The Waldbühne (''Woodland Stage'' or ''Forest Stage'') is a

theatre Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors or actresses, to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a stage. The perform ...

Olympiapark Berlin Olympiapark Berlin ( German for ''Berlin Olympic Park''), previously the () and the (), is a sports and entertainment complex located in Berlin, Germany. The complex served as the Olympic Park of the 1936 Summer Olympics.

in Berlin, Germany. It was designed by German architect

Werner March Werner Julius March (17 January 1894 – 11 January 1976) was a German architect, son of Otto March (1845-1913), and brother of Walter March, both also well-known German architects. Werner March designed Germany's 1936 Olympic stadi ...

in emulation of a Greek theatre and built between 1934 and 1936 as the Dietrich-Eckart-Freilichtbühne (

Dietrich Eckart Dietrich Eckart (; 23 March 1868 – 26 December 1923) was a German '' völkisch'' poet, playwright, journalist, publicist, and political activist who was one of the founders of the German Workers' Party, the precursor of the Nazi Party. Eckart ...

Open Air Theater), a Nazi

Thingplatz A ''Thingspiel'' (plural ''Thingspiele'') was a kind of multi-disciplinary outdoor theatre performance which enjoyed brief popularity in pre-war Nazi Germany during the 1930s. A Thingplatz or Thingstätte was a specially-constructed outdoor am ...

, and opened in association with the 1936 Summer Olympics. Since World War II it has been used for a variety of events, including

boxing Boxing (also known as "Western boxing" or "pugilism") is a combat sport in which two people, usually wearing protective gloves and other protective equipment such as hand wraps and mouthguards, throw punches at each other for a predetermine ...

matches, film showings and classical and

rock concert A rock concert is a performance of rock music. During the 1950s, several American musical groups experimented with new musical forms that fused country music, blues, and swing genre to produce the earliest examples of "rock and roll." The coin ...

s. It seats more than 22,000 people. The venue is located off Friedrich-Friesen-Allee just northeast of Glockenturmstraße.

Nazi era

Bundesarchiv B 145 Bild-P019137, Berlin, Reichssportfeld, Dietrich Eckart-Freilichtbühne

The theatre was built as part of the Olympic complex on the request of Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels. March made use of a natural

ravine A ravine is a landform that is narrower than a canyon and is often the product of streambank erosion.Paul Ortwin Rave and Hinnerk Scheper, eds., rev. Irmgard Wirth, ''Die Bauwerke und Kunstdenkmäler von Berlin: Stadt und Bezirk Charlottenburg'', Volume 1 ''Text'', Berlin: Mann, 1961,
p. 231
Glen Gadberry, "The Thingspiel and Das Frankenberger Wurfelspiel", ''The Drama Review'' 24.1, March 1980, pp. 103–14
p. 106
With the intent of showing the kinship between ancient Greek and Germanic culture, the entrance is flanked by two pairs of reliefs by

Adolf Wamper Adolf Wamper (23 June 1901 – 22 May 1977) was a German sculptor. Most of his works were figural, with some in an abstract realist style. During the 1930s he produced monumental sculptures for the Nazi régime; after World War II he taught at ...

: on the left, representing the "Fatherland", two male nudes, one with a sword, the other with a spear, a pairing that was to be used more famously by Arno Breker; and on the right, representing artistic celebration, two female nudes, one with a laurel wreath, the other with a lyre. The arena, the

Maifeld The Maifeld is a landscape (a natural region sub-unit) of the Middle Rhine Basin on its western perimeter with the Eifel mountains, southwest of the city of Koblenz. It is known for its gently rolling hills. Location The plain, which lies a ...

field, and the Olympic stadium itself were designed to be used together for large events, and March also provided an indoor arena in the nearby ''Haus des deutschen Sports'' (House of German Sports) that has been regarded as a smaller equivalent of the Dietrich Eckart theatre.Rainer Stommer, ''Die inszenierte Volksgemeinschaft: die "Thing-Bewegung" im Dritten Reich'', Marburg: Jonas, 1985, , p. 207 The theatre opened on 2 August 1936, the day after the opening of the games, with the première of

Eberhard Wolfgang Möller Eberhard Wolfgang Möller (6 January 1906 – 1 January 1972) was a German dramatist and poet. Biography Möller was born on 6 January 1906 in Berlin. His first two published works appeared in 1929, the First World War drama ''Douaumont'', and ''K ...

's ''

Frankenburger Würfelspiel The ''Frankenburger Würfelspiel'' ( Frankenburg Dice Game) is a Thingspiel (a Nazi-era multi-disciplinary open-air drama) by Eberhard Wolfgang Möller based on the historical event of the same name in Frankenburg am Hausruck, Upper Austria. I ...

''. 20,000 people were in attendance, and the

Reich Labour Service The Reich Labour Service (''Reichsarbeitsdienst''; RAD) was a major organisation established in Nazi Germany as an agency to help mitigate the effects of unemployment on the German economy, militarise the workforce and indoctrinate it with Naz ...

supplied 1,200 extras. It was also used for some events of the games, in particular boxing matches."Berliner Waldbühne"

TV Berlin Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertising, ...

, 30 May 2011 During the Olympics and later, dance and choral movement productions took place there, in addition to operas: during the Olympics and again in 1937 for the celebration of the 700th anniversary of the founding of Berlin, Handel's ''

Hercules Hercules (, ) is the Roman equivalent of the Greek divine hero Heracles, son of Jupiter and the mortal Alcmena. In classical mythology, Hercules is famous for his strength and for his numerous far-ranging adventures. The Romans adapted the ...

''; also in 1937,

Gluck Christoph Willibald (Ritter von) Gluck (; 2 July 1714 – 15 November 1787) was a composer of Italian and French opera in the early classical period. Born in the Upper Palatinate and raised in Bohemia, both part of the Holy Roman Empire, he g ...

's ''

Orfeo Orfeo Classic Schallplatten und Musikfilm GmbH of Munich was a German independent classical record label founded in 1979 by Axel Mehrle and launched in 1980. It has been owned by Naxos since 2015. History The Orfeo music label was registered ...

''; and in 1939, a production of

Wagner Wilhelm Richard Wagner ( ; ; 22 May 181313 February 1883) was a German composer, theatre director, polemicist, and conductor who is chiefly known for his operas (or, as some of his mature works were later known, "music dramas"). Unlike most op ...

's ''

Rienzi ' (''Rienzi, the last of the tribunes''; WWV 49) is an early opera by Richard Wagner in five acts, with the libretto written by the composer after Edward Bulwer-Lytton's novel of the same name (1835). The title is commonly shortened to ''Rie ...

'' paid for and co-designed by

Hitler Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Nazi Germany, Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his death in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the le ...

in association with

Benno von Arent Benno von Arent (19 July 1898 – 14 October 1956) was a German film director, artist, architect, designer and a member of the Nazi Party and SS. Early life Arent was born Benno Georg Eduard Wilhelm Joachim von Arent in Görlitz on 19 July 1 ...

Post-war

Westend Am Glockenturm Eingang Waldbühne-001

After World War II, the Olympic grounds were within the British occupation sector of Berlin. They were released for public use beginning in 1948,Waldbühne
Sehenswürdigkeiten, Berlin.de and the amphitheatre was used for film showings, including for the

Berlinale The Berlin International Film Festival (german: Internationale Filmfestspiele Berlin), usually called the Berlinale (), is a major international film festival held annually in Berlin, Germany. Founded in 1951 and originally run in June, the festi ...

,"Die Waldbühne: Amphitheater der Stars"
''

Der Tagesspiegel ''Der Tagesspiegel'' (meaning ''The Daily Mirror'') is a German daily newspaper. It has regional correspondent offices in Washington D.C. and Potsdam. It is the only major newspaper in the capital to have increased its circulation, now 148,000, ...

'', 26 March 2011 and beginning in 1960 for boxing matches. Use for concerts began in the 1960s, but when

The Rolling Stones The Rolling Stones are an English Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1962. Active for six decades, they are one of the most popular and enduring bands of the album era, rock era. In the early 1960s, the Rolling Stones pioneered the g ...

performed there on 15 September 1965, the theatre was severely damaged. Fans stormed the stage, and after the band left after a set of only 20 to 25 minutes, fought police, who attempted to control them with rubber truncheons and fire hoses, and destroyed the seating, fire hydrants and other furnishings. 270,000 DM in damage was done, in a riot that fulfilled the dire prophecies of some Berlin newspapers about rock concerts and was the first inter-generational battle of the 1960s in Germany. A reporter from '' Bild'' wrote of the concert, "I know Hell." The arena had to be completely renovated and was then little used until 1978. Jimi Hendrix second-to-last appearance in "Berlin Super Concert70" was planned at the Waldbühne on 4 September 1970. Due to bad weather conditions, it was relocated to the Deutschlandhalle. Alongside were also

Ten Years After Ten Years After are a British rock group, most popular in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Between 1968 and 1973, the band had eight consecutive Top 40 albums on the UK Albums Chart. In addition, they had twelve albums enter the US ''Billboar ...

and

Procol Harum Procol Harum () were an English rock band formed in Southend-on-Sea, Essex in 1967. Their best-known recording is the 1967 hit single " A Whiter Shade of Pale", one of the few singles to have sold over 10 million copies. Although noted for ...

. In the reality series ''

Pawn Stars ''Pawn Stars'' is an American reality television series shown on History and produced by Leftfield Pictures. The series is filmed in Las Vegas, Nevada, where it chronicles the daily activities at the World Famous Gold & Silver Pawn Shop, a 24 ...

'', Rick Harrison bought a rare poster for this concert for $4,000 (episode #20 of season 5, aired 30 January 2012). Following a concert by

Bob Marley Robert Nesta Marley (6 February 1945 – 11 May 1981; baptised in 1980 as Berhane Selassie) was a Jamaican singer, musician, and songwriter. Considered one of the pioneers of reggae, his musical career was marked by fusing elements o ...

in 1980, it became well known as a rock venue, and has been regularly used for that purpose since. Some other artists who have appeared there include Bruce Springsteen 23 000 people came to See Bruce Springsteen,

Queen Queen or QUEEN may refer to: Monarchy * Queen regnant, a female monarch of a Kingdom ** List of queens regnant * Queen consort, the wife of a reigning king * Queen dowager, the widow of a king * Queen mother, a queen dowager who is the mother ...

, U2,

David Bowie David Robert Jones (8 January 194710 January 2016), known professionally as David Bowie ( ), was an English singer-songwriter and actor. A leading figure in the music industry, he is regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the ...

, Rod Stewart,

Iron Maiden Iron Maiden are an English heavy metal band formed in Leyton, East London, in 1975 by bassist and primary songwriter Steve Harris. While fluid in the early years of the band, the lineup for most of the band's history has consisted of Harri ...

, AC/DC, Berlin's

Rammstein Rammstein (, "ramming stone") is a German Neue Deutsche Härte band formed in Berlin in 1994. The band's lineup—consisting of lead vocalist Till Lindemann, lead guitarist Richard Kruspe, rhythm guitarist Paul Landers, bassist Oliver Riedel, ...

in 2016, Germany's Alphaville in 1986, Bon Jovi, Metallica,

Van Halen Van Halen ( ) was an American rock band formed in Pasadena, California, in 1972. Credited with "restoring hard rock to the forefront of the music scene", Van Halen was known for its energetic live shows and for the virtuosity of its lead gu ...

Black Sabbath Black Sabbath were an English rock music, rock band formed in Birmingham in 1968 by guitarist Tony Iommi, drummer Bill Ward (musician), Bill Ward, bassist Geezer Butler and vocalist Ozzy Osbourne. They are often cited as pioneers of heavy met ...

, Pearl Jam,

Kings of Leon Kings of Leon is an American rock band formed in Nashville, Tennessee, in 1999. The band is composed of brothers Caleb, Nathan and Jared Followill, and their cousin Matthew Followill. The band's early music was a blend of Southern rock and ga ...

, Radiohead,

Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds are an Australian rock band formed in 1983 by vocalist Nick Cave, multi-instrumentalist Mick Harvey and guitarist-vocalist Blixa Bargeld. The band has featured international personnel throughout its career and pr ...

Prince A prince is a male ruler (ranked below a king, grand prince, and grand duke) or a male member of a monarch's or former monarch's family. ''Prince'' is also a title of nobility (often highest), often hereditary, in some European states. T ...

, Depeche Mode,

Whitney Houston Whitney Elizabeth Houston (August 9, 1963 – February 11, 2012) was an American singer and actress. Nicknamed " The Voice", she is one of the bestselling music artists of all time, with sales of over 200 million records worldwide. Houston i ...

and

Barbra Streisand Barbara Joan "Barbra" Streisand (; born April 24, 1942) is an American singer, actress and director. With a career spanning over six decades, she has achieved success in multiple fields of entertainment, and is among the few performers awar ...

. Phil Collins, Performed at the Waldbühne on 14–15 July 1990, during his Seriously, Live! World Tour, even though East Germany was free at last Phil Collins did not rely on getting enough payment there ( he might have had to lower his fee or play for more people to get the same payment. The

Berlin Philharmonic The Berlin Philharmonic (german: Berliner Philharmoniker, links=no, italic=no) is a German orchestra based in Berlin. It is one of the most popular, acclaimed and well-respected orchestras in the world. History The Berlin Philharmonic was fo ...

holds its outdoor concert there every summer, featuring noted guest artists. This concert has been broadcast on live TV since 1992. The facility seats more than 22,000, in three ranks that rise ; the last row of seats, the 88th, is also from the centre of the orchestra pit, so originally 40 microphones were installed on-stage, feeding 10 coordinated groups of loudspeakers. In 1982, a canopy costing 200,000

€ The euro sign () is the currency sign used for the euro, the official currency of the eurozone and unilaterally adopted by Kosovo and Montenegro. The design was presented to the public by the European Commission on 12 December 1996. It consists ...

was erected over the stage, providing both a visual and an acoustic barrier. Concert promoter Peter Schwenkow leased it from 1981 until the end of 2008, when the lease was transferred to

CTS Eventim CTS Eventim is a German company in the leisure-events market, with ticketing and live entertainment, headquartered in Bremen. It is one of the 50 companies comprising the MDAX index, and one of the 40th to 90th largest companies in Germany by mar ...

. Before

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was identified in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. The disease quickly ...

, American-Armenian rock and roll band

System of a Down System of a Down (also known as SoaD or simply System) is an Armenian-American heavy metal band formed in Glendale, California, in 1994. Since 1997, the band has consisted of Serj Tankian (lead vocals, keyboards); Daron Malakian (guitar, voc ...

was set to perform at the arena on 8 June 2020, American singer-songwriter

Taylor Swift Taylor Alison Swift (born December 13, 1989) is an American singer-songwriter. Her discography spans multiple genres, and her vivid songwriting—often inspired by her personal life—has received critical praise and wide media coverage. Bor ...

was set to perform on 24 June 2020 as part of Lover Fest and Canadian singer

Celine Dion Céline Marie Claudette Dion ( ; born 30 March 1968) is a Canadian singer. Noted for her powerful and technically skilled vocals, Dion is the best-selling Canadian recording artist, and the best-selling French-language artist of all time. Her ...

was due to return to the arena after 11 years with the

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on 22 July 2020. However, Dion's concert was rescheduled and relocated to Mercedes-Benz Arena.

References

External links

* Geoff Walden
Dietrich-Eckart-Bühne
Third Reich in Ruins: then and now photographs * Gunnar Schupelius
"The Secret Behind the Stage. Berlin's Enchanting Waldbühne Amphitheater"
''The Atlantic Times'', May 2006. * Pascale Hugues, tr. Elisabeth Thielicke

Meinung, ''

'', 26 August 2011 {{DEFAULTSORT:Waldbuhne Amphitheaters in Germany Music venues in Germany Buildings and structures in Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf Music in Berlin Thingplatz Venues of the 1936 Summer Olympics Olympic gymnastics venues

Nazi era

Post-war

See also

References

External links