Walter Erich Schäfer

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Walter Erich Schäfer (born March 16, 1901 in Hemmingen ; † December 28, 1981 in Stuttgart ) was a German farmer , writer , dramaturge and from 1949 to 1972 general manager of the Württemberg State Theater in Stuttgart (opera, drama, ballet).

Life

Walter Erich Schäfer was born on March 18, 1901 in Hemmingen. His father, Friedrich Wilhelm Schäfer (1871–1951), married Hildegard Speidel (1874–1952) after studying at the Hohenheim Agricultural Academy (now the University of Stuttgart-Hohenheim). After finishing school at the Karls-Gymnasium Stuttgart, Walter Schäfer also studied agriculture in Hohenheim (1921-1924) at the request of his father , became a member of the Corps Germania and always remained the owner of his inherited farm in the Hallertau near Ingolstadt. Even during his school days in Stuttgart, he was enthusiastic about the theater and already wrote plays and prose. After completing his second degree at the University of Tübingen with a doctorate in philosophy on “The comparative dramaturgy of Greek and Elizabethan tragedy”, he devoted himself entirely to theater. In 1925 he was initially involved in small assignments as an assistant dramaturge in Stuttgart and then found a job there in 1928 as a dramaturge.

Schäfer married Irmgard Sigel (1902–1984) in Stuttgart in 1925. They had four children.

Act

After the seizure of power by the Nazi Party and its allies Shepherd was first dramaturge in Mannheim, then he worked as a dramaturge at the State Theater in Kassel. With the end of the entry ban, he joined the NSDAP in May 1937 . Reich dramaturge Rainer Schlösser judged it in 1937 as an "important asset for the National Socialist theater policy that I represented".

Schäfer's play on October 18 (first performance in Munich on February 13, 1932) was performed on all German theaters , according to the émigré magazine Die Sammlung . The piece was played in Lübeck in 1941, when times were already troubled, on January 30th “on the occasion of the day of the takeover of power”. It was about the fight for freedom against Napoleon.

After the end of the Nazi regime, Schäfer's play Der Leutnant Vary (Dietzmann, Leipzig 1941) was placed on the list of literature to be segregated in the Soviet occupation zone , even though it is an anti-war play. Florian Radvan sums up Schäfer's ambivalent relationship to the Nazi regime in a taz article: “The dramaturge and writer Schäfer at the time was certainly not an inflamed Nazi. But through the constant willingness to actively support the National Socialist cultural policy with new pieces, he at least signaled that the regime was tolerated. "

Schäfer also discovered radio as an art form for himself. Not only his radio play Malmgren / Malmgreen (1925) was a great literary success - and a classic of the "early radio play", his later radio plays such as The Five Seconds of Mahatma Gandhi (1949) were performed frequently and are still broadcast today.

The "Zeitstück" The Conspiracy (directed by Stefan Dahlen), which Schäfer had written under the pseudonym Werner Frank, was successfully premiered on March 12, 1949 in the Small House of the Augsburg Municipal Theaters . Schäfer settled the play, which dealt with the events of July 20, 1944 , in the Berlin Gestapo headquarters . An SS brigade leader acts as the central bearer of the resistance against Hitler . The play, which showed SS officers as important liaison officers in the “ Operation Walküre ” overturn plan, was re-enacted by nearly 40 German theaters.

In the same year Schäfer was appointed general director of the Stuttgart State Theater. He held this office until 1972. He turned down the offer to take over the management of the Berlin State Opera in 1959. Commissioned as “savings commissioner” and “savior”, he knew how to recognize talent, to bring famous artists to Stuttgart, to integrate them into the ensemble and to promote them sustainably. In this way, he managed to tie the conductor Carlos Kleiber to his house at an early stage . Carl Orff found a home for many of his modern works in Stuttgart. Wieland Wagner saw his “Winter Bayreuth” there, at the Stuttgart Opera, and he was also able to try out some productions. Under the then relatively unknown choreographer John Cranko and with Marcia Haydée as prima ballerina and Richard Cragun , the Stuttgart ballet achieved world renown .

Less spectacular, but just as well known for their innovations and quality, during these 23 years of opera and drama in Stuttgart developed into leading German and European stages with numerous foreign guest performances.

As a sponsor of the youth, Schäfer made it possible for Hohenheim students to regularly visit performances in the state theaters free of charge. His main goal was to create a modern directorial theater with many premieres, and he knew how to place trust in talented artists and to inspire a loyal audience with his ensemble. He died in Stuttgart in 1981 and is still considered one of the most prominent international theater directors of the 20th century.

estate

Schäfer's estate has been part of the Ludwigsburg State Archives since 2009 . In addition to manuscripts, publications, features articles, speeches, this also includes biographical notes, series of correspondence and performance photos.

Awards

Works

Spectacles

  • Echnathon , 1925 (Engelhorn Verlag)
  • Richter Feuerbach , 1930 (Engelhorn Verlag)
  • October 18 , 1932 (Dieck Verlag)
  • Schwarzmann and the maid , 1933 (Engelhorn Verlag)
  • The Emperor and the Lion , 1934 (Dietzmann-Verlag)
  • The fire , 1934 (Dietzmann-Verlag)
  • The General and the Ensign ( UA Mannheim 1936)
  • The trip to Paris , 1936 (Dietzmann-Verlag)
  • The chain , 1938 (Dietzmann-Verlag)
  • Der Leutnant Vary , 1940 (Dietzmann-Verlag) / Also published as Der Leutnant Rougier
  • Theres and the Highness , 1940 (Dietzmann-Verlag), also made into a film
  • The conspiracy , 1949 (Dietzmann-Verlag)
  • Hora Mortis , 1948 (German publishing house)

Radio plays

  • Malmgreen , 1925, in: "Speak, so that I see you", early radio plays, 1962 (Paul List Verlag), tape (SDR / SWR)
  • The Five Seconds of Mahatma Gandhi , 1948 (Europ. Verlaganstalt, Radio Play Book 1), tape (SDR / SWR)
  • The State Secretary , around 1949, manuscript and tape (SDR / SWR)
  • Conference in Christobal , ca.1950 , manuscript (SDR / SWR)
  • Game of Thoughts , 1951 (European publishing company, radio play book)
  • The Ascension of the Physicist MN 1958 (European publishing house, radio play book)
  • The Night in the Hotel , 1966, manuscript (SDR / SWR)

prose

  • The twelve hours of God. Narrative. Engelhorn Verlag, 1925.
  • Last change. Novellas. Engelhorn Verlag, 1928.
  • The regimental festival. Narrative. Engelhorn Verlag, 1933.
  • The returnees. Stories. Staakmannverlag, 1944.
  • Stage of a life. Memories. Deutsche Verlagsanstalt, 1975, ISBN 3-421-01733-6 .
  • Small waves on the river of life. my stories. Deutsche Verlagsanstalt, 1976, ISBN 978-3-421-01761-1 .
  • The actor's mother. Novel. Deutsche Verlagsanstalt, 1981, ISBN 3-421-06052-5 .

Illustrated books and monographs

  • Günter Rennert, director during this time. Schünemann Verlag, 1962.
  • Martha Mödl. Friedrichverlag, 1967.
  • Wieland Wagner. Personality and performance. Rainer Wunderlich Verlag, 1970.
  • The Stuttgart State Opera 1950–1972. Neskeverlag, 1972, ISBN 3-7885-0023-9 .
  • John Cranko, Walter Erich Schäfer: About the dance. Conversations with Walter Erich Schäfer. S. Fischer Verlag, 1974, ISBN 3-10-014301-9 .

Collected Works

  • Drama, radio play 2 volumes, 1967 (Deutsche Verlagsanstalt)

swell

  • Paul Eiermann: History of the Hohenheim Agricultural University and the Hohenheimer SC Chronicle of the two Hohenheim Corps "Germania" and "Suevia" for the 90th foundation festival of "Germania" . Stuttgart-Hohenheim 1961.
  • Manfred G. Raupp: Fox primer of the Corps Germania Hohenheim. 2006.

literature

  • John Cranko : About the dance. Conversations with Walter Erich Schäfer. S. Fischer, Frankfurt am Main 1974.
  • Ulrike Krone-Balcke:  Schäfer, Walter Erich. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 22, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 2005, ISBN 3-428-11203-2 , p. 513 f. ( Digitized version ).
  • Ernst Klee : The cultural lexicon for the Third Reich. Who was what before and after 1945. S. Fischer, Frankfurt am Main 2007, ISBN 978-3-10-039326-5 , p. 513.
  • Karl Ulrich Majer, Herbert von Strohmer (Ed.): Walter Erich Schäfer on March 16, 1971. Festschrift. Neske, Pfullingen 1971.
  • Florian Radvan: A German theater career. The playwright and general manager Walter Erich Schäfer. Scientific publishing house Trier (WVT), Trier 1999.
  • Walter Erich Schäfer: Stage of a Life. Memories. Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt, Stuttgart 1975.
  • Alexander Werner: Carlos Kleiber. A biography. (In it: Carlos Kleiber and the Württemberg State Opera 1964–1975), Schott Music, Mainz 2007.
  • Heinz Schwitzke: in "Early radio plays", Paul Listverlag, Munich 1962.
  • Michael Molnar, Karlheinz Fuchs: Exhibition series “Stuttgart in the Third Reich: The Seizure of Power”, 1983.
  • NDB German biography "Walter Erich Schäfer".
  • Alexander Werner: Carlos Kleiber. A biography. Schott Music, updated and edited paperback edition 2010, in it: Detailed description of the Kleiber era in Schäfer's time as director and his relationship to Kleiber in Stuttgart.

Documentation

  • Karl Ulrich Majer (book), Walter Rüdel (director): Walter Erich Schäfer or the theater deeds of a landlord from Lower Bavaria , approx. 30 min, ZDF

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Schäfer Walter Erich - detail page - LEO-BW. Retrieved July 11, 2020 .
  2. ↑ a b c Ernst Klee: The culture lexicon for the Third Reich. Who was what before and after 1945. S. Fischer, Frankfurt am Main 2007, p. 513.
  3. ^ Quotation from Ernst Klee: Das Kulturlexikon zum Third Reich. Who was what before and after 1945. S. Fischer, Frankfurt am Main 2007, p. 513.
  4. ↑ Jörg Fligge : "Beautiful Lübeck Theater World." The city theater during the years of the Nazi dictatorship. Schmidt-Römhild, Lübeck 2018, ISBN 978-37950-5244-7 . Pp. 264-267, 574; here p. 265 f.
  5. ↑ polunbi.de .
  6. ↑ For the staging and adaptation of the play, cf. Jörg Fligge : "Beautiful Lübeck theater world." The city theater during the years of the Nazi dictatorship. Schmidt-Römhild, Lübeck 2018, ISBN 978-3-7950-5244-7 . P. 266 f.
  7. ↑ a b c Florian Radvan: You have to speak Chinese with the Chinese . In: The daily newspaper: taz . January 23, 1999, ISSN  0931-9085 , p. 15 ( taz.de [accessed on July 11, 2020]).
  8. ^ Landesarchiv Baden-Württemberg, Department State Archive Ludwigsburg - Finding aid PL 727: Estate Walter Erich Schäfer - Introduction. Retrieved July 11, 2020 .
  9. ↑ Kleist Prize | Literature Prize Winner. Retrieved on July 11, 2020 (German).
personal data
SURNAME Schäfer, Walter Erich
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German dramaturge and general manager
DATE OF BIRTH March 16, 1901
PLACE OF BIRTH Hemmingen
DATE OF DEATH December 28, 1981
Place of death Stuttgart