The pepper mill

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The Pfeffermühle was the name of a legendary political cabaret ensemble that performed its first program on January 1, 1933 in the Munich Bonbonniere , near the Hofbräuhaus , and moved to Zurich in Switzerland in September of the same year , where it became one of the leading German-language cabaret in exile .

history

Erika and Klaus Mann 1927. Photo by Eduard Wasow
Therese Giehse and Magnus Henning 1936. Photo by Annemarie Schwarzenbach

The founders were Klaus and Erika Mann as well as Therese Giehse and Magnus Henning , who was the initiator of the cabaret. In addition to Erika and Klaus Mann, the copywriters included Walter Mehring and Wolfgang Koeppen , while the actors included Therese Giehse, Lotte Goslar , Sybille Schloß , Cilli Wang and Igor Pahlen . Magnus Henning composed and played the piano. Erika Mann wrote many texts herself and often appeared as a conférencière and actress in a white clown costume.

The name Die Pfeffermühle was invented by Erika Mann's father Thomas Mann , who pointed to the pepper mill at the dining table during a family discussion about the name of Erika's planned cabaret and asked: "How about that?"

Only a few weeks after the highly successful premiere , the troupe had to flee Germany from the National Socialists . The Pfeffermühle resumed its performance as an exile cabaret on September 30, 1933 in the Hotel Hirschen in Zurich . The second exile program was started on January 1, 1934, with clearer references, but without explicit naming, to the Third Reich . On January 6, 1934, the German embassy turned to the Swiss Federal Prosecutor's Office "because of the appearance of Erika Mann" . She called it “desirable” if the performance of her “anti-Germany presentations were prevented”. The Federal Prosecutor's Office immediately refused. She pointed out that these were merely satirical remarks.

The third, even stricter exile program followed on October 3, 1934 in the club of Gruppe 33 in Basel. A guest performance in Zurich in November sparked riots by Swiss National Socialists, so that the performances could only continue under police protection. The performances also received criticism from the Neue Zürcher Zeitung in 1934 , and various cantons even issued performance bans. The pepper mill turned its back on Switzerland and from 1935 went on tour through Czechoslovakia and the Benelux countries.

In 1935 Erika Mann was stripped of her German citizenship as the “intellectual creator” of the “anti-German” cabaret . Until the last performance in Europe on August 14, 1936, the pepper mill had given 1,034 performances. When the pressure of the National Socialists in Europe became too strong, Erika Mann tried in early 1937 to gain a foothold in New York with The Peppermill . After a few performances, the cabaret was financially at an end, and a wealthy patron paid off its debts.

Therese Giehse and Magnus Henning returned to Europe. Lotte Goslar and Sybille Schloß stayed in America, as did Erika Mann, who tried to educate Americans about the danger posed by National Socialist Germany through lecture tours.

Quote from the second exile program

“Why are we so cold? / Why, - that hurts!
Why? We will soon / How loud ice and snow!
Participate - it's about your earth! / And you alone, you have all the power!
Make sure it gets a little warmer / In our bad, cold winter night! "

- Erika Manns Song aus Kälte , 2nd episode of the exile program of the "Pfeffermühle" on January 1st, 1934

literature

  • Daniela Chana: Erika Mann and the 'pepper mill'. Dadaism and the beginnings of cabaret in Switzerland. danzig & unfried, Vienna 2015, ISBN 978-3-902752-10-9 .
  • Christian Jauslin: The pepper mill, Zurich ZH . In: Andreas Kotte (Ed.): Theater Lexikon der Schweiz . Volume 2, Chronos, Zurich 2005, ISBN 3-0340-0715-9 , pp. 1404 f.
  • Helga Keizer-Hayne: Erika Mann and her political cabaret “Die Pfeffermühle” 1933–1937. Texts, images, backgrounds . Extended new edition. Rowohlt Taschenbuch Verlag, Reinbek 1995, ISBN 3-499-13656-2
  • Irmela von der Lühe : Erika Mann: Eine Biographie , Campus Verlag, Frankfurt / Main; New York City 1993. Special Volume of the Series: History and Gender . ISBN 3-593-34917-5 . Edition revised by the author in Fischer, Frankfurt / Main 1996, ISBN 3-596-12598-7
  • Erika Mann's “Pfeffermühle” - on the trail of the legendary cabaret in exile 1933–1937 . CD. Martin Heim and the Odeon Central Orchestra, conducted by Alexander Goretzki, duo-phon-records, Berlin

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Thomas spokesman: The "pepper mill". In: ders .: Thomas Mann in Zurich. Wilhelm Fink Verlag, Zurich 1992, pp. 65–71, here p. 68, p. 69 ISBN 3-7705-2822-0 .
  2. ↑ Susanne Gisel-Pfankuch: Erika Mann. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland . November 16, 2007 , accessed June 13, 2019 .
  3. ↑ Thomas spokesman: The "pepper mill". In: ders .: Thomas Mann in Zurich. Wilhelm Fink Verlag, Zurich 1992, pp. 65–71, here p. 71.
  4. ↑ Aus Kälte , performed by Erika Mann on January 1, 1934 in the Hotel Hirschen . Quoted from Helga Keizer-Hayne: Erika Mann and her political cabaret “Die Pfeffermühle” 1933–1937 , p. 108

Web links