Wolf brothers
The Wolf brothers , also known as the Wolf Trio , were musicians , comedians and variety stars from Hamburg-Neustadt who became internationally known in the early 20th century. In their time they were considered to be the epitome of the "boys from the Waterkant ".
History of the Wolf Brothers
The Jewish butcher sons Ludwig (1867–1955), Leopold (1869–1926) and James Isaac (1870–1943), who called themselves the Wolf Trio because of the increasing anti-Semitism , had been performing in Hamburg since 1895. Under the name Wolf-Trio, Wolf-Duo and Gebrüder Wolf , the brothers and later partly also their sons recorded the enormous number of more than 60 sound carriers with couplets with funny and coarse texts that were popular at the time ("Mariechen, das sweet Viehchen") on, which were presented at appearances with appropriate costumes, mostly in dock workers' attire as "Fietje" and "Tetje".
In 1906 James Isaac left the group to start his own newspaper business. The remaining brothers then renamed themselves “Wolf-Duo”, whereby Ludwig was more the artistic head, while Leopold took care of management matters. In 1912/13 there was a great success with appearances in the "New Operetta Theater" on Spielbudenplatz on St. Pauli as part of the revue Rund um die Alster . The director of the theater, Wilhelm Bendiner, advised the brothers to concentrate on Low German couplets (" Döntjes "), in which he saw their strengths. The success of pieces like Snuten un Poten and Jung mit'n Tüdelband subsequently proved him right. He also came up with the idea of changing the name to “Gebrüder Wolf”.
In 1912 the Wolf brothers took on leading roles and directed the silent film production Die Glückspilze . The film is lost . In the following years, the brothers became known abroad and toured, for example, in Scandinavia, the Netherlands and Switzerland. The success made it possible to buy real estate, such as the operetta theater and the variety theater at Besenbinderhof .
During the First World War, the Wolf brothers entertained with appearances in the role of soldiers on home leave in the Revue Hamburg im Krieg am Neuen Theater. In 1924 all members of the Isaac family adopted the stage name "Wolf" as their real name. Leopold Wolf died in 1926 and his son James Iwan Wolf took his place. The Wolf brothers were successful in this line-up until 1933.
After the Nazis came to power, their work became increasingly difficult because of their Jewish origins, until they were completely banned from performing in 1939. Their songs, however, were declared "German songs". Between 1931 and 1934 three UFA films were released with songs and motifs by the Wolf brothers, in whose roles the actors Guzzi Lantschner and Walter Riml appeared.
James Iwan Wolf was interned in Sachsenhausen concentration camp , but after a year in prison he escaped to Shanghai with his brother Donat, where they performed in the "Artist Club" until they fled to New York in 1947 from the communist troops. They later settled in San Diego and San Francisco, where they died in 1981 and 1983.
James Wolf, who left the “Wolf Trio” in 1906, was deported to Theresienstadt concentration camp in 1942, where he died in 1943. Thanks to his popularity and his non-Jewish wife, Ludwig Wolf survived the Nazi era in Hamburg. After the war he appeared again as a solo artist and founded the "International Artist Lodge", of which he was honorary chairman until his death on March 9, 1955. He was buried in the Ohlsdorf cemetery in Hamburg (grave location BH 60 [1328]).
In 2002 the premiere of Ulrich Waller's play "The Boys with the Tüdelband", which deals with the history of the Wolf brothers, was celebrated at the Hamburger Kammerspiele . In 2003, a film by the German director Jens Huckeriede told the story of Wolf's great-grandson, Dan Wolf, an American rapper, who grappled with the past. Dan Wolf himself worked on the topic in his own play.
On June 5, 2008, the Gebrüder-Wolf-Platz was inaugurated on the site of the former Bavaria and St. Pauli brewery . In memory of James Wolf, a stumbling block by the artist Gunter Demnig has been laid in Bismarckstrasse 11 in Hamburg-Eimsbüttel .
Available sound carriers
- Snuten and Poten . Music antique
- It's wonderful in heaven (double CD). Music antique
- Return of the Tüdelband (various performers with cover versions of Gebrüder Wolf titles). Trikont
- The guys with the Tüdelband (audio book, double CD). Hoffmann and Campe
literature
- Jens Huckeriede / Angela Müller: At the corner there is a young man with a Tüdelband. Wolf brothers. Hamburg 2003, ISBN 3-921305-46-2
- Dieter Guderian: The Hamburg originals Tetje and Fietje - life story of the Wolf brothers and their Isaac family . Ochtendung, 2007, ISBN 3-938649-11-9
- Jens Natter: De Jung mit'n Tüdelband - Hamburg's most famous folk song . Boyens, 2012, ISBN 978-3-8042-1368-5
- Xin Tong: Around the Alster, around the world - The Wolf brothers in exile Shanghai . In: Hamburg Key Documents on German-Jewish History , June 25, 2018, doi: 10.23691 / jgo: article-245.de.v1 .
See also
Web links
- Homepage of the "Gebrüder Wolf"
- Donat Wolf in the Lexicon of Persecuted Musicians from the Nazi Era (LexM)
- James Wolf in the Lexicon of Persecuted Musicians from the Nazi Era (LexM)
- James Iwan Wolf in the Lexicon of Persecuted Musicians of the Nazi Era (LexM)
- Ludwig Wolf in the Lexicon of Persecuted Musicians from the Nazi Era (LexM)