Mountain theater Thale

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The Bergtheater Thale is an open-air theater on the Hexentanzplatz in the Harz Mountains . It was founded in 1903 by Ernst Wachler , making it one of the oldest natural theaters in Germany. There are 1,350 seats on the semicircular benches. The theater can be reached from Thale via a street and the Bodetal cable car , which leads over the Bodetal to the Hexentanzplatz.

The Thale mountain theater

history

The founder

The founder, Ernst Wachler, was a völkisch -religious, anti-Semitic author and journalist and one of the “most influential and effective trailblazers” and “founding fathers” of the Volkisch-religious movement in the Wilhelmine Empire. Wachler was a member of the Germanic Faith Community , a founding and honorary member of the Guido von List Society and a sponsor of the Gobineau Association. Wachler ran the magazine Der Kynast. Leaves for folk culture and poetry (1898–1899), German magazine (1899–1905), Iduna (1905–1906) and Die Jahreszeiten. Leaves for poetry and folkism (1910–1911), where he frequently reported on the mountain theater and the plays played there.

After studying and doing his doctorate, he gained his first practical theater experience as a dramaturge at the Berlin theater , but already during his student days, Wachler designed his national cultural program, which turned against decadence and aimed for a culture that grew out of the soil of German folklore, a synthesis of art and folklore which he intended to realize with the Bergtheater Thale.

Foundation and folk theater orientation

The natural stage was founded on July 8, 1903 by Ernst Wachler under the name "Green Stage". In his magazine Deutsche Volksbühne he previously presented his plan for a “theater of the future” . In a “ Declaration by German Authors and Artists ”, the Deutsche Volksbühne called for a collection of all like-minded people who stand up for “German and popular aspirations”. With his ideas of renewal, Wachler primarily addressed the representatives of the local art movement . In February 1903, well-known representatives of the local art movement called for financial support for the planned “landscape and folk theater under the open sky” and expressed the hope that the “Harz Festival” would become a model for a network of summer theaters spread across Germany. Wachler sought a model consecration stage in the spirit of Richard Wagner , which was to be the model of a "national renaissance" by reviving the "original" Germanic views and forms of life that had been suppressed by "Judeo-Christian" and "Latin" influences. According to Wachler's view, the “real faith of the Germans” survived despite all the hostility in traditional customs, in fairy tales, legends and myths as well as in the German mother tongue. Therefore, the artist and especially the poet is called to "spread the seeds of a new faith". Accordingly, the theatrical performances were understood as a “act of worship”.

In 1905, the association to promote the Harz mountain theater was founded by leading representatives of the local art movement and friends of Ernst Wachler. The main purpose of the association was to recruit supporting members from ethnic and national circles in order to support this “genuinely national company that ideally serves all of Germany” - as in the call for the foundation.

As with his literary work, Wachler also tried to popularize ethnic ideas through the mountain theater and to network the various ethnic leaders and groups. The Bergtheater, also conceived as a neo-pagan consecration site, was therefore repeatedly a meeting point for ethnic and ethnic-religious organizations. For example, at a conference in August 1913, the " Germanic Faith Community " was founded by renaming the " 2nd German Religious Community " and in 1914 an "Allthing Germanic Community" took place at which, among other things, the Germanic Faith Community , which also believes in German German order Otto Siegfried Reuters , the Great Germanic lodges , the Germanic order , the Schafferbund and Wachler's " Gesellschaft Wodan " were involved. On this Allthing Ludwig Fahrenkrog became the Hochwart the "Germanic faith community" selected. The neo-pagan place of worship could also be recognized by symbols , including runes . A swastika was carved into the front door ; A stone altar was set up at the foot of the main staircase of the auditorium and an Edda saying was placed at the entrance : “ I command all nobles to worship , high and low from Heimdall's line. I want to announce Walfather's work. Tales of the past that I remember ”.

Theater operations

Entrance of the theater

The main season was in the months of July and August when there were about fifty performances, which were generally well attended. In addition to a 'classical' repertoire, völkisch dramas were performed, with which the “German rebirth” and völkisch Germanic and ethnic ideology were thematized and introduced a large audience to the völkisch worldview. At the opening performance in 1903, the play "Walpurgis" by Ernst Wachler was premiered, which saw 19 performances in the first season. Wachler's dramas "Widukind" (1904), "Midsummer" (1905 and 1906), "Mittwinter" (1910) and "Die Osternacht" (1912) were performed in the Bergtheater. From 1903 to 1912 u. a. the following plays performed: "Wieland the Smith" (1905), "Münchhausen" and "King Arthur" by Friedrich Lienhard , "Frithjof and Ingeborg" (1908) by Karl Engelhard (1879–1914), "Balders Tod" (1908) by Max R. Schmidt , "Baldur" (1912) and "Wölund" (1913) by Ludwig Fahrenkrog , " The sunken bell " by Gerhart Hauptmann , "Lafontaine" by Adolf Bartels , "Duke Heinrich am Finkenherd" and "Heinrich the Lion "By Franz Herwig (1880-1931)," Spielmanns Kirmes "by Alexander Elster (1877-1942)," Sigfrieds Tod "by August Sturm (1852-1923)," Faith and Home "by Karl Schönherr ," Der Moloch "and "The Nibelungs" by Friedrich Hebbel , "The Neighbors" by Karl Immermann as well as works by William Shakespeare , Johann Wolfgang Goethe , Friedrich Schiller , Hans Sachs , Heinrich von Kleist , Christian Dietrich Grabbe and Friedrich Gottlieb Klopstock .

International reputation

In 1911 Wachler resigned, which was a major setback for the theater. In 1925, on the occasion of Friedrich Lienhard's 60th birthday, he successfully took over the management of the Lienhard Festival at the Harz Mountain Theater. With Erich Pabst (1890–1955) as artistic director from 1926 to 1932, the theater achieved international renown as a “green stage” with a demanding program and renowned actors. This time ended abruptly with the National Socialist " seizure of power ". In 1933, Walther Eggert took over the management, building on Wachler's ideas of a “real German culture” and the local art movement within the framework of the National Socialist cultural policy.

Second World War

In 1940 the theater was closed due to the war. Ernst Wachler recently distanced himself from his theatrical exhaustion, as well as - after initial enthusiasm - from National Socialism . In 1941 he admitted that the Harz mountain theater was "behind me like an ideal dream [...] What will come later [remains] to be seen [...]". In 1942 he moved to Prague and after the end of the war, probably as a survivor of the Czech excesses of violence against the Germans (see also History of Prague ), he was interned in the Theresienstadt concentration camp , where he died of hunger in the summer of 1945 .

post war period

Gojko Mitić at a fencing rehearsal (1984)

After the Second World War , the resumption of stage activities began in 1946. From 1946 to 1992, the director was the director of the Quedlinburg municipal theaters . The Thale mountain theater became the artistic expression of “a socialist national culture ” and a model for all open-air theaters in the GDR . As in Wachler's time, works by Shakespeare, Goethe, Schiller, Kleist, Hebbel and Hauptmann were performed. In addition, there were pieces that dealt with historical material in the sense of the socialist ideal of education and based on Wachler's national education plan.

Since the reunification

After the German reunification in 1990, the city of Thale took over the Bergtheater in 1992. Alexander Opitz became the new head. The artificial structures have been removed since 1994 and the "Green Stage" is back in a natural condition.

Former performers

Intendants / responsible persons

  • 1903 to 1911, 1925 Ernst Wachler
  • 1912 to 1914 Leo Ingber
  • 1916 Lützenkirchen-Weber
  • 1917 Hegen-Ebers
  • 1917 Siegfried Hagen
  • 1919 to 1920 Heinz Schwamborn
  • 1921 Robert Förster
  • 1922 Albert Berthold
  • 1926 to 1932 Erich Pabst
  • 1933 Walther Eggert
  • 1934 to 1939 Heinrich Kreutz
  • 1946 to 1953 Ulrich Velten
  • 1953 to 1963 Curt Trepte
  • 1964 to? Werner Peter
  • 1995 to 2008 Mario Jantosch
  • 2008 to 2013 Hans-Peter Bergmann (Managing Director of Hexentanzplatz Thale GmbH)
  • 2013 to 2017 Michael Weber (Managing Director of Bodetal Tourismus GmbH) / Ronny Große (Director of the Bergtheater)
  • since 2018 Ronny Große (Managing Director of Bodetal Tourismus GmbH and Director of the Bergtheater)

literature

  • Curt Trepte: Harzer Bergtheater: Tradition u. Present. For the 60th anniversary of the Harz mountain theater in Thale. [Photos: Eberhard Buschmann u. a. Drawing: Wilhelm Krieg u. Max Schwimmer] Berlin 1963.
  • Uwe Puschner: German reform stage and folk cult site. Ernst Wachler and the Harz Mountain Theater . In: Handbook for the “Völkische Movement” 1871–1918 . Edited by Uwe Puschner, Walter Schmitz and Justus H. Ulbricht. Saur, Munich a. a. 1996, pp. 762-796. ISBN 3-598-11241-6
  • Uwe Puschner: The nationalist movement in the Wilhelmine Empire. Language - race - religion . Darmstadt 2001. ISBN 3-534-15052-X

Web links

Commons : Bergtheater Thale  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Werner Stegmaier , Daniel Krohabennik , Jüdischer Nietzscheanismus , Walter de Gruyter, 1997, p. 389
  2. ↑ Uwe Puschner: The National Movement in the Wilhelmine Empire , Darmstadt 2001, p. 225.
  3. ↑ Uwe Puschner: The National Movement in the Wilhelmine Empire , Darmstadt 2001, p. 233.
  4. ↑ Stefan Breuer: The Völkische in Germany. Empire and Weimar Republic . Darmstadt 2008, pp. 59, 106, 119; Uwe Puschner: German reform stage and folk cult site . In: Handbook on the "Völkische Movement" 1871-1918. Munich 1996, p. 794
  5. ↑ Uwe Puschner: German reform stage and völkisch cult site . In: Handbook on the "Völkische Movement" 1871-1918. Munich 1996, p. 768 f.
  6. ↑ Uwe Puschner: German reform stage and völkisch cult site . In: Handbook on the "Völkische Movement" 1871-1918. Munich 1996, p. 769 ff .; Uwe Puschner: The National Movement in the Wilhelmine Empire , Darmstadt 2001, p. 228 ff.
  7. ↑ Uwe Puschner: German reform stage and völkisch cult site . In: Handbook on the "Völkische Movement" 1871-1918. Munich 1996, p. 789
  8. ↑ Uwe Puschner: The National Movement in the Wilhelmine Empire , Darmstadt 2001, p. 126 f .; Ulrich Nanko: The German Faith Movement . Marburg 1993, p. 41 f.
  9. ↑ Uwe Puschner: The National Movement in the Wilhelmine Empire , Darmstadt 2001, pp. 286 ff.
  10. ↑ Uwe Puschner: The National Movement in the Wilhelmine Empire , Darmstadt 2001, p. 286
  11. ↑ Uwe Puschner: German reform stage and völkisch cult site . In: Handbook on the "Völkische Movement" 1871-1918. Munich 1996, p. 787 f .; Uwe Puschner: The National Movement in the Wilhelmine Empire , Darmstadt 2001, pp. 145, 286
  12. ↑ Uwe Puschner: German reform stage and völkisch cult site . In: Handbook on the "Völkische Movement" 1871-1918. Munich 1996, p. 791 f.
  13. ↑ Uwe Puschner: German reform stage and völkisch cult site. Ernst Wachler and the Harz Mountain Theater . In: Handbook for the "Völkischen Movement" 1871-1918 . Edited by Uwe Puschner, Walter Schmitz and Justus H. Ulbricht. Saur, Munich a. a. 1996, pp. 762-796, here: p. 793.
  14. ↑ Uwe Puschner: German reform stage and völkisch cult site. Ernst Wachler and the Harz Mountain Theater . In: Handbook for the "Völkischen Movement" 1871-1918 . Edited by Uwe Puschner, Walter Schmitz and Justus H. Ulbricht. Saur, Munich a. a. 1996, pp. 762-796, here: p. 793.
  15. ↑ Uwe Puschner: German reform stage and völkisch cult site . In: Handbook on the "Völkische Movement" 1871-1918. Munich 1996, p. 793 f.
  16. ^ Rudolf Lehmann: Theater in Quedlinburg. Chronicle and Book of Memory , Quedlinburg 1994, pp. 255–257.
  17. ^ Letter from sister Eva Hagen to Johannes Schmidt dated February 25, 1917 (the original is available): "Siegfried is the happy director of the Harz mountain theater in Thale"
  18. ↑ Petra Korn: Successor named The new one is an old hand. In: Mitteldeutsche Zeitung (MZ) . December 20, 2017. Retrieved June 21, 2019 .

Coordinates: 51 ° 44 ′ 10.1 ″  N , 11 ° 1 ′ 51.8 ″  E