The episode features Frank Dittmer performing Kurt Tucholsky's 1925 prose text 'Auf dem Grasplatz'. It begins with a contrast of Parisian surroundings versus the popular Midi region for painters. The narrative settles at a restaurant by a small lake near Paris, describing its quaint setting with lamps, sunshades, and an orchestra. Attention shifts to a large lawn where a club with women is having coffee. Observers note many men wearing black glasses, revealing they are all blind. Tucholsky identifies them as war blind, likely from World War I. He speculates on which French veterans' organization they might belong to, mentioning neutral and communist groups. The text recounts how they lost their sight: from looking over trench edges, stumbling in marches, or lying wounded in woods when explosions hit. It describes their hospital experiences, the slow adaptation to blindness, and the supportive yet formal care from their wives. The veterans receive state support and a commemorative coin to ensure they don't forget the war. Tucholsky then broadens the critique to include civilians who, though sighted, are morally blind—unable to distinguish civil from military murder, eager to spy and betray. The piece concludes with a sarcastic prayer pleading for a 'joyful war' filled with hunger, lice, typhus, incendiary shells, hand grenades, and blinding gas, hoping that total blindness might make them truly see. The format is a solo reading of a literary text, blending descriptive observation with sharp political and anti-war commentary. Recurring themes include the physical and moral blindness caused by war, the hypocrisy of state remembrance, and the tragic normalization of veterans' suffering. Key moments include the initial reveal of the blind veterans, the graphic descriptions of their injuries, and the final, devastating prayer.
