Association of theater professionals
The Association of Theater Professionals in the GDR was founded in December 1966 in Berlin (East) as a social organization of artists and scientists who worked in and for the theater. He belonged to the National Front of the GDR. As a result of the political change , the association stopped its work and dissolved itself at the end of 1990.
tasks
The association was founded in response to the XI. Plenary of the Central Committee of the SED expressed criticism of the artists and cultural workers in the GDR. Politburo member Kurt Hager characterized the association at the founding congress as an organ of voluntary self-regulation and formulated the main task of promoting the development of socialist German theatrical art as a contribution to the comprehensive development of socialism in the GDR.
The association organized cooperation with state and social institutions in the field of culture , organized the exchange of experience between theater people, their further training and the promotion of young talent.
organization
The congress of theater professionals, the highest organ of the association, met every five years and elected the board, which was permanently represented between the congresses by a presidium and the secretariat. Association groups existed at the base and meetings were held at district and district level in preparation for the congress. The association was divided into the following sections: drama , music theater , stage dance , puppet theater and cabaret and had various working groups (stage design, theater criticism, theater studies). In the mid-1980s a youth commission was formed to represent the interests of young theater people and to organize the “workshop days for young theater professionals”. The association was financed from the state budget and to a minor extent from membership fees. From 1968 the association published the magazine Theater der Zeit . Scientific results of the association and theater work were published in the series Material zum Theater .
The first president was Wolfgang Heinz , who was replaced by Hans-Peter Minetti in 1984 . Vice-presidents were Walter Felsenstein , Karl Kayser and Günter Rimkus . At the 9th Presidium meeting on November 13, 1989, Minetti self-critically assessed that he had been involved in many processes that would have driven the country to ruin and resigned.
For the first time in 1985 the association awarded the Wolfgang-Heinz-Ring for outstanding stage actors.
Honorary members
- 1985: Philine Fischer , Aenne Goldschmidt , Marga Legal , Lotte Loebinger , Rudolf Penka , Werner Schöniger , Steffie Spira , Doris Thalmer , Curt Trepte
literature
- Frank-Lothar Kroll: Culture, Education and Science in the 20th Century . Oldenbourg, Munich 2003, ISBN 3-486-55002-0 .
Web links
- GDR lexicon of the MDR
- Association of theater workers in the GDR in the archive of the Academy of Arts, Berlin
Individual evidence
- ^ Academy for Political Science and Law of the GDR (ed.): Handbook of social organizations in the GDR. Staatsverlag der DDR, Berlin 1985, p. 165