The catacomb
The catacomb was a political-literary cabaret in Berlin that existed from 1929 to 1935.
The catacomb was founded by Werner Finck , Hans Deppe , RA Stemmle and others in the basement of the Berlin Artists' Association in Bellevuestrasse 3. The artists for whom the catacomb offered a platform included Rudolf Platte , Theo Lingen , Ursula Herking , Inge Bartsch , Ellen Frank , Isa Vermehren , Therese Baerwald , Ernst Busch , Hanns Eisler , Erich Kästner , Ivo Veit and Erik Ode .
Finck led as master of ceremonies of the program skits and parodies united. After only a year, however, there were differences of opinion, as a result of which the politically motivated artists such as Busch and Eisler withdrew. The place of performance was also changed.
Since the seizure of power by the Nazis on 30 January 1933 included representatives of the Gestapo for regulars the catacomb. Although the cabaret was now completely apolitical, the suspicions of the observants could not be dispelled:
“B.- Nr. 41551/35 II 2 C 8057/35, April 16, 1935: 'The audience in the' catacomb 'is made up for the most part of Jews who are the meanness and the vicious, corrosive criticism of the emcee Fanatical applause to Werner Fink [sic!]. Fink is the typical former cultural Bolshevik who obviously did not understand the new era, or at least does not want to understand it, and who, in the manner of the earlier Jewish writers, tries to get rid of the ideas of National Socialism and everything that is sacred to a National Socialist to draw '"
On May 10, 1935, the catacomb was closed by the Gestapo at the instigation of Joseph Goebbels . Finck was temporarily imprisoned in the Esterwegen concentration camp .
The Berlin “Katakombe” should not be confused with the former cabaret of the same name in Munich- Schwabing , which was founded by Karl Theodor Langen and which received the Schwabing Art Prize in 1975 .
literature
- Jens Brüning; Barbara Wahlster (editor): “Between the lines of the abyss.” The short life of the literary cabaret “Die Katakombe” (1929–1935). Broadcast by Deutschlandradio Kultur, October 11, 2009, manuscript: (PDF)
- Helmut Heiber : The catacomb is closed (= Archive of Contemporary History. Vol. 3, ISSN 0570-6688 ). Scherz-Verlag, Munich a. a. 1966.
- Werner Finck : Jester - Vogelfrei (= Ullstein book 22923). Edited by Hansjörg Schneider and Wolfgang Wessig. Unabridged edition. Ullstein, Frankfurt am Main a. a. 1993, ISBN 3-548-22923-9 .
- Isa Vermehren : Journey through the last act. Ravensbrück, Buchenwald, Dachau: a woman reports (= rororo 24007). Rowohlt-Taschenbuch-Verlag, Reinbek near Hamburg 2005, ISBN 3-499-24007-6 .
- Sasa Ili'c: Berlinsko okno (= Edicija Danino'c. Volume 8). Fabrika Knjiga, Belgrade 2005, ISBN 86-7718-016-8 .
- Swantje Greve: Werner Finck and the catacomb. A cabaret artist targeted by the Gestapo. Hentrich & Hentrich, Berlin 2014, ISBN 978-3-95565-055-1 .
Sound carrier
- Werner Finck: repealed rights. Cabaret from the catacomb. From the estate of Werner Finck in the Stiftung Deutsches Kabarettarchiv e. V. Patmos, Düsseldorf 2002, ISBN 3-491-91114-1 .
Web links
- Christian Hörburger: Nihilists - Pacifists - Polluters. Seen time in the mirror of the cabaret . (PDF) Institute for Peace Education, Tübingen 1993, pp. 9–299;
- The calendar sheet for May 10, 1935: Goebbels closes “The Catacomb” . ( Memento from November 3, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Radio Bayern2
Individual evidence
- ↑ Werner Finck: Joker - Bird Free. Ed .: Hansjörg Schneider, Wolfgang Wessig. Henschel, Berlin 1991, ISBN 3-362-00527-6 , p. 75.
- ^ Catacomb (in the inventory catalog of the Monacensia collection) . Munich City Library. Archived from the original on May 12, 2012. Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved June 16, 2012.
