The typescript is stored in a special collection of the Slovenian Theater Institute, in the Drama archive (AD 170). Kristan's manuscript of the play is also kept in the archive of the Drama Society Moloch, which he translated from German (21 x 17 cm, 138 pp., sig. DD 214) and individual manuscripts. The text was retyped immediately after its creation (1910) and is one of the oldest typescripts in the theater archive.
https://www.slogi.si/publikacije/moloh-rokopis-2/
The translation of the play was created shortly after the premiere in Vienna (January 21, 1910). The tragedy of a revolution that eats its children depicted the fates and scenes of the bloody Russian uprising of 1905, the dilemmas and defeat of the rebels, and the various responses of ordinary people to the unjust oppression of peasants and workers. The Vienna production was followed by the Berlin one, as well as premieres in the 1910/11 season Moloch in Cologne, Munich, Leipzig, Ljubljana and Zagreb.
Playwright Leo Birinski (1884-1951), real name Leo Gottesmann, was born near Kiev. He grew up in Črnovice in Bukovina, the easternmost duchy of the former Austria-Hungary. He moved to Vienna and became famous with the game in 1910 Moloch. He also achieved great success with dramatization Crime and Punishment with a title Raskolnikov (1912). The work was translated into Slovenian by Silvester Škerl. In 1922, it was staged at the National Theater in Maribor, directed by Milan Skrbinško. In 1912, the most famous dramatic text by L. Birinski was also written, Narrentanz. In Anton Melik's translation, shortly after its creation, it was Vertigo acted in the Ljubljana Drama (1913). Vertigo were also staged at the Primorska Drama Theater in Nova Gorica (1987).
After the First World War, Birinski lived in Germany for a while, but in 1927 he emigrated to the USA, where he established himself in film: as a director and especially as a screenwriter. He also wrote plays that were staged in America, but as a playwright he never experienced his former glory.
Slovenian or Ljubljana premiere Moloch was on October 25, 1910. The tragedy was directed by Hinko Nučič, who also played the young revolutionary Saša:
https://www.dlib.si/stream/URN:NBN:SI:DOC-G5WS2WTR/a60f78a9-6434-433d-94e2-28f6e1519196/PDF
Two years later, it was followed by a production in Trieste directed by Leon Dragutinović, and in the 1924/25 season by Maribor, directed by Jože Kovič:
https://www.dlib.si/stream/URN:NBN:SI:IMG-8VQ44I4L/c21c60e2-8529-484f-a7b3-c1738e564951/PDF
About publishing Kristan's original works and translations online:
From the beginning of the 20th century until the First World War, Etbin Kristan was heavily involved in the operation of the Regional Theater in Ljubljana. He was a translator of dramatic texts, a theater critic, a member of the Drama Society, a lecturer at a drama school, the author of articles on drama and theater, and above all a playwright. We have published some of his dramatic works online (all but the later Revenge, were performed on the stage of the State Theater during this period:
https://www.slogi.si/publikacije/ljubislava-1906-2/
https://www.slogi.si/publikacije/ljubislava-1907-3/
https://www.slogi.si/publikacije/kato-vrankovic-1909/
https://www.slogi.si/publikacije/samosvoj-1910/
https://www.slogi.si/publikacije/mascevanje-1926/
In the archive of the Dramatic Society, which is part of the library collection of the Slovenian Theater Institute, four of Kristan's translation manuscripts have been preserved (besides Moloch even Schiller's The Virgin of Orleans, Ibsen's Rosmersholm and drama Dishonest Gerolam Rovette. We have published everything on our website.
