) (summarizing): "You shouldn't be equal to the tours you undertake, you should be superior to them."[10]

Narrator: Discussion and debate about "real" climbing, admiration and affection, rejection and hostility—all of this suits Paul just fine. The more conflict there is, the more conducive it seems to be to the success of the lecture evenings that Paul organizes.

Voice: And if there is no discontent or outrage, then you just throw a bouquet of flowers into the audience: anyone who needs help climbing should just stay at home.

(For the next three quotes, for example, the speakers could also adopt a talk show tone, as if they were sitting in a discussion group.)

Speaker (Paul) (explaining): "The wall hook is an emergency reserve –– not the basis."

Voice: "It is my conviction that wherever there is serious danger, the use of iron hooks is strictly mandatory."

Speaker (Paul): "Anyone who needs technical aids to be able to do a tour that they would not dare to do without them should refrain from doing the tour!" [11]

Narrator: Surprisingly, part of the group coming from Munich – Hannah, an art student at a painting school. Hannah happened to be sitting at the table when Paul and Relly agreed on their tour ...

Mina: Hannah! Come with us to Altaussee!

Narrator (defensive, friendly): With these show-offs? 

Voice: The lady is a little coy, doesn't want to think the "offensive" thought. But in fact – days later – she is standing on the platform.

Mina: If Hannah hadn't shown up at the Ostbahnhof, Paul would never have thought about it again.

Narrator: Unexpectedly, Paul and Relly bring this friend with them to Altaussee, Hannah, an acquaintance of Paul's from his student circle;  their friend Emmy comes from Vienna, Paul and the others from Munich.

Narrator (Paul): The conductor's call woke us up as we sat on hard benches for hours, traveling toward our destination.[12]

Narrator: In Attnang-Puchheim, we changed trains to the one going to Altaussee.

Mina: She was pretty, anyway. And her clothes, her accessories. We couldn't compete with that. But then again, why should we? We don't have nearly as many funerals as they do in Munich.

Narrator: Mina Preuß, Paul Preuß's sister. She came from Vienna to Altaussee with her mother. Paul and Relly therefore abandon their original plan to stay in the old summer resort. Hannah, Paul, and Relly—and their Viennese friend Emmy—take up lodgings in an inn, a snack bar named after the meadow on which it stands: the Seewiese Inn.

Voice (Frischmuth): The inn at the far end of the lake can only be supplied by boat. It is open during the summer months and is a popular destination for day trips.[13]

Mina: So much money for nothing. But Paul insisted that we stay at the inn, also for Hannah's sake. Pointless. With inflation eating up everything, we could have gotten most things for free at the summer house.

Narrator: What Mina doesn't like: she, of all people, has to stay in the village with "Mom" – who thinks of something new every two minutes.

Mina: Last year's logs are all cut wrong. The stove is too small for them. We saw for an hour every day.

Mina: Relly and Emmy got along well with Hannah, and Emmy's curiosity was stretched to breaking point. She teased Hannah. How regrettable it was that Munich had nothing to offer. "From a Viennese perspective." In which she undoubtedly went too far. And Hannah finally countered her taunts lightly. Paul was glad that he was forgotten and that he didn't have to care.

Narrator (Paul): My old friend and companion, Dr. Paul Relly, in his newly acquired gallantry toward my sister Mina (fade out) ... had accepted a package of enormous dimensions ... , in his newly acquired gallantry toward my sister Mina 14

(part of sentence comesstill(once)–repeat and overlay the fade out.)
("Go" music. E.g., piano piece by Schoenberg).

Voice (Frischmuth): The end of the lake where the inn stands is called Seewiese. Behind it, two mountains meet, belonging to the Totes Gebirge massif, which means that between Loser and Trisselwand, the back of the Weiße Wand pushes itself forward, against which the Seewiese runs out in the shape of a triangle.[14]

Could the scene transition to the rock face be from here (last mention of Seewiese)?

Narrator (Paul): A cool evening breeze blew towards us, and ghostly wisps of fog rose from the silent valleys up the black walls[15] .

Narrator: In 1886, when Paul Preuß was born, the family bought a summer house in Altaussee. Being in nature, being able to relax and maintain oneself – Paul learned this in Altaussee. From his father – when they went to their summer retreat (as they did every year). It is important to note that Paul, the hero (barely six years old), had to spend weeks in a wheelchair as a boy, suffering from paralysis.

Voice (Frischmuth): The place where you grow up is a special place that occupies a privileged place in your memory. And the house remains the house and the garden remains the garden, and the imagination begins to spin.[16]

Narrator: Decades later, same place, at Lake Altaussee: Barbara Frischmuth. The Austrian author grew up here in the 1940s and returned to Altaussee in her later years.

Voice (Frischmuth): The inviolability of the early years... a mixture of memories and what one has heard about oneself and others.[17]

Narrator: In Barbara Frischmuth's "Jahre" (Years), a collection of memories strung together as short prose pieces, the Styrian author describes the moods and states of mind of her childhood.

Voice (Frischmuth): I think I can remember well. And yet what I remember differs greatly from what others remember. And even those are just points or short stretches that remain in your consciousness, and in between there is nothing or almost nothing. 18

(The two of them, Hannah and Relly, could, for example, walk ahead together in conversation.)

Mina: "Look at her." – At Hannah. I did my best. Whether she wanted to go fishing! Or see animals? Or visit us at the house? Hannah always wanted to be part of the group, not miss anything. And one of her most pressing interests – as it gradually became apparent – was Relly. That probably started on the train.

Narrator: According to Mina's diary, the group took on a burden when they brought their fellow student Hannah along. Hannah seems reserved, orderly, sympathetic, but just as openly complicated, indignant, and stubborn. Hannah—who approaches things naively, boldly, and without reservation—

Mina (slightly annoyed): And always lands on her feet. –– In the end, she might even have enjoyed "climbing."

Narrator: The others are supposed to "take care" of things; Emmy, for example, or Mina. Paul doesn't have time.

Mina (immediately protective of Paul): He has to concentrate. The route has to be planned before he takes a single step.

Narrator: Paul and this mountain, which he has known since childhood. Seventeen hundred meters high. The Trisselberg. Finally – over the years – he has turned the "horror of nature"[18]  into a place where he feels safe, at home, in a homeland that offers security.

Mina: (quoting somewhat contemptuously) "in a homeland that provides security" ... That sounds like Monte Verità to me. Where everyone gets something out of everyone else's cold.

(This could be the rock face.)

2nd BUG - ROCK FACE

(1st grade elementary school child's voice, stumbling, reading for the first time)

Elementary school child's voice: 

He reads the rock
from a distance
and spells it
later
on the wall.

(same voice but now faster and more briskly)

Elementary school child's voice:  He reads the rock from a distance and spells it out later on the wall. –– What does that mean?

Mina: It says what matters.

Voice: On him and on his climbing friend Emmy, whom he can trust blindly.

Narrator: The summer of 1911 is a high point in Paul Preuß's career. He succeeds in sensational tours, especially in the Dolomites. Between June and October, he climbs 93 peaks, many via first-class routes. ... and then – after this "warm-up" – Preuß climbs – alone – alone and without aids – a mountain in the Wilder Kaiser mountain range, the Totenkirchl west face – a two-thousand-meter peak with a steep wall six hundred meters high ... which not only shocks the entire climbing scene: Paul Preuß is a front-page sensation.

(At the beginning of the scene, Paul could still be alone on the rock face. His companions follow and as they approach, Paul steps back, perhaps jumping away to quickly get out of sight.)

Voice: And his boldest tour – he keeps the plan secret – succeeds on the Guglia di Brenta.

Narrator: Extreme mountaineer Reinhold Messner has remarked several times that there was nothing and no one better.

Voice: "This masterpiece of a route—vertical rock, logical lines, great exposure—Paul Preuß was able to climb free, without any safety equipment on the ascent or descent, without ever hesitating."[19]

Narrator: Reinhold Messner, himself a "border crosser" who has always been interested in contact with nature and exploring his own limits[20] , has written a profound and exciting book about Paul Preuß: "The Philosopher of Free Climbing – The Story of Paul Preuß."

Speaker (Paul): Pointless. Meaningless. Directly climbing all six Vajolet Towers seems pointless to me if you have to undertake an 80-meter journey in the air on a rope to do so.

Voice: With or without approval, most people find it difficult to understand: climbing a wall without any support and demanding that the only insurance lies within oneself.

Mina: Relly 10, Emmy 8, Hannah 5. I don't want to rate Paul: he's my brother, after all.

Voice (thoughtful, conciliatory): One must admit that moderation in the use of aids in climbing is desirable. But to achieve this moderation, one must not resort to such radical measures.[21]

Narrator: Fatherly advice that is just right for a master like Paul Preuß. Even as Relly seems to have heard the clatter of iron hooks in Paul's shirt pocket, he notices Paul standing on tiptoe and defiantly proclaiming what everyone should hear:

Speaker (Paul): The rope may be a helpful tool, but it should never be the only means of climbing mountains.10

Narrator: Relly, Paul's friend, is quite different. He does not follow Paul's dictates by a long shot. Paul's strict positions, his know-it-all attitude, even in the wall hook dispute – Paul and Relly's friendship is often expressed in distance and confrontation.

Mina: Relly can empathize. Unlike Paul.

Narrator: He can find something to enjoy in everything. 1:0 for Relly. Which also makes him interesting to Hannah.

Mina: Relly was charming, understanding, courteous—and not nearly as unapproachable. Hannah felt that there was no equality between Paul and her.

(Relly, Hannah, lagging behind, walking last)
Relly Stop! Careful! Now look at that! (to himself, but so that Hannah can hear him) You only see one of those once in a lifetime. (in a postscript, to Hannah) If at all! (as he kneels down and pushes aside tufts of grass or stones, explaining with fascination, somewhat reverently) A click beetle! I never thought that this beetle would be here—
Hannah (also kneels down, perhaps a little distantly): I wouldn't even have believed it existed.
Relly (without taking his eyes off the beetle, only looking up briefly from time to time, whispering softly, admiringly): It spends the whole day traveling and collecting water droplets. Which it stores here—in these little flaps at the back—in front of its hind legs.
(Hannah wants to reach for something)
Relly: Don't touch it!
(Hannah immediately withdraws her hand)
Relly (after a brief, benevolent, thoughtful consideration, enthusiastically, introspectively): In the evening, it sits comfortably. And sips its sauce. Which it has prepared in its walnut shell .
Hannah (somewhat incredulous): Prepared? In a walnut shell?
Relly (explaining, seriously): Little by little, he spits the shell full, right after he comes home.
Hannah realizes that Relly is teasing her and stands up.
Relly: But seriously. (also stands up) The fact that the beetle is here in this area is more than unusual. I ask you to keep this confidential. (explains, gestures) The entire wall, maybe even the entire mountain range. They would be closed immediately so as not to disturb the beetle. They would be shut down. (after a pause, already walking away) If this gets out, climbing will be over. Here... and in the entire area.
(Hannah and Relly want to leave, but Hannah stops again and looks in the direction of the beetle. Is this nonsense or could it be true?)
Hannah (running after him): And the name? "Rattling beetle"?
Relly (objectively): The sound it makes when it spits its water supply into the bowl in the evening. Something like this (concentrates, imitates the click beetle, illustrates the sound by clicking his tongue three times)  tz tz tz ... tz tz tz . No, wait, like this (exactly the same): tz tz tz ... tz tz tz

Narrator: Grinning, Hannah joins the others. It's been a long time since she's met a man who makes her laugh.

(Scene change to the stone field.)

3 – STONE FIELD

Mina: I remember – we were still small – when Paul got fixated on the idea of his parents buying the stone field. To this day, I have no idea who it belongs to. The emperor? I asked Paul, "What does it matter if it belongs to us?" "You're still asking that?!" And that he would come early in the morning and leave late in the evening. "And someone will bring us food – and then he looked at me. And pointed his finger – you." –– "If you really care so much about the stones," said the neighbor, "then you should buy them." And then, her forehead wrinkled: "Who would we have to ask?" Paul hoped for days, but nothing happened. We didn't tell our parents. Instead, we calculated how amazed our parents would be when we could tell them that there was no going back to Vienna because the stone field was now ours.

(The following Steinfeld dialogue could also take place a little later, if the scene requires it).

Emmy: I think your sister, Wilhelmine, that she—just like you—still suffers from the fact that you're not locals, not "real" Altausseers.

Paul: I'm not so sure about that. One more day with Mom in this backwater, and Mina will go to the station. (adds) And if the ticket office is closed, she'll walk along the tracks to Bad Goisern and buy tickets to Vienna.

Emmy: I know it differently (enthusiastically) "If only one could live here." Mathilde, my friend, often said that too.

Relly (corrects): Mathilde.

Emmy: What?

Relly: You said "Wilhelmine."

Emmy: I'm sure I didn't say that?

Relly and Paul: Yes, you did.

Paul: You meant "Mathilde," but you said "Wilhelmine."

Emmy: That's nonsense! Why would I say "Wilhelmine"?

Relly: Because you said it before.

Hannah: You said "Mathilde."

Emmy: So I did. I'll tell you, Relly! ... Thanks, Hannah.

Paul: And this friend knew Altaussee?

Emmy (exuberantly, as Mathilde would have said): "If only you could live there—I would go there forever." (somewhat more soberly): No. It was somewhere in Bavaria.

Paul (after a slightly too long pause): Where exactly?

Emmy: Near that town—with the royal spa.

Hannah (noticing): At Lake Thum!

Emmy (surprised that Hannah got it right): Hannah!

Hannah (triumphantly): I've been there!

Emmy (pointing to Hannah): Hannah surprises me!

Hannah: And there, at Lake Thum, there is—funny that I hadn't thought of it until now—a similarly beautiful inn—on a similarly beautiful lake. Almost exactly the same. Just like here.

Emmy: Did you go on vacation?

Hannah: Excellent service. Unfortunately, I had already eaten elsewhere. Because that strudel dough, filled with brown apple filling, must have been outstanding. Otherwise, there wouldn't have been so many flies on it. – But now guess what the inn is called.

Emmy (after a short pause, the men don't want to guess): "Thumsee"?

Hannah: "Seewiese." It's called... (Hannah pauses, repeats something thoughtfully): "Seewiese." How strange.

Emmy: Wilhelmine, anyway – – (now actually slips up, louder, to erase "Wilhelmine") ahhh, Mathilde! (pauses, shakes her head, must be wondering about herself) Mathilde was there with her parents. At this very lake, Thumsee. But that was ten years ago now. And they stayed at the inn. It's supposed to have been so beautiful.

Hannah: I can believe that.

Emmy: Maybe also because she fell in love. With the son of the innkeeper. Who was probably nice. And who she couldn't get out of her head.

Paul: And where she waited far too long to see if this door would open to the other side.

Emmy (meaning Paul shouldn't put her down): Oh, Paul! (continues) Despite years of friendship, despite many letters and assurances, nothing came of it. Although I believe she still pines for the innkeeper's son—who has since become a doctor.

Paul and Relly among themselves

Relly (to Paul): The climb isn't easy, and going down is often even worse!

Paul (to Relly, precocious, semi-shoe tourist): Often, only the beautiful view is worth it.

Emmy: She tried for years, wrote to him constantly.

Relly: Years???

Paul: But even before the first kiss at the altar.

Emmy: Anyway, one day, it all came to an end.

Relly: And her?

Emmy: Letters—  always more.

Relly (friendly mockery): "Friendly," right?

Emmy: I think she still writes to him today.

Paul: In the end, it can't all have been for nothing.

Emmy: Over the years, Mathilde talked less and less about her longings and goals, and more and more about her vacations—at that lake. About hiking, about boating. How wonderful it was back then.

(after a pause)

Relly: And the future? What will happen to Mathilde?

Emmy: She got married. But now she's sick again.

Mina: Paul had a hiding place in the stone field where he kept some of his belongings. I don't know exactly where it was or what it was. But every year when we came back in the summer, he would go and check if everything was still there. I'm not even sure if he didn't check today when we arrived—when he was in the stone field before the others—if he didn't check to see if the ancient treasure was still there.[22] 

Narrator: Mina remained curious. Hannah could be dangerous to her. Hannah knew how to make the most of even shortcomings.

Voice: Hannah is the kind of woman who doesn't care about values; who is interested in men and knows how to ingratiate herself without being obsequious or submissive.

Narrator: It's unclear whether she is that sensitive, or whether it's just instinct or a ploy (to appeal to men's protective instincts).

Voice: Hannah is calculating. And she doesn't care if anyone else notices. She knows how to play the game. Without her making it to a real friend, men fall for her in droves. And there's nothing she doesn't know how to use to make herself interesting. Hannah's sketchbook, in which she draws... or notes "important" things, her elegant clothes, which she wears freely and casually, and Hannah's weaknesses of all kinds, with which she stands out – "against her will," of course.

Narrator: It's not really clear whether Mina tried to make Hannah look bad. At least in front of Relly. And at least in her diary. Mina's lines easily reveal hurt feelings, jealousy, and spite (towards Hannah). Even in the ghost question, it is impossible to tell what was real and what was invented. Mina writes that she heard Hannah say more than once that things were bad... and that Hannah didn't want to take another step if people didn't trust her.

Mina: How she threw herself at Relly!

Voice: And no one could bring themselves to tell Hannah that Mina Preuß and "Doctor" Relly—Paul's friend—had been together for months, engaged to be married!

Mina: No one wanted to tell her. Everyone avoided the subject because no one wanted a fight that would go on indefinitely.

Voice: Fear of any exchange of blows leads to a wait-and-see attitude, observation, a heavy emphasis on not telling. Which is not a lie, of course, because no one says anything; but which also cannot be resolved because the crucial point is not spoken.

Mina (pleading for consideration): Hannah already seemed very depressed and shaken at that point anyway.

Voice: Mina doesn't put everything down on paper, but later expresses her suspicion that Hannah was playing with the intention of dissuading Paul and Relly from climbing altogether. Perhaps as a test of power: that because of her—Hannah's influence—there was no climbing at all!

Mina (annoyed): One minute she wants everyone to wait until she says so, the next she wants them to take this path and not that one—because otherwise something terrible will happen. And even though she was just setting the tone, now everyone else has to wait because Hannah can't manage to take the next step. Is she afraid of heights, even though there's no cliff in sight? And although you can see that Paul and Relly are almost getting angry, they tolerate Hannah's aloofness for the sake of the mood and for the sake of peace.

Narrator (Paul): The lack of directional sense in most women is astonishing, and with suggestive power they even transfer this lack to all their companions.[23]

Emmy is at a really easy climbing spot, but she pretends she has to explain to Hannah how to tackle it. Emmy climbs, then encourages Hannah to follow her. Hannah dares to try. Paul and Relly chat. Hannah also manages the spot, but with difficulty. Emmy praises her for getting off to a very good start and for being talented.

Live, on site
Emmy: As I always say: ideals that can be achieved quickly! (Also in the sense of: let yourself be seen ...) Look, dear Hannah! A little practice and you'll be there!

Relly and Paul in front, Emmy and Hannah together.

Mina: Hannah smiled. She clapped her hands like someone who had shown the others how it was done. And she didn't ask what Paul and Relly thought. Later, however, she saw how the two of them sometimes clapped their hands, even at the most ridiculous things. And she felt that she was just a city mouse, and Paul and Relly were wild animals. That hurt and depressed her.

live, on site
Emmy: They do that with everyone. I don't even hear it anymore.

Mina: Hannah wanted to be valued. Her contribution to the community was to be loved. What she had always seen as her way of interacting with others, as her contribution: she acted, others marveled. But when she realized what Emmy, Paul, and Relly really wanted—the terrifying wall—and how enormous this undertaking was—and how unimportant Hannah was—she lost her way. And every time she saw the wall, with every step the group took closer to the place of adventure, Hannah became more irritable, even more unforgiving. These were feelings that everyone could see. But here, too, no one in the group asked what was really bothering her so much—and I certainly didn't.

Narrator: Paul Preuß is tireless, climbing the Loser and the Sturzhahn via the normal route. He is often completely alone, attempting the first ascent of the Traweng North Face in the Totes Gebirge mountains.

(Switch to the Stummeralm scene here.)

4 – STUMMERALM

Narrator: Did Mr. Preuss actually complete his studies? Yes! Dr. Preuss. That's what it says on the posters. Lecture by Dr. Paul Preuss. About his magnificent, sometimes hair-raising deeds.

Voice: The result: ever new, merciless controversies. Pros and cons have been whipped up into a frenzy, revolving around the zeal to assert one's subjective view as social consensus. A desire to be right that appears as public concern, supposedly responsible action, and feeds on insidious taunts.

Narrator: They hadn't seen each other for weeks. But when Emmy meets Paul in Altaussee, she thinks he's changed, restless, unsettled. Is she mistaken? Or was something wrong with him? Didn't he seem – despite all his cheerfulness and popularity – "the way everyone knew him" – a little more exuberant, more erratic than usual?

Mina: Who would have wanted or been allowed to notice something like that as Emmy – who would of course never have mentioned it to anyone else.

Narrator: Emmy decided to put off the subject, partly because she was preoccupied with Hannah's peculiarities and was focusing more on Hannah at that moment.

Mina: Emmy could sleep, relax, simply disappear into nothingness. Not so Paul. Where Paul was, it was bright. And he wanted or had to make sure it stayed that way. That people could always see him. Driven to be the center of attention, he exposed himself to situations that he sometimes could no longer control.

Narrator: He financed his life with his lectures on alpine topics and the high fees he charged.[24]

Emmy (with Hannah, commenting while plucking or tearing leftover scraps of paper from the poster stand)

Every time

Everything torn off.

Mostly opponents (tears)

Admirers (tears)

Rarely (tears)

Mostly opponents (tears)

Every time I go here

(rummages in bag, pulls out new Lawine Torren poster and attaches it with thumbtacks, for example)

it's almost exclusively city dwellers

(to Hannah) Hold on a minute—here (Hannah holds the top left corner, Emmy pins a thumbtack on the right)

where Paul has a name (pins a thumbtack on the left)

the Isartalverein (pins a thumbtack)

the Alpine Plant Protection Association (pins a thumbtack)

the Association for the Protection of the Waldschrapp (pins a thumbtack)

against Paul

most

the German branch of the Alpine Club

is raging

the Austrian branch of the Alpine Club

is raging

the German and Austrian Alpine Clubs

rage

(slightly authoritarian)

the consistent implementation ... of ideal principles

must sooner or later ... lead to disaster[25]

Narrator: This is how director and writer Luis Trenker[hh1]  would later express himself.

Voice (quoting Trenker): "I claimed that the consistent implementation of these ideal principles must sooner or later lead to disaster."

Mina: Paul stood up for his cause, his affairs. Many people didn't like that. It frightened many people.

Speaker (Paul): There are so many things I could take personally if I wanted to! But I don't want to, because the cause is more important to me than the person, and because I want to see such childish resistance eliminated from the development of the sport.[26]

5 – Rock at the exit gate
Emmy, Relly, and Hannah in a loose group watch as Paul, on the rope, abseils down, talking loudly as if addressing a group

(Perhaps Paul is rappelling here in the Dülfer position before trying the spot with Emmy).

Speaker (Paul) (curious position on the rope, taunting his opponents, calling out to his friends from a low height): Please don't get me wrong. If there are no surrounding mountains to block the wind, the rope can be a lifesaver. Otherwise, you can – – otherwise, you will – waiting for a response

Emmy: Blown away!

Speaker (Paul) Blown away, exactly. The best example ... is Mount Etna in Sicily. The winds there blow from eight – – eight different directions. The shimmer of the heat, the hissing of the volcano, ash in your eyes, and all around you the many winds. Coming at you unabated. You have to say: safety first. But apart from Mount Etna – in the Alps, people are doing far too much nonsense with ropes  – lately.

Narrator: He performed his gymnastics and parodied his opponents. He didn't care that there was no audience (except for Emmy, Relly, and Hannah, who were already familiar with such performances). Emmy wasn't quite sure whether there weren't some undertones creeping in, similar to those he sometimes used with admirers: condescending.

Speaker (Paul): In any case, rope assistance from above is generally frowned upon during the ascent. But what is right for the ascent (acts, does something) must be cheap for the descent! (arrives at the bottom)

Emmy (calls out to Paul, but actually translates for Hannah, whom she believes is behind her): That you can also descend – without help! So, simply put, that you (turns around) were only at the top when you are back down again.

(notices that Hannah is no longer there, calls out, a little hesitantly)

Emmy: "Hannah?"

Way to

6 – Gaisknechtstein

Mina: I was already on my way home when I saw Hannah. I immediately stepped aside and hid behind a tree. I waited there and imagined how many people might hide if they saw me unexpectedly, for example, when I went to the cemetery.

Narrator: The terror came and went so unexpectedly that soon afterwards, everyone agreed that Hannah had invented these ghosts to make herself interesting. No one even wanted to ask themselves whether she was actually capable of perceiving things that were hidden from others.

Mina: Emmy wasn't sure whether she wanted to climb the Trisselwand with Paul and Relly. She kept it to herself for a long time, hesitated, went over everything several times, but on the evening before the climb, she confided in me. Emmy's assessment that Paul was struggling with how exactly to approach the climb had gained the upper hand. And neither Paul nor Relly wanted to know anything about the route she herself would have preferred—even further away, starting from Gamsplatz.

Voice (Frischmuth): At the point on the lake shore directly opposite our house, you look up at scree slopes, above which lies the Trisselberger Loch. Children are told that devils live there, feeding on rusty shoe nails and broken glass.[27]

(Invisible horrors: sighting of a wild woman in the Trisselberger Loch, a bull on one of the rocks in the stone field, visible from the Gaisknechtstein, but barely perceptible?

7 – Seewiese

 Paul, Emmy, and Relly see nothing at all, but the audience and Hannah can see the apparitions. (While the whole group is on their way to or on the Seewiese (the latter he actually wants to walk through) and is moving slowly, Hannah has slowed down in the middle because something in her is failing and she can't go on (however that is staged), the group, including Paul and Relly, at some point on the Seewiese gives Hannah and Emmy a clear view. Hannah seems unable to continue due to exhaustion. Regardless of whether the first ghostly apparition (after Gaisknechtstein) takes place on the way to the lake meadow or on the lake meadow itself, Hannah will not be able to continue on the lake meadow.

(The scene could take place a little further towards the lake in the newly explored areas with trees. There are more lateral movement options there, both for the group and for Hannah, Emmy, and perhaps Mina. This location could also be further ahead on the shore path, at the previous filming location. Then it would be easy to have the others walk ahead a little and then come back a few meters.

Perhaps the first ghost scene could even be left in the forest and repeated here, further towards the lake. In any case, this should be worked out scenically on location.)

Mina: Hannah was feeling bad for the first time—and everyone could sense it. She couldn't go on. She was acting strangely on the ground, without any apparent reason—like others sometimes do—on steep terrain. Where it was important to be sure-footed and determined, because there was a 100-meter drop. Hannah couldn't go forward or backward. She was paralyzed because there was an abyss – inside her – and she sank to her knees. She couldn't take another step.

Emmy (somewhat reproachfully): Hannah! What's wrong?

Hannah (looks around fearfully, peeks, pulls Emmy down to her, speaks in a whisper, as if she mustn't be heard, points): "There!"

Emmy: "Yes? –– Hannah – "

Hannah: "There"

Emmy: "Yes?"

Hannah: "The rock."

Emmy: "Yes? Hannah?"

(Hannah tells Emmy to stay crouched down and remain inconspicuous, but she herself stands up and takes cautious steps toward the rock (where she thinks she has noticed something).

As she cautiously approaches the back of the rock, there is nothing to be seen. Perhaps it was an illusion?
When a horn protrudes from another spot and moves...
No, there was something there! Maybe one of the young bulls in the pasture? She quickly retreats and seeks Emmy's protection.

Voice: Something must be added to the unfamiliar to make it eerie.[28]

Speaker (Paul, ignorant): It only takes five minutes for the lady to walk ahead, and already the path to the hut is lost.[29]

Emmy: "It's okay, give us a moment. We'll be right there."

Mina: Although we knew that this was no longer fun, we were annoyed. And we dismissed Hannah's poses. As female sensibility.

Narrator (Paul): "The woman seeks new values in the mountains. Values that can evoke heightened sensations. Impressive, new, overwhelming experiences. She wants to be conquered by the unfamiliar and experience the strongest sensations. She knows no fear, but she wants to learn to feel the thrill."[30]

Voice: And "most uncanny" – as Siegmund Freud says, "many people find most uncanny anything connected with death, corpses, the return of the dead, ghosts, and spirits."[31]

Emmy (almost interrupting the "voice"): "Go now, please!"

Emmy and Hannah stay behind, Hannah now lies down on the floor, Emmy bends over her, arranges a kind of headrest for her, while the two men and the audience turn toward the inn. The audience, only a few steps away with Relly and Paul, heads toward the inn but has to watch with Relly and Paul as Hannah communicates excitedly with Emmy, who repeatedly tries to get her to "calm down." 

Hannah (looking around): Why are we back here again?

Emmy: We're still here. How are you? Better?

Relly (impatiently): What's going on?

Hannah (straightening up, strong impulse): It's not working. Emmy! You can't do that.

Mina: Not even in Altaussee, when she saw the Trisselwand for the first time, did Hannah seem to really understand what Paul and his friends were planning: that Paul and his friends' intention to have a good time and climb this steep rock was connected. Looking forward to a few nice days of hiking and a bit of mountain climbing, everything suddenly seemed to turn upside down for Hannah. And with every step toward the inn, it got worse, without Hannah having the slightest idea where it was coming from: cramps in her stomach that felt like terrible stage fright, and a lump in her throat, below her larynx, that frightened her and she couldn't reach.

Voice: If psychoanalytic theory is correct in its assertion that every affect of emotion, regardless of its nature, is transformed into anxiety through repression, then there must be a group of anxious cases in which it can be shown ( ) that this anxiety is something recurring that has been repressed. This type of anxiety would be precisely what is uncanny.[32]

Dance (?) We see (no sound) Hannah (gesturing) telling Paul and Relly. The content is roughly as follows: Relly demands that Hannah show them where the ghosts are so that they can finally move on. Hannah points to a few places. Paul and Relly go to "take a look." There is nothing there. But wasn't there that "broken stick"? No, that was just a branch.

Mina: And she described what she thought she heard and saw, grimaces and menacing figures that frightened her. But she told it as if it were a dream made up of such descriptions. And Hannah was caught in the middle.

(playing an eerie piece by the composer Schoenberg, which her parents had asked her to practice)

Narrator: Whenever "death" is in the room—and it is in the room when Hannah looks at the mountain and imagines what could happen—something comes to mind; it triggers something in Hannah that she does not want to be reminded of.

The piano suddenly appears in the lake, Paul and Emmy dance on rocks with trees on them, with grotesque heads like horned animals. Hannah herself is now the wild woman, driven into the water by Relly with a hunter's grimace.

(the ghosts disappear)

Voice (evoking itself, as if it were Hannah's inner voice): It didn't have to be over with death. It didn't have to be the end of Paul, Relly, Emmy, if they ventured into the wall tomorrow and it was their last walk. The loss of someone was final – and not eternal. And Hannah's "guilt," her lack of responsibility – not everlasting. If there were ghosts – then perhaps death was not the end, there was life after death.

Emmy: But Hannah! You were barely six years old!

Mina: The way Hannah behaved was definitely not just an act. I didn't want to admit it. Not even later. I was against Hannah. Something must have happened. Even if no one but Hannah saw the ghosts.

Narrator: This uncanny feeling is really nothing new or strange, but something [...] familiar that has only been alienated from him through the process of repression.[33]

------

In this mood, they arrive at the inn. Weather permitting, the scene takes place in front of the inn, slightly apart at a specially set table, perhaps on the dance floor. The audience could be on the terrace.

In the inn (Hannah, Emmy, Relly, Paul)

Emmy: Or would you like something to eat?

Hannah: I'm fine.

Emmy (stirs Hannah's teacup, modestly, to Hannah): And you saw something?

Hannah: I don't know. ––– Now, here  (unsure whether she was mistaken after all).

Emmy: Paul didn't see it.

Relly (assuring Hannah): But you don't want to say that—because. (Getting specific, becoming confidential like a sports commentator) If you approach it that way—if you don't believe you can take the next step—then you have little chance of achieving it.

Emmy tells Relly to give it a rest.

Hannah (regaining her composure): But you have to listen to yourself—

Emmy (agreeing, tersely): Sure. Maybe. –– (somewhat helplessly) But a ghost. (to Hannah, kindly) Your ghost.

Hannah (insists, corrects): Ghosts.

Emmy: I mean – even if they're there? ... just suppose: in the end, you never know what ghosts want – what they say!

Relly: That reminds me of Paul. (Paul notices,  feels addressed, Relly explains) And his lectures. (to Hannah) An example. (as matter-of-factly as he can) You're climbing—and somewhere in the rock, in the middle of the wall—you get a fright. A small black crawling animal that you wouldn't expect to find there.

Paul: That can't be.

Relly: The glacier flea of North Tyrol (alternatively: The glacier flea of Edelgries).

Paul: The glacier flea of North Tyrol? (incredulous) At this altitude?

Relly: Who, after a long journey, found a place of power to restore the peace of mind he had lost. What do you say to that!

Paul: That he underestimated the effort involved?

Relly: Yes, but beyond that. As an example. What does it "mean"?

Hannah: That the glacier flea—as small and inconspicuous as it may be—has the same right to this particular rock. The rock that Paul, of all people, wants to use for climbing.

Relly (concluding, translating, clarifying the oracle's advice): That you can't go any further.

Paul (in disbelief): What?

Emmy: I know something that really happened[34] : (to everyone) Listen up. Two friends want to climb a mountain. They're already at the hut – where the real adventure begins.

Relly (explaining): Where the mountains are.

Emmy (clarifying): Where friendship counts. –– Anyway, they spend the night (to Relly, shaking her head, including the others: "Bua!"). Anyway. In the morning – the weather isn't good. And one of them says: something is warning us, I'm turning back. I'm not going. And the other one says: "Turn back! That's why! Then I'll go alone"... and finally, to reassure his comrade who isn't coming with him... "I'm joining the Swiss." –– But did he do it? Did he join the Swiss? The next day he is missing. And they find him – fallen and dead.

Hannah: Why are you telling me this?

Emmy: Because there is a natural order of things. (Hannah doesn't understand) Even though the horses are trembling and the wolves are howling—and you might guess that disaster is looming[35] —

Relly: Although the innkeeper said (acting a little): "Turn back. Don't go to the castle!"

Emmy: Is that the next thing you do— (wants Hannah to give the answer)

Relly: You go to the castle.

Hannah: But maybe (clears throat, breathes) it can't be – with these mountaineers, (clears throat) that there's something else behind it. That one of them pushed the other –

Paul (interested, incredulous): Pushed!?

Hannah: ... and then made it up later – with this no-longer-wanting, with the weather, the solo climb. These supposed Swiss people.

Emmy: Is the matter being investigated?

Relly: The Vienna police now have 16 dogs.

Emmy: Where did you get that from?

Relly (reaches beside him, picks something up and shows it): "Alpenpost."

Hannah: They don't detect anything. They're Rottweilers and Dobermans.

Relly: (pauses, discovers a small crawling insect on his upper arm) Rottweiler!  (chases the insect, continues talking so as not to warn the insect, addressing Hannah but keeping his eyes on the insect) There we are (kills the insect) Damn creatures.

Short pause

Emmy: There are more and more of them. You see them more and more often. When the grass is mowed on Wiesensteig, it smells like dog for days. – But does that mean anything?

Relly: Nonsense. You have that on every tour: a visual contact that breaks, an overhang... a corncrake on its honeymoon[36] . Those aren't signs.

Hannah (addressing Relly): Because nothing has ever happened to you. (Hannah tries not to lose her composure again)

Relly: What could possibly happen that's so terrible!

Emmy: Anyway, I'm not going with you tomorrow.

Paul: What??

Emmy: "It's not possible," so to speak.

Hannah (concerned): But that shouldn't have anything to do with me.

Relly (to Hannah): You've really done it now!

Hannah: That's definitely not what I wanted.

Emmy: You two go, and Hannah and I will have a cozy time (doesn't sound cozy).

Hannah (has gotten up in the meantime): I can't take it anymore. See you tomorrow—

Emmy (polite, not friendly): Good night, Hannah!

Relly: Good night! (Paul makes a gesture as if to say good night, but says nothing)

(Hannah leaves the room)

Relly (somewhat confidentially, as soon as Hannah is outside): You don't want to go because she's being sensitive?

Emmy (more to the room than to Relly): Something's been bothering her since she first saw the wall—or rather, since she first became aware of it—(she means: what we were planning to do).

Relly: That it won't work for her?

Emmy: That's not it. It's the fear—Hannah's unshakeable fear—that a single moment can decide between life and death.[hh1] 

Paul: But that's not how it is.

Emmy: No, that's not how it is. But for Hannah, that's how it is. She believes that with every step we take, we're going all in. That's why she goes all in herself – (explains it better) Like in the Ganghofer stories. She carries on as if there were only now and no after.

Relly: And she's putting her life on the line.

Emmy: Hannah's life, every life, I don't know. – (standing up to defuse the situation, friendly) – Certainly not your life (physical contact with Relly in some form). Good night. (she leaves the room)

Supper (Emmy, Relly, Paul)

(Change of day – change of scene. Here we could move from the outdoor dining area to the parlor. Or reach the other day in the parlor.)

Voice (sour, malicious): How happy the Grim Reaper will be when he sees the followers of the Preuß school rushing "helpless" into the mountains! 2

Speaker (Paul): I don't want to speak out against the love of danger, which – among us modern mountaineers – is absolutely essential to a certain extent. But it seems to me that the thought, "if you fall, you'll hang three meters on the rope," has less ethical value than the feeling, "one fall and you're dead!"

Narrator: There is always a risk of losing your life when climbing. But if you die prematurely—

Mina (annoyed, repeating herself like a mantra, perhaps in unison with Emmy):  ...  then a fall is quick and painless.

Voice: If you know that the important holds are not brittle ... then you could register two things: that you will die if your hand fails, or that you will live because you can rely on yourself.[37]

Speaker (Paul): Not the desperate correction of one's own insecurity achieved by artificial aids, but that primary security that should be based on every climber's correct assessment of their abilities and their will. (10)

Mina: But it can happen that you die. In principle, it can always happen that you fall down—and die on impact.

Narrator: It snowed that night. A little early in the year, but not unusual for October. Hannah attributed this to the "signs." Paul, on the other hand, perceived it differently—he discovered something—a narrow snow-covered band in the rock.

Mina: Fresh snow covered the wall. And all the protrusions became visible from the valley.

Voice (announcement; warning on bergsteigen.com): The rock is solid and clean... even if it doesn't always look that way. Only climb in dry conditions![38]

Speaker (Paul): What I had seen under the snow cover: a steep, grass-covered band that led up the vertical wall to a protruding head –

Mina: – which could be climbed.

Narrator: Paul and Relly didn't set off until noon so that the autumn sun could melt some of the snow.

Narrator (Paul): For several years, I had been tempted to climb the enormous pillar that descends vertically from the summit. But until the very last moment, I didn't know whether a wall-smooth zone visible in the upper part of the pillar would repel all attempts.

Narrator (Paul): With our Kodaks loaded, we climbed over a small snowfield to a chimney on the west side, and the gymnastics began! That is, can you call it gymnastics? This e pushing and shoving between wet and mossy walls, this conglomeration of nonsensical arm and leg contortions, this getting stuck with bulging packs and slipping with wet soles?[39]

Narrator (Paul): The terrain gradually pushed us further to the right, to the eastern edge of the pillar, and there, where we had not expected any more difficulties, it became clear how wrong human calculations can be. […]

Narrator (Paul): The wall could not be conquered. I climbed a few meters, then I could barely see the next handholds with my eyes, let alone reach or use them. […]

Voice: "Hammer in a piton."

Speaker (Paul): Eight and a half hours have passed since we started, hours of hard work, and yet we can't even settle down for a longer rest at the summit. We only have an hour of daylight left to reach the saddle, and we don't even have a lantern with us, as we left our backpacks below.
In our tattered climbing shoes, we hurry across the plateau, which is covered in half a meter of snow in places.

Narrator (Paul): Here, where the sun only shines at an angle, it no longer has the power to melt the large amounts of snow, and the wetness penetrates us everywhere; but what does it matter? Success proved us right when we attempted the wall, and whether we return home with wet or dry feet, it makes no difference to us... [40]

An exuberant mood fills the room, perhaps a discrepancy between sound and image as in a film: while we hear Mina's thoughts and the narrator's words, we see the friends in a frenzy of joy at having survived the adventure unscathed.

When Paul and Relly come home, the music from outside could drift in.
E.g.: Punzenjodler and electric guitar from TVB as a playback with Paul and Relly lip-syncing.
Pub choreography on benches and tables.

First loud music, then quiet music to characterize the characters as atmosphere with sound-image editing.

Narrator: Emmy Eisenberg, Paul's childhood friend. Paul Preuß is said to have once remarked that she was as light as a feather and the best climber of all. The fact that she is hardly mentioned in the following decades is not only because she is a "woman," but also because she is of Jewish descent. The life story of Emmy Hartwich-Brioschi, as she would later be known, bears witness to a bright, elegant life. A life dedicated to championing women's rights. Emmy lived to be over ninety years old.[41]

Narrator: Mina Preuß, Paul Preuß's sister, and "Doctor" Paul Relly, Paul Preuß's friend: at the time of "Altaussee," Mina and Relly have been engaged for months and are planning to marry.

Hannah – who has joined them again – brings more beer like a temporary waitress.

Narrator: If Hannah ever studied at all. After the weekend in Altaussee, she is considered "untraceable." Years later, she is seen in a beer cellar in Augsburg, working as a waitress. She makes a good impression. She seems to feel at home.

Narrator: Paul Preuss dies young. Two years after the Altaussee adventure on the Trisselwand, in October 1913, he falls to his death on the Mandlkogel in the Gosaukamm, alone.

Mina: Early on Monday morning, everyone left. Relly got off in Ischl, supposedly because he wanted to visit a friend. But in reality, he went back to me.

END

[1] Paul Relly quote, Messner book p. 273

[2] Messner (Nieberl), p. 68

[3] Paul Preuß quote, Messner book p. 142

[4] According to Georg Spitaler, Andrea Sturm: Sports in Austria 1918-1938 [https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emmy_Eisenberg]

[5] Messner: p. 51 ff

[6] Messner, (Piaz) p. 61

[7] = referring to Piaz

[8] Messner, p. 65

[9] Wikipedia according to Uli Auffermann: Decision on the Wall – Milestones of Alpinism. 1st edition. Schall Verlag, Alland 2010

[10] Messner p.72 Basic principles

[11] Messner, p. 28

[12] Messner, p. 175

[13] Frischmuth, Barbara: "Tage und Jahre" (Days and Years), Donauland/Residenz 1971, p. 59

[14] Frischmuth, Barbara: "Tage und Jahre" (Days and Years), Donauland/Residenz 1971, p. 60

[15] Paul Preuß quote, Messner book p. 140ff, see also p. 32

[16] Frischmuth, Barbara: "Tage und Jahre" (Days and Years), Donauland/Residenz 1971, p. 106

[17] Frischmuth, Barbara: "Tage und Jahre" (Days and Years), Donauland/Residenz 1971, p. 107

[18] Schnitzler

[19] Messner p. 32 ff

[20] https://www.imogsuedtirol.com/reinhold-messner/– on June 21, 2025

[21] Messner p. 59 f (Piaz)

[22] If anyone from the production team wants to know: I think at least a mouse skeleton and the little box with the old coins he had intended to use to buy the stone field. He showed me the coins—which were already rusty—once. And shortly afterwards, the little box, which actually belonged to me, disappeared. M*

[23] Paul Preuß quote, Messner book p. 89

[24] Höfler, Horst: Sehnsucht Berg: große Alpinisten von den Anfängen bis zur Gegenwart (Longing for the Mountains: Great Mountaineers from the Beginnings to the Present). BLV, Munich/Vienna/Zurich 1989, ISBN 3-405-13573-7, p. 69. – quoted from https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Preu%C3%9F_(Alpinist) on June 21, 2025

[25]Luis Trenker Quote from the Messner-Preuss book, p. 53

[26] Paul Preuss quote, Messner book p. 51

[27] Frischmuth, Barbara: "Tage und Jahre" (Days and Years), Donauland/Residenz 1971, p. 61

[28] Sigmund Freud quotes a treatise by E. Jentsch (On the Psychology of the Uncanny, Psychiatric-Neurological Weekly 1906 No. 22 and 23) in: The Uncanny, 1919

[29] Messner book, p. 89

[30] Messner book, p. 92

[31] Sigmund Freud: The Uncanny, 1919

[32] Sigmund Freud: The Uncanny, 1919

[33] Sigmund Freud: The Uncanny, 1919

[34] This or something similar happened on the Watzmann in the summer of 2024.

[35] Novel "Dracula" First German edition published in Leipzig in 1908

[36] Edelweiss protected since 1886

[37] Roeper, Malte: 111 Reasons to Go Climbing, Berlin 2016, p. 235 f

[38] Warning on bergsteigen.com (Dolomites, Preußturm, 2700 m)

[39] Messner book p. 145, Crozzon di Brenta (Deutsche Alpenzeitung 1912)

[40] The Trisselwand - by Paul Preuß, Steirische Alpenpost, 27, No. 48, December 2, 1911

[41] Runggaldier Moroder, Ingrid: Die Frau im Fels (The Woman in the Rock). The beginnings of women's mountaineering in South Tyrol. Quoted from https://bibliothek.alpenverein.de/webOPAC/04_FAQ_oft_gestellte_Fragen/Frauen_Alpinismus/Runggaldier,IngridDieFrauimFels_AV_Jahrbuch_130.2006S.260.pdf  on June 22, 2025

 [hh1]Should Trenker be mentioned here? The same applies to Messner, and perhaps also Frischmuth.

cronology

© Magdalena Lepka