The Civic Theater of Mannheim on the Rhine, in the U.S. zone of Germany, was enjoying a fine season until the time came to rehearse the next play in the repertory: Arthur Koestler's powerfully anti-Communist Darkness at Noon.
Actor Gerhard Just, billed for the leading role of the purged Bolshevik Rubashov, grumbled uncomfortably that the play was "unsuitable." The whole cast refused to appear for rehearsals. Company Manager Hans Schueler thought he knew the trouble: his performers were not necessarily Communiststhey were simply taking out Rückversicherung, which literally means "back insurance." This is the German word for forehanded protection against occupation...