Gerhard Wolfram (15 June 1922 – 20 January 1991) was a German dramaturge, theatre director and theatre artistic director.

Life

Born in

Naumburg Naumburg () is a town in (and the administrative capital of) the district Burgenlandkreis, in the state of Saxony-Anhalt, Central Germany (cultural area), Central Germany. It has a population of around 33,000. The Naumburg Cathedral became a UNES ...

, Wolfram began training as an actor in Dresden during the Second World War. He was a member of the

Hitler Youth The Hitler Youth (german: Hitlerjugend , often abbreviated as HJ, ) was the youth organisation of the Nazi Party in Germany. Its origins date back to 1922 and it received the name ("Hitler Youth, League of German Worker Youth") in July 1926. ...

and joined the

NSDAP 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 ...

in 1940.

Harry Waibel Harry Weibel (born 20 June 1946) is a German historian. His main topics are neo-Nazism, right-wing extremism and antisemitism in the GDR and racism in Germany from 1945 to the present. Life Born in Lörrach, Waibel comes from a working-class ...

: ''Diener vieler Herren. Former Nazi functionaries in the SBZ/DDR.'' Peter Lang, Frankfurt. 2011, , . He received his first theatre contract as an actor, dramaturge and director in 1945 at the Stadttheater Köthen. From 1946 to 1948, he worked as a consultant, director and dramaturge for Landessender Halle and

Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk (MDR; ''Central German Broadcasting'') is the public broadcaster for the federal states of Thuringia, Saxony and Saxony-Anhalt in Germany. Established in January 1991, its headquarters are in Leipzig, with regional studio ...

. In 1948/49, he was a director and actor at the Volksbühne

Leipzig Leipzig ( , ; Upper Saxon: ) is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. Leipzig's population of 605,407 inhabitants (1.1 million in the larger urban zone) as of 2021 places the city as Germany's eighth most populous, as wel ...

. From 1949 to 1951, Wolfram acted as head of department and literary editor at Berliner Rundfunk. In the he came under criticism from the Soviet occupying power, but

Bertolt Brecht Eugen Berthold Friedrich Brecht (10 February 1898 – 14 August 1956), known professionally as Bertolt Brecht, was a German theatre practitioner, playwright, and poet. Coming of age during the Weimar Republic, he had his first successes as a pl ...

placed himself protectively before him. From 1951 to 1952, he was employed at the DEFA dubbing studio, and from 1952 to 1953 he worked as an editor at the in Berlin. From 1953 to 1965, he was chief dramaturge at Berlin's Maxim Gorki Theater under , later also deputy artistic director. From 1966 to 1972, he held the post of artistic director at the Halle Opera House. At the height of his success in Halle, he was given the directorship of the

Deutsches Theater Berlin The Deutsches Theater is a theater in Berlin, Germany. It was built in 1850 as Friedrich-Wilhelm-Städtisches Theater, after Frederick William IV of Prussia. Located on Schumann Street (Schumannstraße), the Deutsches Theater consists of two ad ...

in 1972. Wolfram was artistic director there until 1982, when he was appointed artistic director of the

Staatsschauspiel Dresden The Staatsschauspiel Dresden (State Playhouse Dresden) is a theatre in Dresden. It is maintained by the Free State of Saxony, hence its name. It consists of a main auditorium, the ' (play house), and a studio theatre, the '. It was created in 19 ...

, where he worked until his retirement in October 1990. Wolfram, a candidate for the Central Committee of the SED from 1971 to 1976, a member of SED district leaderships, the central executive board of the art union and the presidium of the theatre association of the GDR, strove above all to implement socialist contemporary drama. He placed lived socialism at the centre and enforced the performance of difficult contemporary texts such as Hermann Kant's novel ''

Die Aula ''Die Aula'' was a Far-right politics, far-right Austrian magazine. It was started as monthly, but later became a bi-monthly magazine. The magazine existed between 1951 and June 2018. History and profile ''Die Aula'' was established in 1951. It ...

'' and the world premieres of '' Passage'' and '' Ritter der Tafelrunde'' by Christoph Hein. Classics such as ''

Goethe's Faust ''Faust'' is a tragic play in two parts by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, usually known in English as '' Faust, Part One'' and ''Faust, Part Two''. Nearly all of Part One and the majority of Part Two are written in rhymed verse. Although rarely s ...

'' and '' The Robbers'' were radically questioned. He is considered the discoverer of

Alexander Lang Alexander Lang (born 24 September 1941) is a German actor and stage director. Life Early years Lang was born in Erfurt a couple of years after the outbreak of the Second World War. His father was an architect. He attended the Humboldt ("Gra ...

, Kurt Böwe,

Jutta Wachowiak Jutta Wachowiak (born 13 December 1940) is a German actress. She has appeared in more than 60 films and television shows since 1962. She starred in the 1986 film '' So Many Dreams'', which was entered into the 37th Berlin International Film Fes ...

Wolfgang Engel Wolfgang Engel is a videogame designer. He is the founder and CEO of Confetti. Previously he also worked as the Lead Graphics Programmer for Rockstar Games. He is also the founder and editor of ShaderX and GPU books series. Career As a developer, ...

and . Wolfram was married to the actress Sabine Krug, who died in a car accident in 1969. On 3 October 1990, the ensemble of the Staatsschauspiel Dresden appointed him its honorary member. Wolfram died in Berlin at the age of 68. His grave is located on the in Berlin.

Life

References

Further reading