Erwin Piscator (1893-1966) made drama history in the 1920s as the founder of political theatre. After his return from exile in 1951, the Cold War initially precluded a reactivation of this vision of theatre. When Piscator was given the directorship of the Freie Volksbühne in West Berlin in 1962, he ushered in the era of 'documentary' drama with the first performance of Rolf Hochhuth's »Representative«. The considerable provocation potential of this form of theatre rested on Piscator's committed advocacy of an explicit confrontation with the Nazi past and of de-escalation in the middle of the Cold War.