Herbert Ihering

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Herbert Ihering (1946)

Herbert Ihering or Jhering (born February 29, 1888 in Springe , † January 15, 1977 in Berlin ) was a German dramaturge , director , journalist and theater critic .

Life

Herbert Jhering's grave

Ihering's father was Georg Jhering , assessor at the District Court of Springe, and his mother was his wife, Marie, née Brandes. He attended the grammar school in Aurich and the Kaiser Wilhelm grammar school in Hanover . In 1906 he began studying German in Freiburg im Breisgau and Munich , and in October 1907 he enrolled at the University of Berlin .

Herbert Ihering began his career in 1909 as an employee at the weekly magazine Die Schaubühne published by Siegfried Jacobsohn . From August to December 1913 he was a theater critic for the Vossische Zeitung and from 1914 to 1918 dramaturge at the Vienna Volksbühne . He also worked there as a director, including the world premiere of Carl Sternheim's comedy The Candidate .

In 1918 he became a freelancer for the Berlin stock exchange courier , for which he had already worked in 1913/14. From 1918 to 1920 he also worked as an editor for the Felix Bloch Erben publishing house . In 1919 he succeeded Alfred Kerr as a theater critic for the daily newspaper Der Tag, published by Scherl Verlag . In 1920 he published the illustrated weekly Der kleine Roman, which appeared only that year, and in 1920/21, as the successor to Otto Zoff, the book series The Actor published by Erich Reiss .

From 1922 to 1933, Ihering at the Berlin Börsen-Courier, which was headed by Emil Faktor , developed into one of the most important theater and film critics of the Weimar Republic. Ihering “had a very different style than the other great critics of the time. He writes much more factually, but with a mission. In his articles, reviews and combat pamphlets, he argues heavily and sometimes quite cumbersome linguistically. [...] His articles were aimed at the artistic directors, from whom he demanded a consistent, varied and ideally thought-out program, directors, dramaturges, stage designers and dramatists whom he wanted to motivate to collaborate in a meaningful and formal way - for him. "

In December 1921 Ihering got to know the young Bertolt Brecht , whom he proposed as a shop steward for the Kleist Foundation for the Kleist Prize in 1922 . With this and on other occasions, Ihering positioned himself as an antipode to Alfred Kerr. The contrast between the two critical popes preoccupied the literary public of the Weimar Republic. While Kerr made sharp judgments, Ihering saw himself as a supporter of the new drama, who analyzed in detail the performance of the actors.

At the end of 1927 Ihering moved into a new three-story building in Berlin-Zehlendorf , which he was to live in for fifty years until his death. After Ihering had been involved in radio broadcasts for many years in the Weimar Republic, his presence in the still young medium came to an abrupt end in October 1932.

At the end of 1933 the Berliner Börsen-Courier had to stop its publication. Alfred Kerr, the theater critic of the Berliner Tageblatt, fled into exile on February 15, 1933. Hermann Sinsheimer took over his position, but from January 1, 1934 Jews were no longer allowed to go to the theater and Ihering became a theater critic of the Berliner Tageblatt. Ihering continued his work as a theatrical critic undeterred during the Nazi era . Klaus Mann therefore caricatured him in his novel Mephisto in 1936 in the figure of the opportunistic journalist and gossip Dr. Yours , and Alfred Kerr mocked him in a poem as a Hering reviewer .

In 1936 he was expelled from the Reichsschrifttumskammer , and the Reichspressekammer forbade him to continue working as a critic. He was now working as head of casting at Tobis Filmgesellschaft , where he primarily did “preparatory work” for Emil Jannings' films . From 1941 he was able to publish several actor biographies in Nazi Germany. In 1942 Lothar Müthel appointed him as a dramaturge at the Vienna Burgtheater . His annual salary in Vienna was RM 24,000, which is why Heinz Hilpert described him as the “best-paid theater-goer in the world”. Ihering's active work as a publicist and dramaturge during the Nazi era seriously damaged his reputation. When he shifted his focus of activity to the GDR in the post-war years , this led to further scolding; the theater critic Hans Sahl spoke of "Ihering, which has been synchronized twice".

In 1945 Ihering became head dramaturge of the German Theater Berlin , which was now in the Soviet zone of occupation , under the director Gustav von Wangenheim . He immediately began reorganizing theater life in Berlin and re-established contact with Brecht, whom he supported in building up the Berliner Ensemble . In 1950 he became a full member of the Berlin Academy of the Arts . At the beginning of the 1950s he was a founding member of the Performing Arts section of the East Academy of the Arts. Due to differences with von Wangenheim's successor Wolfgang Langhoff , Ihering had to give up his work as chief dramaturge of the German theater in 1953. In 1955 Ihering's longtime partner Lisette Königshof died.

Ihering lived in the West Berlin district of Zehlendorf as before, but wrote almost exclusively for the GDR press, especially for the Berliner Zeitung and for Sunday , the weekly newspaper of the GDR Kulturbund . From 1955 his remarks on theater and film appeared there regularly . In 1956 he was appointed permanent secretary of the Performing Arts section of the East Academy of the Arts (until 1962).

At the end of 1962 he had to discontinue his rubric and could no longer act as secretary of the performing arts section. From the late 1960s the theater and film critic received numerous honors in the GDR and the Federal Republic. His influence on the cultural life of the Federal Republic remained limited, however, only a few West German newspapers like the Recklinghäuser Zeitung published his reviews from time to time. Ihering's last reviews came in 1974.

His grave is in the Zehlendorf cemetery (grave location Dept. 3 W 109). Ihering's estate is in the Berlin Academy of the Arts.

Awards

In 1993 the “Society for Cultural and Historical Studies” in Schöppenstedt , which had carried out the traveling exhibition “Revered, persecuted, forgotten - actors as Nazi victims”, was renamed “Herbert Ihering Society”. The Herbert Ihering Society wants to continue working in the spirit of Ihering.

Publications

  • Directors and stage painters . Berlin: Goldschmidt-Gabrielli, 1921.
  • The battle for the theater . Dresden: Sibyllen, 1922.
  • Current dramaturgy . Berlin: Forge, 1924.
  • The lonely theater criticism . Berlin: Forge, 1927.
  • Reinhardt, Jessner, Piscator, or Klassikertod? Berlin: Rowohlt, 1929.
  • The disguised reaction . Berlin: Rowohlt, 1930.
  • Emil Jannings - builder of his life and his films . Heidelberg; Berlin; Leipzig: Hüthig, 1941.
  • From Josef Kainz to Paula Wessely . Actors from yesterday and today . Heidelberg; Berlin; Leipzig: Hüthig, 1942.
  • Director . Berlin: Hans von Hugo, 1943.
  • Kathe Dorsch . Munich: Zinnen, 1944.
  • Berlin dramaturgy . Berlin: construction, 1947.
  • Of the spirit and demons of the time . Berlin: construction, 1947.
  • Young actors . Berlin: Henschel, 1948.
  • Theater city Berlin. An almanac . Berlin: Bruno Henschel, 1948.
  • The twenties . Berlin: construction, 1948.
  • Ed .: Theater der Welt: an almanac . Berlin: Henschel, 1949.
  • Heinrich Mann . Berlin: construction, 1951.
  • Looking for Germany . Berlin: construction, 1952.
  • Actors in development . Berlin: construction, 1956.
  • The world art of pantomime . Berlin: construction, 1956.
  • Bertolt Brecht and the theater . Berlin: Rembrandt 1959.
  • With Eva Wisten: Eduard von Winterstein . Berlin: Henschel, 1961.
  • From Reinhardt to Brecht. Four decades of theater and film . 3 vols. Berlin: Structure, 1961.
  • Encounters with time and people. Berlin: Construction 1963 (= Bremen: Schünemann Verlag , 1965).
  • With Hugo Fetting: Ernst Busch . Berlin: Henschel, 1965.
  • Theater of Productive Contradictions, 1945-1949 . Berlin, Weimar: Structure, 1967.
Published posthumously
  • Bert Brecht has changed the poetic face of Germany. Collected reviews of the Brechts Theater. Edited by Klaus Völker . Munich: Kindler, 1980.
  • Theater in Action: Reviews from 3 decades. 1913-1933. Edith Krull. Berlin: Henschel, 1986.
  • Werner Krauss . An actor and the nineteenth century. Edited by Sabine Zolchow and Rudolf Mast. Berlin: Vorwerk 8, 1997, ISBN 3-930916-15-0 .
  • Hubs of criticism. Texts on culture, politics and theater. Edited by Corinna Kirschstein, Sebastian Göschel, Fee Isabelle Lingnau. Berlin: Vorwerk 8, 2010, ISBN 978-3-940384-23-2 .

literature

  • Sebastian Göschel, Corinna Kirschstein, Fee Isabelle Lingnau: Surviving in times of upheaval. Biographical essays on Herbert Ihering. With a foreword by Klaus Völker. Leipzig / Berlin: Edition Voss published by Horlemann Verlag, 2012.
  • Edith Krull: Herbert Ihering . Berlin: Henschel, 1964.
  • Dieter Mayer: "... with an invisible Jacobin cap, as it were?" The theater critic Herbert Ihering and his characteristics in Carl Zuckmayer's "Secret Report". In: Zuckmayer yearbook. Vol. 6. Göttingen: Wallstein, 2003, pp. 373-422.
  • Carl Zuckmayer: Secret report. Edited by Gunther Nickel and Johanna Schrön. Göttingen: Wallstein, 2002, pp. 118–121 and 328 f.
  • Michael Töteberg: Herbert Ihering - Publicist , in CineGraph - Lexicon for German-Language Films, Volume 16 (1990)

Web links

Commons : Herbert Ihering  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ pronunciation : [ jeːrɪŋ ].
    • The spelling “Ihering” is the older and comes from the time when the capital letter J did not yet exist in German and the letter I was used instead (in addition to the use for the sound / i /). In order to write the sound / j / in front of the letter E, an H was inserted (“ihe ..”), since “ie” or “Ie” would have been misunderstood as a long / i: /. B. also "Ihena" in the old spelling of Jena .
    • Especially (but not only) since the letter J existed, the old spelling of names with an initial I is often misunderstood as the sound / i /. Ironically, the "more modern" spelling "Jh" is used instead of "Ih" e.g. E.g. in street names in different cities often misunderstood as the sound / i / by the population, since J is confusing before H and since it is known that the letter J was sometimes used instead of the letter I.
    • Meyers Großes Universallexikon (1985) gives the alternative spelling “Jhering” in brackets and explains that the pronunciation in both cases is [ ˈjeːrɪŋ ]. The more modern spelling of Jhering is sometimes used for Ihering to avoid the mispronunciation / i: /, but this too is often misinterpreted as / i /, as explained above. An unmistakable modernization would not only replace the old-fashioned I with J, but also use the spelling “Jering” without the confusing and now superfluous H (corresponding to Jena instead of the older Ihena).
    • The same lexicon does not mention the alternative, more modern spelling Jhering for Rudolf von Ihering, who was born 70 years earlier , since he apparently used it even less than Herbert Ihering, although it is the more common spelling for both men in modern texts and on street signs.
  2. ↑ Sebastian Göschel, Corinna Kirschstein, Fee Isabelle Lingnau: Survival in times of upheaval. Biographical essays on Herbert Ihering . Horlemann Verlag, Leipzig and Berlin 2012. p. 63.
  3. ↑ Deborah Vietor-English: Alfred Kerr. The biography . Rowohlt, Reinbek 2016, p. 693.
  4. ↑ Quoted from: Letter from Felix Gasbarra to Erwin Piscator , February 11, 1957, in: Erwin Piscator: Briefe. Volume 3.2: Federal Republic of Germany, 1955–1959 . Edited by Peter Diezel. Berlin: B&S Siebenhaar 2011. p. 400.
  5. ↑ Sebastian Göschel, Corinna Kirschstein, Fee Isabelle Lingnau: Survival in times of upheaval. Horlemann Verlag, Leipzig and Berlin 2012. S. 197f.
personal data
SURNAME Youring, Herbert
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Jhering, Herbert
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German journalist and theater critic
DATE OF BIRTH February 29, 1888
PLACE OF BIRTH Jump
DATE OF DEATH 15th January 1977
Place of death Berlin