Walter Buettner

Walter Büttner , called Der Heidekasper (born November 16, 1907 ; † 1990 ), was a German puppeteer who made a special contribution to the educational and artistic development of puppetry in Germany.

life and work

Walter Büttner was born on November 16, 1907. His father, August Büttner, switched from the circus to the puppet theater in 1910 , gave his first public performance on October 10th of this year and since then has moved his original fictional figure and puppet theater through the whole of northern Germany. At that time, puppetry was not yet a recognized form of theater, but ranked alongside throwing booths and children's carousels as a fairground attraction . August Büttner's performances were correspondingly crude and not very educational.

Walter Büttner knew early on that he wanted to follow in his father's footsteps. As early as 1929 he was self-employed as a puppeteer. He refined the old pieces that he had taken over from his father at the fair, moderated himself in playing speed and colloquial language, and began performing in schools as well. This was stimulated by acquaintances and friends from the Wandervogel movement as well as by the Socialist Youth and the Red Falcons , with whom the tradition of his family was closely connected.

In the fateful year of 1933, he was living in a communist children's home . He was immediately banned from his profession and was the only known puppeteer besides Alfredo Bannenberg who was not allowed to practice his profession in the Third Reich without restrictions for political reasons (other puppeteers always "only" overtook them for racial reasons). He was now forced to earn his living as a construction worker building the airport between Celle and Lüneburg . When he tried to circumvent the prohibition and still perform with his puppet, he was taken to the Nobel - Glyzerinwerk to Geesthacht added. The fact that he was drafted into the naval artillery of the German Wehrmacht in 1940 was a life saver for the man, who was already emaciated to under 60 kilograms. He also found a supervisor there who recognized his talent for puppetry and gave him the opportunity to give performances for his fellow soldiers as a kind of front-line support.

At the end of the war, Walter Büttner was stationed in Normandy and became an American prisoner of war. This time was to be of great artistic importance for Büttner: In the prisoner of war camp, he met an art-loving commandant who, in addition to various orchestral and theater groups, also promoted the formation of a puppet theater. Figures, props and stage sets were created from the most curious materials - for Büttner the actual “school” of artistic puppetry. For Büttner important contacts for his future work and in some cases lifelong friendships arose from this time.

Like many others, Walter Büttner was left with nothing after being a prisoner of war. Only three dolls from the father's estate had survived the “ Thousand Year Reich ”; He was given three more figures by a friend from the ranks of the Red Falcons, and some came from the prisoner-of-war camp in ways unknown to us. For him this was a sufficient "basis" to continue with the puppet theater. The wood sculptor who had worked for Büttner before the war refused to work with the penniless artist: I don't carve for money alone.

In April 1948, Büttner met the sculptor Fritz Herbert Bross , a now legendary puppet designer who was still at the beginning of his artistic career. Over the next few decades he equipped Büttner's pieces with dolls of the highest quality and expressiveness. Later on, other puppeteers also worked on Büttner's productions , including Carl Schröder .

Mephisto and Faust; Figures Fritz Hebert Bross

Büttner's toys now comprised classic Punch and Judy games, well-known fairy tales , self-made stories and, as productions for adults, among others, Doctor Faust based on the legend of Johann Georg Faust and an adaptation of Oscar Wilde's The Ghost of Canterville . With this repertoire he, who came from the fair, could easily join the ranks of the established artistic puppeteers , to which Max Jacob , Otto Schulz-Heising and Friedrich Arndt belonged at that time .

In 1951 Büttner settled in Seevetal - Maschen , where he built his puppet house with an adjoining open-air theater in a small wooded area . Büttner lived there until his death in 1990 and became known nationwide under the name Der Heidekasper .

Between 1955 and 1958 he made a total of 15 TV films with Büttner's puppet shows , first in the Hamburg television studio, and later for the SWF in Baden-Baden .

In addition, he passed his skills on to interested laypeople in courses and made numerous guest tours to other European countries, including Prague and Sweden.

As the last living fairground player at the time, he performed one of his fairground pieces again from the beginning of the 1970s under the title Anno Toback, which attracted a lot of attention and enthusiasm among audiences and puppeteers and, until his death, one of the most important pieces of the "Heidekaspers “Was.

In 1986 Büttner was awarded the culture prize of the Harburg district "in recognition of his widely recognized art of puppetry". Walter Büttner died in 1990. He left behind a wife and four children.

Puppetry as a family tradition: The Büttners

In addition to Walter Büttner and his father August, the Büttner family can show a few other puppeteers: Büttner's brother Heini (who died early) was also a hand puppeteer. One of Walter Büttner's daughters, Antje, followed in his footsteps, at least temporarily, and played for a while at the Augsburger Puppenkiste . Büttner's grandson Andreas is a part-time puppeteer. Today, the Büttner family is one of the very few artist dynasties that have devoted themselves to puppet theater in the fourth generation.

Pieces by Walter Büttner (selection)

• The blue elephant
• The magic violin
• Anneke's dream trip (based on a model by the Mülheim puppet theater)
• The miraculous wreath of lights
• Whoever digs a pit for another
• The children's ship
• Wittepoot's birthday
• Wittepoot and the tiger Herrmann
• Rumpelstiltskin
• The three heroes
• The lion Lambert
• The robbers from Klabustertal
• Klumppatsch doesn't want to get older
• Thaler - thaler, you have to hike
• Slumber
• Doctor Faust (based on Otto Schulz-Heising's puppet show )
• Anno Toback
• Elmenor Castle (Based on The Canterville Ghost by Oscar Wilde )
• The game of treasure in the forest
• Marquis de Guignol
• Bear, bear, dance!
• The game from Jann
• The seven-star game
• The game of the merchant Guldenschuh
• The mysterious cave

literature

• Walter Kipsch: Master of the puppet show: Walter Büttner . Volume / Issue 36. Puppen & Masken, Frankfurt / M. 2003, ISBN 978-3-935011-41-9 .
• Walter Büttner, PK Steinmann (Hrsg.): The journey to the East Indies - A Punch and Judy in variations . Dolls & masks, Frankfurt / M. 2003, ISBN 978-3-935011-41-9 .

Other sources

• Walter Büttner tells and plays from his life . Cassette recording of an event from November 1986.
• Photos, program leaflets, text booklets in the Gerd J. Pohl puppet theater collection ( Piccolo puppet shows ).
• Conversations with the descendants of Walter Büttner.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Photo: Jens Welsch 2008