Ilka Boll

Ilka Boll (* 1923 in Opole / Upper Silesia ; † June 23, 1985 in Essen ) was a dramaturge and translator .

Ilka Boll was born in Upper Silesia and grew up bilingually in Krakow, Poland . In her youth she was also active as a competitive swimmer. After the Second World War, she came to the Ruhr area and started a career in theater. In the times of the Cold War and the Adenauer era (the 1950s and 1960s), she worked to open up the repertoire in German theaters to Polish literature. In the era of Erich Schumacher's artistic directorship, she worked on the stages of the city of Essen for schedules that were among the most interesting and courageous in the Federal Republic of Germany. It can be traced back to them that pieces by Bert Brecht or Rolf Hochhuth (such as his later world success Der Stellvertreter ) prevailed.

Her most notable achievement was the theater bridge to Eastern Europe. At an early age she translated plays by Polish dramatists into German and gave them scope on the Essen stage. Other German theaters were also encouraged by Boll to play Polish plays.

In 1964 the first guest performance of a Polish theater in the Federal Republic came about. Under the direction of the director Kazimierz Dejmek , the Warsaw National Theater performed in Essen . In 1968 the Essen drama ensemble was invited to Poland in return. They were the first theater in the Federal Republic to play Wolfgang Borchert's anti-war play Outside the Door in Warsaw in German .

In the 1970s and 1980s, too, Boll ensured an intensive cultural and literary exchange between the countries.

Boll published countless translations in books. In 1984 she also took over the management of the Essen theater at short notice.

Publications (selection)

• Ilka Boll: The women's joy festival after Aristophanes manuscript print . Bad Homburg, Stefani Hunzinger Bühnenverlag, 1981
• Ilka Boll: Writings of a dramaturge . Essen, R. Bacht Vlg. 1989,
• Herbert Somplatzki : Ilka Boll. Theater focal point Essen . Klartext, Essen, 1989. 167 pages, paperback. ISBN 3884743384

Translations (selection)

• Tadeusz Różewicz : The interrupted act and other pieces . Translated from Polish by Ilka Boll, Frankfurt / Main, Suhrkamp 1966.
• Janusz Korczak : When I'm little again and other stories from children. Translated from Polish by Ilka Boll and Mieczyslaw Wojcicki. Göttingen, Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht 1973. ISBN 3-525-31509-0
• Paul Foster : Elisabeth Eins , for the performance of the Städtische Bühnen (director: Liviu Ciulei ) and its TV recording in 1975.
• Janusz Krasinski : Breakfast at Desdemona . Piece in two acts. German by Ilka Boll. Munich, Theaterverlag Kurt Desch 1982.

Web links

• Ilka Boll in Worldcat