Hedwig Pistorius

Hedwig Pistorius (born August 30, 1906 in Mitterbach am Erlaufsee in Lower Austria ; † March 31, 2004 in Vienna ) was an Austrian actress and director.

Pistorius was the youngest of three children of Maria, née Kubesch, and Richard Pistorius, an engineer for road and rail construction. She completed an apprenticeship as a kindergarten teacher and elementary school teacher and passed the matriculation examination in 1927 at the federal educational institution in Vienna . She broke off studying art history at the University of Vienna in favor of acting and completed the Max Reinhardt Seminar in 1932 in the subjects of acting , dramaturgy and directing . Pistorius was also on stage for the first time in performances of the seminar. Her first engagement was at the State Theater in Stuttgart . This was followed by minor roles at the Salzburg Festival , guest appearances at the Theater in der Josefstadt and an engagement at the Landestheater Meiningen for the 1934/35 season. In 1934 Pistorius had joined the German Stage Members' Cooperative , which was soon absorbed into the Reich Theater Chamber . After a professional interlude as a teacher in the Reich Labor Service for young women, Pistorius was accepted into the ensemble of the Vienna Burgtheater in 1940 . Under the National Socialist director Lothar Müthel she celebrated great successes in the role of the young heroine until 1945. Among her most famous roles included in particular Goethe's Iphigenie , Grillparzer Libussa and the Antigone of Sophocles . Through her interpretation of the latter piece, she inspired Carl Orff to set it to music. After the Second World War , she lost her post at the Burgtheater due to her relationship with the National Socialists . She initially worked as a director (e.g. in 1949 she staged Gerhart Hauptmann's " Hanneles Himmelfahrt " at the Theater für Vorarlberg, Bregenz ) and was assistant director at the Burgtheater from 1951 to 1955 . Then she switched back to acting. She remained a member of the Burgtheater ensemble until 1974, where she no longer received any major roles. Pistorius was buried at the Grinzinger Friedhof (group 18, number 177A).

Web links

• Hedwig Pistorius in the Vienna History Wiki of the City of Vienna
• Vienna library in the town hall: Hedwig Pistorius estate
• Hedwig Pistorius in the Internet Movie Database (English)

literature

• Agnes Pistorius: Heroine under the swastika. Hedwig Pistorius 1906-2004. A picture of life . With a foreword by Oliver Rathkolb , Praesens Verlag 2014, ISBN 978-3-7069-0788-0