Karl Menning

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Karl Menning, ca.1914.

Karl Menning (born April 29 . Jul / 11. May  1874 greg. In Tartu , † 5. March 1941 ) was an Estonian theater director and diplomat. From 1921 to 1933 he was the envoy of the Republic of Estonia in Berlin .

theatre

Karl Menning attended the renowned Alexander Gymnasium in Tartu. From 1893 he studied at the University of Tartu , initially history and languages. In 1902 he passed his exams at the university's theological faculty. Until 1904 he worked as an assistant teacher. Then Karl Menning decided on an artistic career. From 1904 to 1906 he studied directing with Max Reinhardt in Berlin. Then he returned to Estonia.

There he became the first director and director of the newly founded Vanemuine Theater in Tartu. Menning is considered to be one of the founders of professional theater in Estonia and Livonia . He worked closely with the leading Estonian actors and writers of his time (e.g. August Kitzberg , Oskar Luts ). In 1914 he left the theater after strong criticism of his work from the Estonian art scene. Until 1918 he worked in Tallinn as a music and theater critic for the newspaper Päevaleht .

diplomacy

With the state independence of Estonia in 1918, Menning went into diplomacy . In 1918 he was sent to Copenhagen (1918/19) and Stockholm (1919/20) on a diplomatic mission . In 1920/21 he was the Estonian representative in the Scandinavian countries with his office in Stockholm.

In 1921 he was appointed by the Estonian government as chargé d'affaires and consul general for Germany , Austria , Hungary and Czechoslovakia , based in Berlin. He succeeded the Estonian writer Eduard Vilde in this position . From August 29, 1923 to 1933, Menning was envoy of the Republic of Estonia in Germany and also Chargé d'affaires or envoy in the above-mentioned countries as well as in Switzerland .

From 1933 to 1937 Menning was the Estonian envoy to Latvia . He then returned to the Estonian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He retired in the spring of 1939 and died two years later in Tartu. In August 2006 a sculpture by the artist Mare Mikoff was inaugurated in front of the Vanemuine Theater in Tartu in his honor .

Private life

Karl Menning lived with Irmgard von Voigtländer , whom he had met in Max Reinhardt's directing class. The couple had three sons.

literature

  • Kalju Haan: Karl Menning ja teater "Vanemuine" , Tallinn 1987.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ corresponds to the current rank of ambassador
  2. ↑ Eesti elulood. Tallinn: Eesti entsüklopeediakirjastus 2000 (= Eesti entsüklopeedia 14) ISBN 9985-70-064-3 , p. 287
  3. ↑ http://www.estemb.de/static/files/062/saadikute_elulood.pdf
personal data
SURNAME Menning, Karl
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Estonian theater director and diplomat
DATE OF BIRTH May 11, 1874
PLACE OF BIRTH Tartu
DATE OF DEATH March 5, 1941
Place of death Tartu