Kurt Soltau

This article or section needs to be revised. Details should be given on the talk page. Please help to improve it , and then remove this flag.

Kurt Soltau (born October 8, 1923 in Annaberg , Saxony; † January 31, 1995 there ) was a GDR entertainer, magician , inventor, owner of the magic shop Zauber-Soltau and original from the Ore Mountains. It became known as Zauber-Soltau also nationwide, beyond the GDR border.

Life

Kurt Soltau was born as the eldest son of the Annaberg master watchmaker Richard Soltau. Kurt learned the trade of a carpenter and became a master carpenter after the war. The artistic background goes back to Kurt's father Richard, who appeared as a sideline from 1899, among other things as an acrobatic trio "Geschwister Soltau" and as a magician at folk festivals and stages.

Kurt served as a soldier in the German Air Force in World War II and was a. a. used in France , Denmark and Norway . With the end of the Second World War he returned to Annaberg from French captivity . In the following years he opened his own carpentry workshop. With two journeymen and two apprentices, the carpenter's workshop became a successful business enterprise in the city. Around 1950, the first encounter with the professional magician Jonny Jonra (Josef Hött) from Annaberg, who commissioned master carpenter Soltau with a magic trick machine, led to an active interest in the art of magic . From 1952 Kurt and Jonra moved through the country with their own show. As the serious magician Jonny Jonra and the magic clown Kurti, they appeared on stages in the east of the republic. The concert guest performance director Karl-Marx-Stadt signed the magic duo from 1953 onwards. The duo's career ended when his partner Hött fled to the Federal Republic of Germany. Since then, Kurt Soltau has worked alone as a professional magician under the stage name: "Kuso". Soltau became a member of the GDR's magical circle and now operated as "Kuso" on behalf of the MZderDDR and under the contract of the KGD Karl-Marx-Stadt. Tours followed by 1980. a. with Eberhard Cohrs , the 4 Brummers and Fips Fleischer. This is how other programs came about with the assistance of his wife Ilse Soltau, born Junghans (1924–2006) like "Truk & Esli", "Zauberonkel Bobby und Frau Direktion". In the years from 1958 to 1965 the artists Feli Woba (acrobat), Felix Kube (quick draftsman) and Kurt Soltau (magician) formed a trio and moved through the "3 Wobas" on behalf of the concert and guest performance directors GDR.

In 1953 Soltau opened a magic shop in Annaberg in the rooms of his carpentry. His friend Josef Hött had given him the idea, a short time later Kurt closed his carpentry and now completely ran a specialist shop for magicians on Frohnauer Gasse in Annaberg. He called the business "Zauber-Soltau". The change of location in 1955 in the premises at Grosse Kirchgasse 10 in Annaberg-Buchholz was due to the good business.

The Soltau magic shop has developed into one of the most famous specialty shops in the GDR and across the border in its more than 30 years of business. The customer base grew to 3,800 customers worldwide by 1988. As the only shop for magic supplies, Soltau developed, manufactured and sold the magic articles it produced not only in communist partner countries of the GDR, but also in the FRG and Austria.

On his 65th birthday on October 8, 1988, "Zauber-Soltau" closed the magic shop in Annaberg-Buchholz.

But the Soltau couple were not and are known to this day not only as magicians, they were also known not only in the GDR, but also in the FRG as Europe's oldest and only Türmer couple. From 1967 to 1995 both lived in the Türmer's apartment in the tower of St. Anne's Church in Annaberg-Buchholz .

Kurt Soltau died here and his wife Ilse left the home above the roofs of the city in December 1995.

Her family member, the tame jackdaw Jack, was another city legend. She was the only stair climbing and magic jackdaw in the world.

His great-nephew is the Saxon magical entertainer and comedian Jo Everest alias Jens-Uwe Günzel, who received magic lessons from Soltau at the age of six. Günzel continued the magical legacy in the third generation of his family. Today he also operates the only document and data archive for processing the history of magic in Germany, which was also created by Kurt Soltau.

Honors

• 1960: Honor plate of the Magic Circle of Germany
• 1967: Special ceremony at the Magic Congress in Karlsbad / CZ

literature

• Ditmar-E. Mickeleit: Legends across the country: Wander and travel stories, part 1, Leipzig Engelsdorfer Verlag; Edition: 1 (April 5, 2013)