Boleslaw Stanislaus Barlog (28 March 1906 – 17 March 1999) was a German stage, film, and opera director primarily known for his work in reviving the theatrical life of Berlin after World War II. From 1951 until 1972 he served as the

Intendant An intendant (; pt, intendente ; es, intendente ) was, and sometimes still is, a public official, especially in France, Spain, Portugal, and Latin America. The intendancy system was a centralizing administrative system developed in France. In ...

of the , the municipal theatre company of

West Berlin West Berlin (german: Berlin (West) or , ) was a political enclave which comprised the western part of Berlin during the years of the Cold War. Although West Berlin was de jure not part of West Germany, lacked any sovereignty, and was under mi ...

that at its height employed over 80 actors and operated three theatrical venues—

Schiller Theater The Schiller Theater is a theatre building in Berlin, Germany. It is located in the central Charlottenburg district at Bismarckstraße 110, near Ernst-Reuter-Platz. Opened in 1907, the building served as a second venue for the Prussian State ...

, Schiller Theater Werkstatt, and Schlosspark Theater.Varney, Denise (ed.) (2008)
''Theatre in the Berlin Republic: German Drama Since Reunification''
pp. 68-71. Peter Lang. ''

Der Spiegel ''Der Spiegel'' (, lit. ''"The Mirror"'') is a German weekly news magazine published in Hamburg. With a weekly circulation of 695,100 copies, it was the largest such publication in Europe in 2011. It was founded in 1947 by John Seymour Chaloner ...

'' (22 March 1999)
"Gestorben: Boleslaw Barlog
Retrieved 9 September 2013 .

Life and career

Barlog was born in Breslau (then a city in the

German Empire The German Empire (),Herbert Tuttle wrote in September 1881 that the term "Reich" does not literally connote an empire as has been commonly assumed by English-speaking people. The term literally denotes an empire – particularly a hereditary ...

and now the Polish city of

Wrocław Wrocław (; german: Breslau, or . ; Silesian German: ''Brassel'') is a city in southwestern Poland and the largest city in the historical region of Silesia. It lies on the banks of the River Oder in the Silesian Lowlands of Central Europe, rou ...

). He was the son of a lawyer who later relocated the family to Berlin where Barlog received his secondary school education and initially worked as bookseller. He then began working as an assistant director to

Karlheinz Martin Karlheinz Martin (May 6, 1886 – January 13, 1948) was a German stage and film director, best known for his expressionist productions. After enjoying success with experimental productions in Frankfurt am Main and Hamburg, Martin went to Berlin, ...

and

Heinz Hilpert Heinz Hilpert (1 March 1890 – 25 November 1967) was a German actor, screenwriter and film director. He was head of the Deutsches Theater during the Third Reich. Selected filmography Actor * '' Nameless Heroes'' (1925) * '' Prinz Louis Ferdi ...

at the

Volksbühne The Volksbühne ("People's Theatre") is a theater in Berlin. Located in Berlin's city center Mitte on Rosa-Luxemburg-Platz (Rosa Luxemburg Square) in what was the GDR's capital. It has been called Berlin's most iconic theatre. About The Vol ...

theatre in Berlin. He lost his job there in 1933 after the

Nazi Party The Nazi Party, officially the National Socialist German Workers' Party (german: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei or NSDAP), was a far-right politics, far-right political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945 that crea ...

took control of Germany, and worked in casual jobs for several years before obtaining a position as an assistant director for the German film company

Universum Film AG UFA GmbH, shortened to UFA (), is a film and television production company that unites all production activities of the media conglomerate Bertelsmann in Germany. Its name derives from Universum-Film Aktiengesellschaft (normally abbreviated as ...

. By the 1940s, he was directing his own films at Universum and at

Terra Film Terra Film was a Berlin-based film production company. Founded in 1919, it became one of Germany's largest film production companies in the 1930s under the Nazi regime. Corporate history The company was founded at end of 1919, initially as a li ...

Deutsche Oper Berlin The Deutsche Oper Berlin is a German opera company located in the Charlottenburg district of Berlin. The resident building is the country's second largest opera house (after Munich's) and also home to the Berlin State Ballet. Since 2004, the De ...

(2013)
"Boleslaw Barlog"
Retrieved 9 September 2013 . Fotothek df pk 0000067 009 Szenenbilder

After World War II ended, Barlog returned to stage direction and worked to re-build the once-vibrant theatrical life of Berlin, actively lobbying, along with many other artists, to minimize the impact of

Cold War The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because the ...

tensions on the theatres, opera houses, and concert halls in the now-divided city. Most of Berlin's main theatres had been badly damaged or destroyed during the war and many of the first post-war performances were given in old cinemas or in the small, relatively unscathed, Schlosspark Theater on the outskirts of

. Barlog became the manager of the Schlosspark Theatre in 1945 and re-opened it with his production of

Curt Goetz Curt Goetz (; 17 November 1888 – 12 September 1960), born Kurt Walter Götz, was a Swiss German writer, actor and film director. He was regarded as one of the most brilliant German comedy writers of his time. With his wife Valérie von Marten ...

's ''Hokuspokus''. Other plays which he directed there in the immediate post-war period were

Romain Rolland Romain Rolland (; 29 January 1866 – 30 December 1944) was a French dramatist, novelist, essayist, art historian and Mysticism, mystic who was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1915 "as a tribute to the lofty idealism of his literary pro ...

's ''Le Jeu de l'amour et de la mort'' (1945), Shakespeare's ''

As You Like It ''As You Like It'' is a pastoral comedy by William Shakespeare believed to have been written in 1599 and first published in the First Folio in 1623. The play's first performance is uncertain, though a performance at Wilton House in 1603 has b ...

'' (1946) and ''

The Taming of the Shrew ''The Taming of the Shrew'' is a comedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1590 and 1592. The play begins with a framing device, often referred to as the induction, in which a mischievous nobleman tricks a drunken ...

'' (1947), Holm and Abbott's ''

Three Men on a Horse ''Three Men on a Horse'' is a three-act farce co-authored by John Cecil Holm and George Abbott. The comedy focuses on a man who discovers he has a talent for choosing the winning horse in a race as long as he never places a bet himself. Originally ...

'' (1946), Gogol's ''

Marriage Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognized union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children, and between ...

'' (1947) and Zuckmayer's ''

Des Teufels General ''The Devil's General'' (german: Des Teufels General) is a 1955 black and white West German film based on the play of the same title by Carl Zuckmayer. The film features Curd Jürgens as General Harras, Marianne Koch, Viktor de Kowa, Karl John, ...

'' (1948). In 1950 Barlog received the

Berliner Kunstpreis The ''Berliner Kunstpreis'' (Berlin Art Prize), officially Großer Berliner Kunstpreis, is a prize for the arts by the City of Berlin. It was first awarded in 1948 in several fields of art. Since 1971, it has been awarded by the Academy of Arts ( ...

(Berlin Arts Prize), and the following year he became the (general director) of the West Berlin municipal theatre company, , whose venues included the Schlosspark Theater and the newly re-built

. During Barlog's 21-year tenure as its Generalintendant, the company mounted over 100 productions, including the German premieres of Beckett's '' Waiting for Godot'' and

Conor Cruise O'Brien Donal Conor David Dermot Donat Cruise O'Brien (3 November 1917 – 18 December 2008), often nicknamed "The Cruiser", was an Irish diplomat, politician, writer, historian and academic, who served as Minister for Posts and Telegraphs from 1973 ...

's ''Murderous Angels'' and the world premieres of

Günter Grass Günter Wilhelm Grass (born Graß; ; 16 October 1927 – 13 April 2015) was a German novelist, poet, playwright, illustrator, graphic artist, sculptor, and recipient of the 1999 Nobel Prize in Literature. He was born in the Free City of Da ...

's ''Die Plebejer proben den Aufstand'' and Edward Albee's ''

The Zoo Story ''The Zoo Story'' is a one-act play by American playwright Edward Albee. His first play, it was written in 1958 and completed in just three weeks. The play explores themes of isolation, loneliness, miscommunication as anathematization, social di ...

''. However, according to theatre scholar Michael Patterson, the final decade of his leadership was marked by an increasingly authoritarian and conservative stance and unadventurous repertoire which led to declining audiences.Patterson, Michael (1981)
''Peter Stein: Germany's Leading Theatre Director''
p. 39. Cambridge University Press. In a 1969 interview in ''Der Abend'', Barlog attributed the audience decline at his theatres to the effect of television, hostile critics, and what he termed "spiritual smugness", remarking:

It will take care of itself in time. When people are worse off again, they will seek a spiritual experience, and their love for the church and the theatre will awake once more.

In 1972 Barlog retired as Generalintendant and was awarded the

Grand Cross of the Order of Merit Grand may refer to: People with the name * Grand (surname) * Grand L. Bush (born 1955), American actor * Grand Mixer DXT, American turntablist * Grand Puba (born 1966), American rapper Places * Grand, Oklahoma * Grand, Vosges, village and co ...

by the Federal Republic of Germany. The 's fortunes continued to decline, and it was eventually dissolved in 1993. After his retirement as a theatre manager, he continued working throughout the 1970s as a stage and opera director in Berlin and other German cities as well as in Vienna and

Salzburg Salzburg (, ; literally "Salt-Castle"; bar, Soizbuag, label=Bavarian language, Austro-Bavarian) is the List of cities and towns in Austria, fourth-largest city in Austria. In 2020, it had a population of 156,872. The town is on the site of the ...

. His original 1969 production of ''

Tosca ''Tosca'' is an opera in three acts by Giacomo Puccini to an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa. It premiered at the Teatro dell'Opera di Roma, Teatro Costanzi in Rome on 14 January 1900. The work, based on Victorien Sardou's 1 ...

'' for the

was still in that company's repertoire in 2013, his 1972 production of ''

Salome Salome (; he, שְלוֹמִית, Shlomit, related to , "peace"; el, Σαλώμη), also known as Salome III, was a Jewish princess, the daughter of Herod II, son of Herod the Great, and princess Herodias, granddaughter of Herod the Great, an ...

'' is still running at

Vienna State Opera The Vienna State Opera (, ) is an opera house and opera company based in Vienna, Austria. The 1,709-seat Renaissance Revival venue was the first major building on the Vienna Ring Road. It was built from 1861 to 1869 following plans by August S ...

. Barlog's autobiography, ''Theater lebenslänglich'', was published in 1981. Barlog died in Berlin in 1999 shortly before his 93rd birthday survived by his wife Herta (''née'' Schuster), whom he had married in 1939. Both are buried in Berlin's

Waldfriedhof Zehlendorf Waldfriedhof Zehlendorf (Zehlendorf forest cemetery) is a cemetery located in Berlin's Nikolassee district. The cemetery occupies an area of 376,975 m2. An additional Italian war cemetery was created there in 1953. A number of notable people of Ber ...

in a Grave of Honour.City of Berlin
"Abfrage der Ehrengrabstätten"
(List of Graves of Honour). Retrieved 11 September 2013 .

Filmography

*'' Young Hearts'' (1944) *''

The Green Salon ''The Green Salon'' (german: Der grüne Salon) is a 1944 German drama film directed by Boleslaw Barlog and starring Paul Klinger, Margarete Haagen and Dorothea Wieck. Partial cast * as Wilma *Walter Bluhm as Oswin, handyman *Hans Brausewetter as ...

'' (1944) *''

Where the Trains Go ''Where the Trains Go'' (german: Wohin die Züge fahren) is a 1949 German drama film directed by Boleslaw Barlog and starring Heidemarie Hatheyer, Carl Raddatz and Gunnar Möller.Davidson & Hake p. 208 The film's sets were designed by the art di ...

'' (1949)

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Barlog, Boleslaw German theatre directors Film directors from Berlin German opera directors German theatre managers and producers Film people from Wrocław 1906 births 1999 deaths Knights Commander of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany Members of the Academy of Arts, Berlin Burials at the Waldfriedhof Zehlendorf