Erich Schiff

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Erich Schiff (born May 16, 1882 in Elsfleth ; † June 20, 1970 in Oldenburg ) was a German lawyer and playwright .

Life

Schiff was the son of the banker and member of the state parliament Gustav Adolf Schiff (1835–1914) and his wife Charlotte nee. Nolte. He attended the community school in Elsfleth and then the old grammar school in Oldenburg. After graduating from high school in 1902, he studied law in Freiburg and Berlin . In 1905 he settled in Oldenburg as a lawyer . During the First World War he served as a soldier and then made a name for himself as a criminal defense lawyer in Oldenburg. In 1925 he became a member of the board of directors of the Oldenburg Chamber of Lawyers and Notaries and the Court of Honor of this chamber. Since he was particularly interested in the theater, he also worked as a theater syndic and member of the city stage committee.

As a writer, he wrote several revues, such as the 1925 piece Rum around the world inspired by Jules Verne , continued Low German stage plays and edited existing pieces for the Low German stage (e.g. See , premiered in 1927). As a critic, he also dealt with the Low German theater.

After the seizure of power Nazis from January 1933 completed the artistic freedom at the Oldenburg Theater and the free art criticism and ship whose paternal family Jewish had roots and later Protestantism had converted, was considered a " half-Jew ". As early as 1930, the culture editor and Low German author Alma Rogge rumbled against Schiff in such a way that even her fatherly friend and country manager of the Nazi Reichsschrifttumskammer for the Gau Weser-Ems, August Hinrichs , warned her in a letter: "There is no reason to reject criticism, because the author is a Jew, no objective reason, I mean, and it is more elegant to just stay objective. "

He was initially allowed to continue his professional activity, but on October 18, 1944, he and his brothers Arnold and Elimar were deported for forced labor to the Lenne labor camp , which is subordinate to the Todt Organization . There Schiff was involved in the production of the V2 rocket . However, because of their age, the brothers were soon released. At Christmas 1944 Schiff was able to return to Oldenburg and also took up his professional activity again.

After the war ended, Schiff continued to write plays. Until 1971, many of his works were performed on the Low German August Hinrichs stage in Oldenburg. In 1960 he was awarded the Federal Cross of Merit.

family

Schiff's first marriage was Käte Schütte (* 1889) and his second marriage was the actress at the Oldenburg Theater Maria Martinsen (1901–1992), who appeared in 1929 as “Spelunkenjenny” in the Oldenburg premiere of Bertolt Brecht's “ Threepenny Opera ”. From this marriage came the son Gert Schiff (1926–1990), who later became a professor of art history in New York .

The legal case: Thea Sternheim's van Gogh painting

In 1953 Gert Schiff became known in Paris with Mopsa Sternheim . Through this contact, Erich Schiff came into contact as a lawyer with Thea Sternheim , for whom he repeatedly brought claims for damages against the National Gallery in Berlin from 1955 onwards . The reason for this was that the Nationalgalerie only paid them 2/10 of the purchase price of 100,000 RM for a Van Gogh painting bought by Thea Sternheim in the 1930s; the rest was kept by the Nazi state . It was not until 1967 that Sternheim received compensation of CHF 3,500.

Works (selection)

  • Rum around the world. Big posse in 10 pictures. 1925 (lyrics by HH Hallen).
  • Lake. En seriously spill in 4 trips, freely based on Herman Heijermans jr. Verden, 1948.
  • De lüttje Wipp steert, free Low German adaptation of the Spanish fly in 3 acts. Verden, 1949.
  • Ansmeert, En Funny Spill in 4 trips by Georg von der Vring and Erich Schiff. Hamburg, undated
  • Menagerie man! Two shocking funny anecdotes. Oldenburg, 1955.

Radio plays (selection)

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ http://www.bremen-history.de/die-andere-wahrheit-ueber-alma-rogge/
  2. ↑ Thea Sternheim: Diaries 1903-1971, Vol. 4 1951-1971, ed. by Thomas Ehrsam and Regula Wyss, 2nd, through. Ed., Göttingen, Wallstein 2011, ISBN 9783835307483 , p. 87
  3. ↑ Thea Sternheim: Diaries 1903-1971, Vol. 4 1951-1971, ed. by Thomas Ehrsam and Regula Wyss, 2nd, through. Ed., Göttingen, Wallstein 2011, ISBN 9783835307483 , p. 576
personal data
SURNAME Ship, Erich
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German lawyer and playwright
DATE OF BIRTH May 16, 1882
PLACE OF BIRTH Elsfleth
DATE OF DEATH June 20, 1970
Place of death Oldenburg