New York Post
By Liel Leibovitz
Published Nov. 7, 2023, 4:13 p.m. ET
In 1953, the Swiss novelist Max Frisch published a play called “The Arsonists.”
It’s a pitch-dark comedy about a small town ravaged by a group of maniacs disguised as traveling salesmen, who sweet-talk their way into people’s homes and then set them on fire.
Its protagonist is a dolt called Biedermann — bieder being German for honest, respectable and upright.
He’s aware of the danger, yet when the arsonists knock he lets them in.