Schauspielhaus Zurich programme for the 1934/35 season.
Schauspielhaus Zurich programme for the 1934/35 season. Stadtarchiv Zürich

The theatre that stood up to fascism

Just a few months after Adolf Hitler came to power, Schauspielhaus Zurich theatre began to evolve into a bastion against racial fanaticism and antisemitism.

Gabriel Heim

Gabriel Heim

Gabriel Heim is a book and film author and exhibition organiser. He is principally concerned with research into topics of modern and contemporary history and lives in Basel.

In July 1934, dramatic advisor Felix Gasbarra travelled to Vulpera in the Lower Engadine to negotiate a contract with Ferdinand Rieser, the manager and owner of Schauspielhaus Zurich. Rieser wanted an experienced dramatic advisor to complete his backstage team. Rieser saw Gasbarra as the man for the job, as he was aware of how Gasbarra had completely transformed Berlin's Piscator Theatre in terms of its programme and artistic quality over the preceding twelve months. Rieser was the beneficiary of the “staff restructuring” ordered by Joseph Goebbels in Germany’s theatres, as he capitalised on the situation and attracted a number of backstage luminaries. Gasbarra, who concluded a contract with Rieser, travelled on to Zurich to rejoin many of his former Berlin contemporaries, who had scattered like a herd of sheep after a wolf had broken into their pen. Illustrious names, including Kurt Horwitz, Ernst Ginsberg, Wolfgang Langhoff, Therese Giehse and stage designer Teo Otto thrust Schauspielhaus Zurich from the provincial shadows to the forefront of German-speaking theatre in the space of a few months. The highly talented Leopold Lindtberg (formerly Leopold Lemberger) was the feather in the theatre’s proverbial cap: his productions caused a furore in Rieser’s appealing, but basically apolitical theatre.
Leopold Lindtberg was also a film director. Landammann Stauffacher from 1941 was one of his films.
Leopold Lindtberg was also a film director. Landammann Stauffacher from 1941 was one of his films. Swiss National Museum
Therese Giehse in front of the Chesa Salis in Segl, 1936. She was taken in by Annemarie Schwarzenbach.
Therese Giehse in front of the Chesa Salis in Segl, 1936. She was taken in by Annemarie Schwarzenbach. Wikimedia / Swiss National Library
Six months after Hitler’s accession to power, Rieser decided to stage the play Die Rassen (The Races) by Jewish author Ferdinand Bruckner, which was about the Jewish boycott of 1933. Thomas Mann was invited to the premiere and noted in his diary: “very well received. Big response from the audience to the words: ‘It isn’t German to tell the truth these days’.” The programme for 1934/35 with such classics as the obligatory William Tell by Schiller, the successful Katharina Knie by Carl Zuckmayer, light comedies and bourgeois dramas grew by more than 20 premieres per season. One play stood out: Professor Mamlock – or Professor Mannheim in Zurich, by doctor and dramatist Friedrich Wolf addresses the antisemitism prevalent at the time. The leading character, Jewish doctor Professor Hans Mamlock, a dedicated democrat, is unable to bear the growing repression of the Jews and in his despair, commits suicide. “A drama from the Germany of today,” as the author described it.
Schauspielhaus Zurich became very successful under the influence of its German staff during the 1930s.
Schauspielhaus Zurich became very successful under the influence of its German staff during the 1930s. Baugeschichtliches Archiv
The premiere was on 8 November 1934 in front of a full house. Felix Gasbarra managed the dramatic composition, Leopold Lindtberg was the director and Kurt Horwitz played Doctor Mamlock. It was a memorable evening. The audience identified with the unfortunate doctor. Ferdinand Rieser showed courage in going ahead with the play despite warnings from his pro-Germany friends and gave the green light to a play that called for resistance to racial fanaticism and antisemitism. The Zurich newspaper Neue Zürcher Zeitung (NZZ), mindful of not provoking their neighbours across the border, wrote: “Was it necessary to revisit such gruesome events? […] Wolf’s play brings no benefit or consolation to those for whom it was written – the Jews in Germany – it may even prove detrimental to them. Nor does it tell us anything new, it just stirs up a political hornets’ nest. That was evident at the premiere, where all the vehement outbursts against the new German regime found a resounding echo” and concluded that addressing the “specifically German and thorny issue of the Jewish question” was inappropriate and a “forceful demand to take sides”.
NZZ article from 10 November 1934.
NZZ article from 10 November 1934. e-newspaperarchives
The mainly demonstrative applause of the theatregoers was overshadowed during the following days by the aggressive Swiss National Front and the Swiss faction of the National Socialist German Workers’ Party (NSDAP). There were calls to cleanse Switzerland from the “scourge of foreign immigrants” at a mass rally on 21 November 1934 at the Kursaal conference centre. It was a direct response to the Professor Mannheim performance, attacking the position adopted by the Schauspielhaus. The Swiss National Front mobilised its followers to disrupt the plays or even prevent them from happening, following the lead of the Nazi paramilitaries in Germany. On 27 November 1934, the Basler Nationalzeitung commented: “From the line of armed police outside the building in steel helmets and armed with rifles, it was obvious to the Zurich theatregoers who attended Professor Mannheim on Monday that they weren’t going to just any play. The police vans were parked in front of the theatre, followed shortly after by big prison vans. The demonstrators were unmoved and responded with foul language and anti-police chants. The riot led to 108 arrests including that of Dr Henne, leader of the [Swiss] National Front.”
Rolf Henne, leader of the National Front from 1934 to 1938.
Rolf Henne, leader of the National Front from 1934 to 1938. Keystone / STR
A left-leaning city, Zurich was not cowed by the vehement right-wing protests. Not even a diplomatic intervention by German Ambassador Ernst von Weizsäcker made any difference: “This is a concoction of communist machinations and anti-German agitation orchestrated by the Jew Rieser,” which led to the theatre being placed under observation by the Office of the Attorney General (OAG). Professor Mannheim marked the start of the Zurich theatre’s campaign against fascism and the venue hosted three premieres written by Bertold Brecht between 1941 and1943. Nonetheless, the expatriate contingent had a hard time in Switzerland. Felix Gasbarra recalled, “the immigration police were very distrustful, even dismissive, of all immigrants and did their best to prevent immigrants from staying in the country”. And NZZ feature editor, Eduard Korrodi, never missed an opportunity to denounce “the blatant emergence of political immigrants in our country”.
Professor Mannheim, production still with Wolfgang Langhoff, November 1934.
Professor Mannheim, production still with Wolfgang Langhoff, November 1934. Stadtarchiv Zürich, VII.200.:1.5
Programme flyer for the 1934/35 season.
Programme flyer for the 1934/35 season. Stadtarchiv Zürich
Max Frisch, the great doyen of the theatre, also ruminated on the stance taken by Schauspielhaus Zurich in a letter he wrote in the summer of 1934: “… it is unfortunate to see such casual hostility towards Germany, simply because it is profitable. We are Swiss and now more than ever is the time to show that. We must be neither for nor against Germany.” 28 years later he wrote Andorra, which received worldwide acclaim and premiered in the very same theatre – directed by German-Jewish immigrant Kurt Hirschfeld.

Published on: 04.07.2023

Modified on: 12.01.2024

URL: https://blog.nationalmuseum.ch/en/2023/07/the-theatre-that-stood-up-to-fascism/

More of: 20th / 21st centuryPoliticsWar/battleCultureArticle

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