Plaza (Berlin)

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Plaza, 1938

The Plaza (also called Theater der 3000 ) was one of the largest variety theaters in Berlin from 1929 to 1944, alongside the Scala and the winter garden, and offered space for 3000 spectators. It was also one of the first Volksvarietés in Germany, as it was aimed specifically at the workforce. It was located in the former Ostbahnhof ("Küstriner Bahnhof") in Berlin-Friedrichshain , Küstriner Platz 11, today's Franz-Mehring-Platz 1.

history

The Varieté Plaza was created by the Jewish shareholders of Scala in order to win over the workforce as a variety audience. The role model for this were venues in other world metropolises at the time, which were operated very successfully in working-class neighborhoods. In Berlin, the building of the old Ostbahnhof in the then Friedrichshain district proved to be particularly suitable, since Friedrichshain was a pronounced proletarian district at that time . The auditorium and a stage were built into the former platform hall as a new component.

The opening took place on February 1, 1929. In the autumn of the same year the global economic crisis began , which also affected the society around the Scala and the Plaza . Even the most extensive conversion to operetta performances by the brothers Alfred and Fritz Rotter and an experimental performance of Friedrich Schiller's Kabale und Liebe by Max Reinhardt could not prevent a high level of debt. After the seizure of power by the National Socialists was Plaza - like the Scala - by the main lenders Dresdner Bank put into non-Jewish hands.

From 1935 on, the vaudeville played mainly for the KdF organization and was completely taken over by them in 1938. Under the director Herbert Müller-Endenthum , the Plaza was able to enjoy well-attended programs until all German theaters were generally closed on September 1, 1944. In the last performance before closing, Erich Arnold and Brigitte Mira sang songs from the Merry Widow .

The former station concourse was destroyed by Allied air raids in 1944, the building fell into ruins in the Battle of Berlin in 1945 and demolished from 1952.

In 1974, the Neues Deutschland publishing house was built at this location at Franz-Mehring-Platz 1 (see previously: Küstriner Bahnhof ) .

Since May 8, 2009, a stele in front of the publishing house has been commemorating the famous Variety Theater Plaza, which opened here in 1929, and its founding director Jules Marx .

literature

  • Alfred Wedemeyer: Plaza, a Volksvarieté in Berlin . In: Deutsche Bauzeitung of March 30, 1929. Issue 26/27, pp. 233–239. (Describes the conversion of the former station building into a theater.)
  • Jens Schnauber: The Aryanization of Scala and Plaza. Varieté and Dresdner Bank during the Nazi era. Weidler, Berlin 2002, ISBN 3-89693-199-7 .
  • Wolfgang Jansen : The Varieté. The glamorous story of an entertaining art. Edition Hentrich, Berlin 1990, ISBN 3-926175-85-0 .

Web links

Commons : Plaza  - collection of images

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Fabian Riedel: And in the evening at Scala !: Karl Wolffsohn and the variety company SCALA and PLAZA 1919 to 1961. Rise, "Aryanization", "reparation" . In: be.bra Wissenschaft (Ed.): Dissertation . Edition: 1 (January 14, 2019). be.bra Wissenschaft, Berlin 2019, ISBN 978-3-95410-232-7 , p. 370 .
  2. ↑ Franz-Mehring-Platz 1 . In: Neues Deutschland , May 29, 2012

Coordinates: 52 ° 30 ′ 45 ″  N , 13 ° 26 ′ 27 ″  E