Ernst Josef Aufricht

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Ernst Josef Aufricht (born August 31, 1898 in Beuthen , Upper Silesia , † July 24, 1971 in Cannes , Alpes-Maritimes department ) was a German actor and theater director.

Life

Aufricht was the eldest son of a wealthy timber wholesaler. In 1902 the Aufricht family settled in Gleiwitz , where Ernst Josef also attended school. An evening lecture by Marcell Salzer impressed Aufricht so much that he initiated several recitation evenings at his grammar school; the majority of them read dramas by Friedrich Schiller and Johann Wolfgang von Goethe with assigned roles.

As a one-year volunteer , Aufricht took part in World War I and served as a field artilleryman in Poznan . During this time he saw the actor Ludwig Hartau in Berlin in the role of "newspaper publisher Dr. Schön ”in the tragedy Der Erdgeist by Frank Wedekind . When he got to know Hartau personally, Aufricht decided to become an actor.

His experiences during the war made Aufricht a staunch pacifist and socialist . His father urged him to study medicine, which he gave up after just one semester in favor of acting. He went to Berlin and became a private student with Hartau. With his support, Aufricht was able to make his debut at the Dresden State Theater in the winter of 1920 .

He stayed there until 1923 and then got an engagement at the Lustspielhaus in Berlin . In 1924 he moved to the German Art Theater and stayed there until 1925. He was a member of the ensemble at the Berlin Volkstheater in 1925/27 and at the Berlin Thalia Theater in 1927/28.

Together with Berthold Viertel , Aufricht founded the actor ensemble Die Truppe in Berlin in 1923 . For its more modern productions, he rented the comedy theater on Friedrichstrasse. The theater was opened with William Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice . With financial support from his father (100,000 gold marks), Aufricht leased the Theater am Schiffbauerdamm , renovated it and ran it as director until the end of the 1931 season. After a trial period of just four weeks, he opened his theater on August 31, 1928 with the world premiere of Bertolt Brecht's Threepenny Opera and Kurt Weill . Erich Engel (director), Theo Mackeben (rehearsing the songs) and Caspar Neher (stage design) also played their part in the overwhelming success .

In March 1933, Aufricht went into exile in Switzerland; later to France. In Paris he tried to work again as a theater director, but was unsuccessful. The attempt to open a pension in Deauville ( Calvados ) was also unsuccessful. It was only when he rented the Théâtre de l'Étoile for the 1937 World Exhibition in Paris and staged the Threepenny Opera in a French translation that he was granted a small success.

After German troops marched into France, Aufricht fled to the USA in 1940/41. He settled in New York and tried to make a living on Broadway . During this time he produced the radio play series Die Schulzes in Yorkville for a New York radio station . These radio plays served the political education especially of the Americans with German roots. During the creation of this radio play, Aufricht made the acquaintance of Father Benno Aichinger , the former Superior General of the Capuchin Order . Aufricht, who had been in a crisis of faith for some time, found a new spiritual foundation through long conversations with Father Benno and converted from the Jewish to the Catholic faith. Father Benno baptized him.

In 1953 Aufricht returned to Berlin and also devoted himself to the theater here. In 1955 he was successful there in Mr. Nightingale of Claus Hubalek to see.

On July 24, 1971, Aufricht died in Cannes.

Works

literature

personal data
SURNAME Frank, Ernst Josef
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German actor and theater director
DATE OF BIRTH August 31, 1898
PLACE OF BIRTH Bytom , Upper Silesia
DATE OF DEATH July 24, 1971
Place of death Cannes , France