By
– August 31, 2011
This is a collection of essays describing and analyzing the remarkable contribution of Jews, between 1871 and 1933, to the worldrenowned German speaking theatre. Predominantly in Berlin, Jewish theatre artists produced brilliant innovative work in the new genres of realism and expressionism — epitomized, respectively, in the seminal achievements of Otto Brahm and Max Reinhardt.
A major question explored in many of the essays is why so many Jews were attracted to the theatre. Much of the discussion focuses on the aspirations of this emancipated community of former outsiders to fully assimilate into German society. The theatre was seen as the most public and prestigious of the arts; by achieving prominence there a Jew might succeed in dispelling the physically, emotionally, and vocally repulsive image promulgated in the writings and speeches of the anti-Semites.
At the same time, the Jews and their Gentile admirers regarded their contributions to modern German theatre as distinctly and notably Jewish — especially in their introduction of the larger-than-life passions of the Yiddish Theatre, culminating in expressionism: “an acting style that portrayed bodies and characters as warped, restless, distorted, vibrating with nervous energy — mirror images we might say of the over-expressive Jew.”
To the anti-Semites, of course, there was nothing a theatre artist of Jewish origins could achieve on the German stage that would make him less obviously and obnoxiously Jewish— even though he was raised a Catholic and his work infused with Catholic themes and imagery, as in the case of playwright Hugo von Hofmannsthal. Inevitably, this era of Jewish theatrical triumph came to its tragic end with the advent of Hitler’s Third Reich.
Jeanette R. Malkin and Freddie Rokem are to be applauded for selecting and editing such a highly informative and well written anthology of articles on a subject of decided value to both theatre and Jewish history.
A major question explored in many of the essays is why so many Jews were attracted to the theatre. Much of the discussion focuses on the aspirations of this emancipated community of former outsiders to fully assimilate into German society. The theatre was seen as the most public and prestigious of the arts; by achieving prominence there a Jew might succeed in dispelling the physically, emotionally, and vocally repulsive image promulgated in the writings and speeches of the anti-Semites.
At the same time, the Jews and their Gentile admirers regarded their contributions to modern German theatre as distinctly and notably Jewish — especially in their introduction of the larger-than-life passions of the Yiddish Theatre, culminating in expressionism: “an acting style that portrayed bodies and characters as warped, restless, distorted, vibrating with nervous energy — mirror images we might say of the over-expressive Jew.”
To the anti-Semites, of course, there was nothing a theatre artist of Jewish origins could achieve on the German stage that would make him less obviously and obnoxiously Jewish— even though he was raised a Catholic and his work infused with Catholic themes and imagery, as in the case of playwright Hugo von Hofmannsthal. Inevitably, this era of Jewish theatrical triumph came to its tragic end with the advent of Hitler’s Third Reich.
Jeanette R. Malkin and Freddie Rokem are to be applauded for selecting and editing such a highly informative and well written anthology of articles on a subject of decided value to both theatre and Jewish history.
Norman J. Fedder, Ph.D., is distinguished professor emeritus of theatre at Kansas State University. He is currently on the faculty of the Interdisciplinary Arts Program at Nova Southeastern University.
