Wilhelm ring ribbon

Wilhelm Ringelband (born October 7, 1921 in Frankfurt am Main ; † October 11, 1981 in Bensheim ) was a German theater critic who is best known today as the founder of the Gertrud-Eysoldt-Ring .

Memorial plaque at the Ringelbandhaus in Frankfurt-Eschersheim

Life

Wilhelm Ringelband was born in Frankfurt, where he and his parents Lieutenant Colonel Friedrich Wilhelm Ringelband and Johanna, geb. Wegert, lived in a small Art Nouveau villa in the Eschersheim district . At the age of 16 he saw Strindberg's dance of death with Paul Wegener at the Frankfurt Schauspielhaus . He later attributed his passion for the theater to this production.

After graduating from high school in Bad Godesberg , Ringelband was drafted into the Wehrmacht. Chronically ill during the war, he moved to Auerbach near Bensheim in 1944 . Wilhelm Ringelband was largely independent financially and was therefore able to pursue his passion for theater and film from 1945 onwards. He published reviews, obituaries, and annual chronicles in over 30 newspapers.

Wilhelm Ringelband was in close correspondence with actress Gertrud Eysoldt , among others . “Until her death in 1955,” writes her biographer Carsten Niemann, “Gertrud Eysoldt remained the decisive advisor for the young Ringelband, and that without them ever having met personally”.

literature

• Wilhelm Ringelband on his fiftieth birthday October 7, 1971 . Festschrift. [Bensheim]: self-published, 1971.
• Carsten Niemann: "The heart of my artistry is courage". The Max Reinhardt actress Gertrud Eysoldt . Hanover: Lower Saxony. Staatstheater, 1995. ( Prinzenstraße , No. 6.) ISBN 3-931266-02-8