Max Burghardt

Max Burghardt

Max Burghardt (born November 27, 1893 in Wickendorf near Schwerin , † January 22, 1977 in East Berlin ) was a German actor , director and president of the GDR Cultural Association .

Life

Childhood and youth

Burghardt was born in Wickendorf near Schwerin, where the maternal grandfather owned a small estate near Lake Schwerin . Max Burghardt lived there for about three to four years and then moved with his family to Berlin-Moabit . After moving to Berlin's Hansaviertel in the meantime , the family moved back to Moabit on Paulstrasse. Max Burghardt attended a grammar school. Gustav von Wangenheim , who later became known as an actor, was one of his school friends . Burghardt's father was an engineer and was often absent for long periods of time. Burghardt later gave the experience of his first visit to the theater in the play Die Räuber in the Berlin Schiller Theater as defining his desire to become an actor . Not yet 16 years old, Burghard applied to Paul Legband for admission to the drama school he ran, but was rejected. Some time later he was expelled from high school because he had disrupted a school performance by imitating a bear roar as part of a school prank.

His parents divorced. Max Burghardt moved to Rostock with his mother Margot and brother Hans around 1910 . He never saw his father again. In Rostock he worked in the office of his uncle Carl Uhlenbrock , who ran a general agency for insurance companies. His mother founded a pension on Schröderstrasse . Burghardt completed an apprenticeship as a bookseller at the bookseller Joerges in Rostock's Augustenstraße . His uncle had determined a proper professional training as a prerequisite for an acting training. In his free time, Burghardt devoted himself to sailing.

During his apprenticeship he applied to the drama school newly founded by Maria Moissi in Berlin and was accepted. The school costs were deferred for him. Burghardt then broke off his apprenticeship training and then studied from 1913 to 1914 at the Maria Moissi drama school. Later he was particularly critical of the speech training he enjoyed during this time, as he adopted the peculiarity of a manner of speaking described as singing, following the example of Alexander Moissi . At the beginning of the First World War , Burghardt volunteered for the Navy in Kiel , but was turned away there. It was more or less by chance that he volunteered for the 17th Dragoon Regiment in Ludwigslust and thus joined the cavalry. After basic training, he came to the German Eastern Front and fought on the Daugava . With knee complaints, he was transferred to a hospital and later back to Ludwigslust. In the late autumn of 1917, the infantry was assigned to the infantry, but this actually turned out to be a mission to harvest sugar beet in the vicinity of Nauen . Burghardt was later relocated to the Eastern Front. From the Peipussee a transfer to Dorpat took place in autumn 1918 . Max Burghardt worked as a telephone operator for the regimental staff. Here he stayed until the end of the war. As a discharged soldier, he went back to his mother in mid-November 1918, who had meanwhile opened a small shop on Osterstrasse in Bremen , where he helped out.

Acting career

Lübeck Theater

In Bremen he tried to continue his acting training. He took acting lessons from the Bremen actress Josefa Flora . The director of the Bremen City Theater , Julius Otto , hired Burghardt as a volunteer on the recommendation of Flora . After a few months in which he was only used as an extra , he received a small speaking role and an initial fee. Further roles and a decent contract as a beginner followed. Through an aunt's mediation, he was given the opportunity to give Mortimer in Maria Stuart at the Lübeck Theater as a guest performance . As a result, he received a two-year contract as a full actor in Lübeck . During this time he took at times when in Hamburg making Hermann Wlach acting lessons.

On the mediation of the theater agent Wahle , Burghardt went to the Rostock City Theater in August 1923 . However, he only stayed there for a year. He found an engagement in Münster at the theater there , where he also only stayed for a short time. This was followed by a job in Plauen . Here he met the opera singer Charlotte Massenburg , whom he married a year later in Darmstadt . In the summer months the theater company played in Bad Elster . There, after a performance, Bertold Held approached him, who suggested an engagement at the Deutsches Theater in Berlin. First Burghardt went to the theater in Erfurt , where he was actually invited to audition with Max Reinhardt . The audition took place in the Theater am Kurfürstendamm . Reinhardt wanted to hire him, but required specialization. Burghardt refused and stayed in Erfurt. To be near his busy wife in Darmstadt, he took an engagement at the Volksbildungsheim resident Frankfurt Art Theater in Frankfurt on. The ensemble played on small Volksbühnen in the Rhine-Main area for three weeks a month . Burghardt moved into a room on Frankfurter Kaiserstrasse. He was elected chairman of the local union of the union and took part in a congress of the German stage cooperative . Problems arose with the rise of the National Socialists , especially for his wife, who was exposed to hostility as a “ half-Jew ”. She received anonymous letters and was verbally abused.

He stayed at the art theater for three years, but then fell out with the artistic director Hans Meissner and resigned . He had the idea of ​​going to Berlin and working as a writer there. In fact, he went to Berlin after the end of the season. His wife stayed behind. He lived with a friend in Berlin and had a few appearances, but had to register as unemployed. He also wrote short stories and poems, but with no commercial success. Burghardt then received an offer to return to Frankfurt am Main. He played Johannes Vockerath in Hauptmanns Einsame Menschen for two months at the Rhein-Main-Theater . He then received an offer for a guest role at the private Stuttgart Schauspielhaus , directed by Director Kraushaar , which he immediately accepted. His wife Charlotte also came to Stuttgart. In Stuttgart he made friends with the actors Willy Reichert and Fritz Wisten .

Max Burghardt and his wife had been politically close to the KPD for a long time . At the end of 1929 / beginning of 1930 they applied for membership and then became members of the KPD. The couple attended events at the Marxist Workers' School together , the first teacher here was Kurt Hager , who later became influential in the GDR . In 1932 Burghardt returned to the Frankfurt Art Theater for a guest performance as Hamlet in Frankfurt am Main.

National Socialism

Max Opitz, 1951

At the theater he also witnessed the so-called seizure of power by the National Socialists. Burghardt hid a KPD comrade in his apartment, who then fled to Paris . He also helped his colleague Alexander Maass to escape. Burghardt returned to Stuttgart. He lived with his wife and sister-in-law in Professor Hölder's villa at Waldstrasse 13 in Degerloch . The KPD functionary Max Opitz , with whom he became friends , stayed in his apartment for a while.

Max Burghardt continued to play at the Schauspielhaus, although the working conditions there had deteriorated considerably. The previous director was dismissed due to his Jewish origin and replaced by a National Socialist. Twice a month he continued to go to Frankfurt and played Hamlet there. In addition, he wrote radio plays . In the cabaret Friedrichsbau he appeared in skits and smaller plays.

On behalf of the banned Communist Party Max Burghardt went frequently to Switzerland after Zurich and Basel and contacted Swiss Communists, even at the Zurich Schauspielhaus on. Guest performances served as justification for the trips abroad. In the course of his illegal activity, he also worked with Lilo Herrmann .

On December 5, 1935 at 6:00 a.m., Burghardt was arrested by the Gestapo in his apartment in Degerloch , ultimately because of illegal activity in the Lilo Herrmann group . He was first taken to the Hotel Silber , the local Gestapo headquarters, and interrogated there. A short time later he was taken to the Welzheim police prison , where he was held for four weeks and also interrogated. This was followed by another imprisonment in the Stuttgart remand prison. The pre-trial detention lasted two years, which Burghardt spent in solitary confinement . While in custody, he was visited once by the SA functionary Hanns Ludin . In the criminal proceedings, which were finally carried out against Burghardt under the designation Duchrow and Comrades , it was possible to prove, primarily through the testimony of his wife Charlotte and the relevant documents presented, that the trips abroad served as guest performances by Burghardt. The accusation of treason , threatened with the death penalty , was therefore dropped against him. Ultimately he became four years and six months prison convicted. The pre-trial detention was only partially taken into account. Max Burghardt was sent to Ludwigsburg prison to serve his sentence . At first he glued bags there, later he worked in the prison library. While in custody he met Max Opitz again. After serving his prison sentence, however, he was not released, but detained again in the Welzheim camp . During this time he also met Richard Schmid , who later became a SPD politician and attorney general . At times, Max Burghardt worked here as a clerk in the office. About a year later, on April 6, 1941, he was released.

After his release, Max Burghardt returned to Bremen, where his mother, in Kleine Annenstrasse 17a , and his wife lived. His wife had managed to obtain a Hungarian birth certificate showing an Aryan descent, so that she was spared the persecution of the Jews . First, Burghardt had to report to the local police once a week. The reporting requirements were later dropped. Burghardt had suffered impairments due to imprisonment. A change in the hip joint that led to pain proved to be problematic .

He found a job in the registry of the Bremen branch of the mineral oil company Rhenania-Ossag . In order to escape the increasing air raids, Burghardt brought his mother, whose health was compromised, to Bad Doberan . However, he stayed in Bremen with his wife. Due to personnel savings, Burghardt lost his previous job and was assigned to work at the Atlas works in Bremen . The Atlas-Werke were a large shipyard on the Weser that built submarine segments and gunboats . Burghardt also worked here as an assistant in the registry. In his spare time, Burghardt wrote several plays.

The Burghardt couple were bombed out in a major air raid on Bremen. At that time you were in the basement of the Bremen Cotton Exchange on the old market, which had been converted into an air raid shelter . The Burghardts initially stayed with friends. Later they were able to move into a room in the villa of the department head Burghardts, Wedemeier , and then ultimately lived in an apartment in a women's home in Schwachhauser Heerstraße . In the last days of the war, the Atlas works had stopped production due to the destruction. Max Burghardt withdrew from service in the Volkssturm and stayed in the dormitory.

post war period

A few days after the end of the war, Max Burghardt's mother died without care in a hospital in Bad Doberan.

After the end of the war, Burghardt tried to get permission to operate a cabaret in Bremen. The US occupation authorities, however, denied a license with the reference that the time of agitprop was over. Together with other comrades-in-arms, he then initiated flying programs for which the present approval from the municipal authority was sufficient. The group played in changing rooms and organized small musical and literary evenings. Burghardt also performed the Reformation ballad he wrote in prison , which, however, was only coldly received by the audience. He also prepared the establishment of the Bremer Kulturbund . Later he was one of the co-founders of the Kulturbund in Cologne and Aachen .

After a while, Burghardt received a letter from Willi Bechtle from Stuttgart, who had also been imprisoned in Welzheim and now belonged to the KPD district leadership of Württemberg . Bechtle asked him to come to Stuttgart and do cultural work for the KPD. Richard Schmid, who had meanwhile been attorney general in Württemberg, also suggested that Max Burghardt return to Stuttgart. He offered him the directorship of the Stuttgarter Rundfunk. In January 1946 he traveled to Stuttgart and together with Richard Schmid visited the American military administration on January 14th. The conversation was positive. Another meeting was arranged for January 16. On January 15, Burghardt took part in a Liebknecht-Luxemburg-Lenin celebration in the Landestheater as a speaker and read a poem he had written. His name was also featured on the event posters. The conversation on January 16 was then frosty. Burghardt was not appointed director of the Stuttgart broadcaster.

Intendant in Cologne

Karl-Eduard von Schnitzler, 1956

On February 10, 1946, his friend Alexander Maass went to see him. Maaß was a member of the British armed forces and had an influential role in the Northwest German Broadcasting Corporation (NWDR). Maaß offered Burghardt the position of director of the Cologne broadcaster. This was followed by a meeting with the British control officer Porter in Hamburg , in which Burghardt's political position, his membership in the KPD and his resistance work during the Nazi era were discussed. Porter asked Burghardt to adhere to the democratic rules of the game, not to bring his own party and ideology into the foreground and to grant all parties the same rights. Burghardt agreed and was hired as director for the station in Cologne . With the forced unification of the SPD and KPD to form the SED on April 21, 1946, Burghardt became a member of the SED . Since the western occupation powers forbade the KPD to use this designation, the designation as a KPD member remained in West Germany.

Burghardt initially sat in on the Hamburg transmitter and then took up his position in Cologne on May 2, 1946. His assumption of office led to protests, especially in conservative circles. Konrad Adenauer spoke of the "red" director and accused the British military government of being ignorant. She did not know what she was doing when she appointed a man who on the radio called Marx his guiding star.

In the station he was able to rely on the head of the political department Karl-Eduard von Schnitzler , later chief commentator of GDR television , the head of children's radio Els Vordemberge and Karl Georg Egel , who wrote documentary radio plays. Later Karl Gass also came to the station. Burghardt's visit to a public rally by Wilhelm Pieck and Otto Grotewohl in Cologne on July 21, 1946 caused displeasure among the British authorities .

Apart from the disputes about its political orientation, another problem arose in the station and in the political landscape of the Rhineland for a separation of the station from the Hamburg station.

As artistic director, he sought out the writer Irmgard Keun, who had been found in Cologne-Braunsfeld, and tried to win her over to work for the station. In fact, there was a collaboration. During his tenure, the highly acclaimed radio play Outside Front Door by Wolfgang Borchert was premiered. Peter von Zahn's program, too. What if? attracted attention. Von Zahn lived in Burghardt's apartment for eight days during a stay in Cologne. In the musical field, the entertainment musician Hans Bund and the Gürzenich Orchestra were won over. Plans were to create its own symphony orchestra.

With regard to the play Judiths Sohn , written by Max Burghardt in the last years of the war, interests arose in a performance in theaters. A joint premiere was planned for the Theater Wuppertal and the Stuttgart Schauspielhaus. After the Wuppertal House withdrew, it was premiered in Stuttgart in early 1946. The director was Fred Schroer . The piece, which had pro-communist traits, was not a success and was clearly rejected by parts of the critics.

Despite the political disputes, at times it was considered to transfer Burghardt the general management of the NWDR. However, this did not happen. Ultimately, there were also arguments between Burghardt and Maaß. At the end of 1946 there was a conversation between several British officers and von Schnitzler and Burghardt about the political attitudes of Schnitzler and Burghardt. Some time later, Burghardt was asked to be the chief broadcasting officer in Hamburg. Burghardt was suggested that von Schnitzler be transferred to another post, his tone was too aggressive. Burghardt refused. The final of the dispute came after Burghardt had pronounced a disciplinary measure, which, however, was not supported by the British and withdrawn. The broadcasting director then visited Max Burghardt in Cologne and suggested a task for the artistic director. In fact, Burghardt informed him that he did not intend to work on the station any longer. Burghardt set a deadline of four weeks for his departure.

Head of Department in Berlin

After leaving Cologne, Friedrich Wolf brought him to Berlin. Wolf introduced Burghardt to the Vice President of Public Education, Erich Weinert . Weinert was also responsible for art and literature. After a short interview, he hired Max Burghardt as head of department for music and theater. Burghardt was initially housed in the remains of the Hotel Adlon . His workplace was across from the hotel ruins in the House of National Education . The field of work included the reorganization of the theater landscape in the Soviet occupation zone, with a focus on the repair and restoration of the destroyed theater buildings. After a while he was assigned an apartment in Niederschönhausen . He brought his wife Charlotte , who was still in Cologne and who had meanwhile suffered from angina pectoris, to Berlin.

Intendant in Leipzig

Burghardt in the Leipziger Felsenkeller in conversation with Johannes R. Becher and Ferdinand May , 1953

1950 Max Burghardt was a proposal by its friend Max Opitz, who is now mayor of Leipzig , was general manager of the Municipal Theater in Leipzig. He lived in a house in the Gohlis district of Leipzig . Before he took office, the five stages of the city, the theater, the opera, the chamber plays, the youth theater and the operetta. Burghardt had to implement the structural change and the associated downsizing. He formed a board of directors from the heads of the houses, the party secretary, the BGL chairman, the general music director , the chief dramaturge, the technical director, the cultural director and the economic director. The theater and the Kammerspiele were subordinate to the senior theater director Johannes Arpe . In addition, Burghardt set up a directing team for the artistic aspects, which consisted of dramaturges, directors, actors and stage designers. In terms of content, Burghardt placed a focus on author theater .

The setting of Friedrich Wolf's poem Die Studentin von Stuttgart , created by Paul Dessau , was premiered in Leipzig under Max Burghardt. Burghardt later described the performance of Schiller's Jungfrau von Orleans by Alexander Winds as a successful production . The German premiere of the ballet Die Flamme von Paris by composer Boris Vladimirovich Assafiev , staged by Lilo Gruber , took place on October 4th . The world premiere of Roland's Robespierre also took place in Leipzig, directed by Arthur Jopp . The President of the GDR , Wilhelm Pieck, accompanied by Otto Grotewohl and Max Opitz also appeared at a performance of the play . The opera Wat Tylor by Allan Bush , to whom the work was subsequently dedicated to Max Burghardt, was also performed. Johannes Arpe staged Florian Geyer by Gerhart Hauptmann . Burghardt was also involved in the GDR premiere of Johannes R. Becher's Winter Battle . In addition to Lilly Becher , Becher's wife, Helene Weigel also appeared at a rehearsal of the play . The premiere took place in February 1953, to which the leading theater people of the GDR, including Bertolt Brecht , appeared. In an interview with Burghardt, Brecht praised the play, but said that Burghardt's actors could not speak verse.

Many pieces by Friedrich Wolf were also performed in the house. So were the sailors of Cattaro , Tai Yang wakes , Poor Konrad and Mayor Anna shown. The premiere of Der poor Konrad on October 1, 1953 was also the last theater performance Wolf attended before he died on October 5, 1953.

At Burghardt's invitation, Winifred Wagner , Richard Wagner's daughter-in-law , visited Leipzig and also visited the Burghardt couple. Mainly musical and political issues were discussed. On the occasion of the 25./26. October 1952 planned German Culture Day , Burghardt stayed in Bayreuth . The conference was surprisingly banned by the Bavarian Ministry of the Interior.

Burghardt also experienced the uprising of June 17th in Leipzig . Pressed by a crowd, he had to leave his car, was verbally abused and asked to remove his party badge . However, there were no fights.

Artistic director at the German State Opera in Berlin

Burghardt at the press conference of the German State Opera on August 10, 1955

GDR postage stamp for the opening of the State Opera in 1955

Tour of the German State Opera on September 8, 1955 together with Wilhelm Pieck , Burghardt on the right in the picture

From 1954 to 1963 he was director of the State Opera Unter den Linden . The appointment was made by Johannes R. Becher, who has meanwhile been appointed Minister for Culture of the GDR. He replaced Henner Allmeroth , who was acting as interim manager . The building of the State Opera was still under construction, the Admiralspalast served as a makeshift venue . Since Burghardt did not yet have an apartment in Berlin, he initially lived in the Adlon again. A little later he and his wife moved into a house in Wilhelmshagen near Erkner . In 1961 a house was built on Usedom , probably in Zempin .

His plan to use Lilo Gruber as ballet master instead of the previous Spies proved to be problematic . There was considerable opposition to this personality within the ballet. Burgardt saw the relatively large number of artists working at the East Berlin Opera but living in the West as a further problem. He regretted that many artists used the State Opera as a springboard for a career in the West.

Burghardt tried to get Erich Kleiber to work as Kapellmeister at the State Opera and went to see him in Zurich. In fact, Kleiber also came to Berlin. However, he fell out with Burghardt and the GDR authorities and severed all ties to the State Opera. In an open letter to Burghardt, he criticized the removal of the inscription Fridericus Rex Apollini Et Musis from the opera building and feared an intrusion into his musical sphere of activity and a disruption of his free art. In place of Kleiber, Franz Konwitschny became the new general music director . Various other artists left the house under similar aspects, such as Lovro von Matačić , Hans Löwlein and the choir director Karl Schmidt.

The rebuilt opera house opened on September 4, 1955 with the Iphigenie in Aulis von Glucks. The performance of Wozzeck by Alban Berg caused a sensation . Burghardt had consulted with Brecht and Dessau beforehand as to whether he should dare to perform the performance; both had advised. Was performed and the New Odyssey of Robert Hanell . As DDR premiere was brought The auditor of WERNER EGK . Another novelty was the performance of the Slovak folk opera Krutnava by Eugon Suchon . Was also listed Ottmar Gerster The Witch of Passau , a gambling during the Peasants' War dramatic opera ballad.

With the performance of Richard Wagner's Götterdämmerung , the entire ring was on the program of the State Opera. The director was Erich Witte . In 1961 the opera Peer Gynt by Werner Egk was played on the occasion of his 60th birthday. The work had its world premiere in 1938 at the German State Opera.

At times there were considerations to operate the State Opera and the Komische Oper under the joint management of Burghardt. Walter Felsenstein would have become a director at both houses. However, the plans were not implemented.

Burghardt had been a member of the Academy of Arts since 1951 , became a candidate in 1954 and a member of the Central Committee of the SED in 1959 . On the sidelines of a meeting of the Central Committee in 1957, Johannes R. Becher asked Burghardt to succeed him as President of the Kulturbund of the GDR. At the 5th Federal Congress of the Kulturbund, which met from February 7th to 9th, 1958, Becher officially proposed Max Burghardt. He was then re-elected for the fourth time at the 8th Federal Congress in 1972. Ultimately, from 1958 to 1977 he was President of the Kulturbund der DDR.

In 1961 his wife Charlotte died after a stroke in the Berlin government hospital .

With the construction of the Berlin Wall on August 13, 1961, the working conditions for the employees of the State Opera living in West Berlin deteriorated drastically. Although they could still get to work and also appear on duty, from September 15, 1961, the Ostmark remuneration could no longer be exchanged for Westmarks. On August 20, the State Opera was able to open the new season as planned. On September 15, however, around 200 West Berlin employees canceled their contracts. Some West Berliners stayed at the State Opera. The choir members who were missing in large numbers were replaced by the State Choral Ensemble Berlin-Köpenick . The ballet was replenished with students from theater schools who were about to graduate. Missing soloists came to the State Opera from other houses in the GDR and the Eastern Bloc . In addition, the focus was increasingly on guest performances. Burghardt won Helmut Seydelmann as Kapellmeister . On November 22nd, 1961, another lavish Fidelio performance succeeded.

After the death of his wife and the burdens in the fall of 1961, Burghardt gave up the house on Platanenstrasse and moved into a small apartment on Karl-Marx-Allee. Max Burghardt's health was compromised. He suffered from depression and had heart problems. Max Burghardt asked the minister at the time, Hans Bentzien, to release him from his position as director of the State Opera. Instead, he wanted to concentrate more on his role as President of the Kulturbund. He proposed Hans Pischner as his successor . Bentzien suggested waiting another year. Ultimately, Burghardt resigned from his position at the State Opera in 1963.

Burghardt married Marianne Gornig , whom he had met in the 1950s as the mayor of Ottendorf-Okrilla .

tomb

He died in 1977 and was buried in the Pergolenweg grave complex in the socialist memorial in the Friedrichsfelde central cemetery. His estate is in the Akademie der Künste.

Awards

Max Burghardt was awarded the National Prize of the GDR in 1952 and 1959 and received the Patriotic Order of Merit several times , including on May 6, 1955 in silver and in 1963 and 1965 in gold, and in 1973 the honor bar for the Patriotic Order of Merit in gold. In 1968 and 1970 he was honored with the Karl Marx Order .

Fonts

• Letters that were never written . Berlin 1967
• Do not be afraid . Berlin 1968
• I wasn't just an actor. Memories of a theater man . Weimar 1972

literature

• Max Burghardt: The arrival . In: Institute for Marxism-Leninism at the Central Committee of the SED , Kulturbund der DDR (Ed.): … The beginning of a new era. Memories of the beginnings of our cultural revolution 1945–1949 . Aufbau-Verlag, Berlin / Weimar 1981, p. 101-117 .
• Hans-Ulrich Wagner: The "red director": Max Burghardt . In: Klaus Katz (ed.), In tune with the times - 50 years of WDR , Kiepenheuer and Witsch, Cologne 2006, vol. 1, p. 177.
• Short biography on:  Burghardt, Max Georg Emanuel . In: Who was who in the GDR? 5th edition. Volume 1. Ch. Links, Berlin 2010, ISBN 978-3-86153-561-4 .

Web links

Commons : Max Burghardt  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Literature by and about Max Burghardt in the catalog of the German National Library
• Max Burghardt Archive in the Archive of the Academy of Arts, Berlin

Individual evidence

1. ^ "I wasn't just an actor. Memories of a theater man" , Aufbau-Verlag Berlin Weimar 1983, 3rd edition, page 6
2. ^ Max Burghardt, "I wasn't just an actor. Memories of a theater man" , Aufbau-Verlag Berlin Weimar 1983, 3rd edition, page 11 ff.
3. ^ Max Burghardt, "I wasn't just an actor. Memories of a theater man" , Aufbau-Verlag Berlin Weimar 1983, 3rd edition, page 61 f.
4. ↑ In his autobiography, Burghardt gives A. Wlach as the name of the acting actor . Max Burghardt, "I wasn't just an actor. Memories of a theater man" , Aufbau-Verlag Berlin Weimar 1983, 3rd edition, page 121
5. ^ Max Burghardt, "I wasn't just an actor", memories of a theater man , Aufbau-Verlag Berlin Weimar 1983, 3rd edition, page 258
6. ^ Max Burghardt, "I wasn't just an actor", memories of a theater man , Aufbau-Verlag Berlin Weimar 1983, 3rd edition, page 261
7. ^ Max Burghardt, "I wasn't just an actor", memories of a theater man , Aufbau-Verlag Berlin Weimar 1983, 3rd edition, page 261
8. ↑ In his autobiography Burghardt describes in detail the encounter with the very unfriendly Irmgard Keun; "I wasn't just an actor", memories of a theater man , Aufbau-Verlag Berlin Weimar 1983, 3rd edition, page 267
9. ^ Max Burghardt, "I wasn't just an actor", memories of a theater man , Aufbau-Verlag Berlin Weimar 1983, 3rd edition, page 273
10. ^ Max Burghardt, "I wasn't just an actor", memories of a theater man , Aufbau-Verlag Berlin Weimar 1983, 3rd edition, page 278
11. ^ Max Burghardt, "I wasn't just an actor", memories of a theater man , Aufbau-Verlag Berlin Weimar 1983, 3rd edition, page 314
12. ^ New Germany , November 29, 1963, p. 2
13. ^ New Germany, May 7, 1965, p.
14. ↑ Berliner Zeitung , December 6, 1973, p. 7
15. ^ New Germany, December 10, 1968, p. 2
16. ↑ Neues Deutschland, May 7, 1970, p. 1

predecessor	Office	successor
Johannes R. Becher	President of the Kulturbund der DDR 1958–1977	Hans Pischner