In remembrance of Austrian actor adn cabaret writer Roland Knie, who died today at age 76, we are resurfacing a 2013 radio reading of works by Austrian author Albert Drach. Drach, a lawyer and writer born in Vienna in 1902, explored themes of societal injustice and alienation in stories like “Official Action Against an Immortal. The Small Protocols,” which Knie brought to life through his performance with Ö1. A complete scholarly edition of Drach’s work, comprising 10 volumes, is currently being compiled and published by Paul Zsolnay Verlag [[3]].
December 18, 2025, 11:05
Actor and cabaret writer Roland Knie has died. Born in Vienna in 1949, Knie was a mainstay writer for the Vienna Simpl and also worked for Ö1 for over 40 years as a speaker, director, and program designer. In remembrance of Knie, we’re sharing a “radio story” read by him, recorded in 2013.
The stories of Albert Drach, published under the title “Official Action Against an Immortal. The Small Protocols,” and created between 1927 and 1961, present a world where things are decidedly not right.
Arthur Rimbaud, the subject of an “Official Action Against an Immortal,” reports the theft of his two suitcases during a stay in Vienna, but is immediately labeled a “foreigner” and expelled from the country. The other characters in the small protocols also face misfortune. “Record of a Prostitution” traces the inevitable path of a girl into prostitution; “Irony of Happiness” accuses a man of murdering his lover.
Albert Drach was born in Vienna in 1902 and was of Jewish descent. He emigrated in 1938, first to what was then Yugoslavia, and then to France. His career as a lawyer shaped both his literary style and his view of society. Though many of his works were published before 1938, Drach gained fame with “The Great Protocol Against Zwetschkenbaum” (1964). He lived in Mödling from 1948, where he died in 1995. Drach received numerous awards for his writing, which includes novels, short stories, poems, essays, and plays, including the Georg Büchner Prize in 1988 and the Austrian Decoration of Honour for Science and Art in 1990. The International Albert Drach Society, based at the Drach Memorial in Mödling, was founded in 1996.
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Table of Contents
Albert Drach, “Official Action Against an Immortal. The Small Protocols. Complete Works in 10 Volumes. Volume 7/2”. Zsolnay Verlag
