It really did exist: a zoo in Buchenwald concentration camp. The first camp commandant, Karl Koch, had it built in 1938 by inmates directly next to the electrically charged camp fence with the declared aim of providing SS members and their families with "diversion and entertainment in their free time and to present some animals in their beauty and peculiarity, which they would otherwise have had little opportunity to observe and get to know in the wild". The enclosure, including the bear castle, was designed by experts from Leipzig Zoo, which probably also supplied some of the animals.
The play, which is recommended for people aged 10 and over, impressively depicts the zoo community, which is well aware of the human misery behind the barbed wire. The behavior of the animals reveals the parallels to German society under National Socialism.
The theater group, directed by Linda Keil, consists of members of Alfred Kornemann's former Kammerspielgruppe, current and former students of the Städtische Gesamtschule Lippstadt and parents.