-Brenda Hillegas
photo by Robert Hakalski
She is 16 (played by Jenna Kuerzi) and He is 17 (Adam Howard). They meet at an overnight camp on Long Island, during a party. This isn’t His first time at the summer camp, but She hasn’t been there before. She’s from Maryland but is staying with her aunt who lives nearby on Hitler Road.
Yes. Hitler Road. Camp Siegfried starts off innocently enough, as it appears the two teenagers are just enjoying a camp filled with swimming and bonfires and falling in love. But, it’s 1938 and their story is based on the real life Camp Siegfried that was owned by an American Nazi organization that promoted favorable views of Nazi Germany. Young men and women would spend their summers flooded with Nazi ideology as the pro-Nazi group, The German American Bund, encourage them to create another generation of Nazis.
She is so naïve at the start of the summer, falling for a boy and the camp his family is so well known at. She becomes fearful of the future with He, and so does the audience. Though the actual, real camp closed in 1941 (less than a century ago), the story is still all too relevant. The nameless teenagers could be anyone, anywhere, at anytime. Young and easily misguided. Camp Siegfried, written by playwright Bess Wohl, came to life on stage in London in 2021 and again off-Broadway last year. It’s a frightening reminder of the hate and attacks we see daily, and how easy it can be to fall for something so dangerous when it’s glamourized.
Camp Siegfried contains physical violence and discussion of sexual assault.
Tickets can be purchased here.
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