Dieter Hildebrandt (23 May 1927 – 20 November 2013) was a German

Kabarett Kabarett (; from French ''cabaret'' = tavern) is satirical revue, a form of cabaret which developed in France by Rodolphe Salis in 1881 as the ''cabaret artistique''. It was named Le Chat Noir and was centered on political events and satire. It ...

artist.

Biography

Hildebrandt was born in Bunzlau,

Lower Silesia Lower Silesia ( pl, Dolny Śląsk; cz, Dolní Slezsko; german: Niederschlesien; szl, Dolny Ślōnsk; hsb, Delnja Šleska; dsb, Dolna Šlazyńska; Silesian German: ''Niederschläsing''; la, Silesia Inferior) is the northwestern part of the ...

Weimar Germany The Weimar Republic (german: link=no, Weimarer Republik ), officially named the German Reich, was the government of Germany from 1918 to 1933, during which it was a Constitutional republic, constitutional federal republic for the first time in ...

(now Boleslawiec,

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...

) where he attended school. In

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

he became a

Flakhelfer A ''Luftwaffenhelfer'', also commonly known as a ''Flakhelfer'', was any member of the auxiliary staff of the German ''Luftwaffe'' during World War II. Such terms often implied students conscripted as child soldiers. Establishment ''Luftwaf ...

of the Luftwaffe but after four months was conscripted to the German Wehrmacht, in the same role. In June 2007, a year after the

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 ...

Waffen-SS revelations, documents were released which showed that some prominent German

intellectual An intellectual is a person who engages in critical thinking, research, and reflection about the reality of society, and who proposes solutions for the normative problems of society. Coming from the world of culture, either as a creator or a ...

s like

Siegfried Lenz Siegfried Lenz (; 17 March 19267 October 2014) was a German writer of novels, short stories and essays, as well as dramas for radio and the theatre. In 2000 he received the Goethe Prize on the 250th Anniversary of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's bi ...

Martin Walser Martin Walser (; born 24 March 1927) is a German writer. Life Walser was born in Wasserburg am Bodensee, on Lake Constance. His parents were coal merchants, and they also kept an inn next to the train station in Wasserburg. He described the e ...

and Dieter Hildebrandt had been members of 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 ...

. For all three the documents showed their membership at a young age, during a late stage of the fascist regime in Germany – Hildebrandt's application was dated 19 February 1944 (when Hildebrandt was still 16) and he was admitted on 20 April 1944,

Hitler Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Germany from 1933 until his death in 1945. He rose to power as the leader of the Nazi Party, becoming the chancellor in 1933 and then ...

's 55th birthday.

Die Welt ''Die Welt'' ("The World") is a German national daily newspaper, published as a broadsheet by Axel Springer SE. ''Die Welt'' is the flagship newspaper of the Axel Springer publishing group. Its leading competitors are the ''Frankfurter Allg ...

Dieter Hildebrandt soll in NSDAP gewesen sein
30. Juni 2007 Both Lenz and Hildebrandt said they were unaware of having written an application, and unaware that they became a member of the Nazi Party in 1944. Historians like Norbert Frei and

Götz Aly Götz Haydar Aly (; born 3 May 1947) is a German journalist, historian and political scientist. Life and career Aly was born in Heidelberg, Baden-Württemberg. He is a patrilineal descendant of a Mixed Turkish-Kurdish convert to Christianity name ...

said in that context that some local Nazi party leaders might have written mass applications to the party without the knowledge of the supposed applicants.FAZ
All diese Karteikarten der NSDAP
/ref> On 8 May 1945, Hildebrandt was taken captive by the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...

, but was released a few months later. In the years after the war, Hildebrandt finished his schooling and moved to

Windischeschenbach Windischeschenbach is a town in the district of Neustadt an der Waldnaab, in Bavaria, Germany. It is situated north of Weiden in der Oberpfalz. The German Continental Deep Drilling Programme, which reached a super-deep maximum depth of , is lo ...

Bavaria Bavaria ( ; ), officially the Free State of Bavaria (german: Freistaat Bayern, link=no ), is a state in the south-east of Germany. With an area of , Bavaria is the largest German state by land area, comprising roughly a fifth of the total lan ...

. In 1948 he started studying theatre sciences in

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...

. During that time he founded a student-performed

cabaret Cabaret is a form of theatrical entertainment featuring music, song, dance, recitation, or drama. The performance venue might be a pub, a casino, a hotel, a restaurant, or a nightclub with a stage for performances. The audience, often dining or d ...

show, "Die Namenlosen", in

Schwabing Schwabing is a borough in the northern part of Munich, the capital of the German state of Bavaria. It is part of the city borough 4 (Schwabing-West) and the city borough 12 (Schwabing-Freimann). The population of Schwabing is estimated about 100 ...

. After finishing his studies Hildebrandt worked with

Sammy Drechsel Sammy Drechsel (25 April 1925, in Berlin – 19 January 1986, in Munich), born Karl-Heinz Kamke, was a German political comedian, journalist and sports reporter. In 1956, together with Dieter Hildebrandt, he founded the Münchner Lach- und Schie� ...

to found and develop the

Münchner Lach- und Schießgesellschaft The Münchner Lach- und Schießgesellschaft (; Munich laughing and shooting company) is a German political ''kabarett'' (satirical revue) that runs at its own theatre in Schwabing, Munich. It was founded in 1956 by journalist Sammy Drechsel and ...

, a successful

kabarett Kabarett (; from French ''cabaret'' = tavern) is satirical revue, a form of cabaret which developed in France by Rodolphe Salis in 1881 as the ''cabaret artistique''. It was named Le Chat Noir and was centered on political events and satire. It ...

where he worked alongside cabaret artists such as

Klaus Havenstein Klaus Havenstein (7 April 1922 in Wittenberge, Germany – 19 March 1998 in Munich), was a German actor, cabaret artist, dubbing artist and television presenter. Biography Klaus Havenstein grew up in Hamburg, where he started an apprenticeship a ...

and Bruno Jonas. He stopped working with Drechsel in 1972, to work for radio and TV stations. From 1973 until 1979 Hildebrandt was the presenter and author of the cabaret show "

Notizen aus der Provinz ''Notizen aus der Provinz'' ( German for "news from the province") was a political cabaret program hosted by Dieter Hildebrandt and broadcast by ZDF from 1973 to 1979. After its cancellation, it would be the last such program on the channel until ...

" (Notes From The Province), which was broadcast by

ZDF ZDF (, short for Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen; ; "Second German Television") is a German public-service television broadcaster based in Mainz, Rhineland-Palatinate. It is run as an independent nonprofit institution, which was founded by all fe ...

. In 1980 his show "

Scheibenwischer (German for ''windshield wipers'') was the name of a long-running German Kabarett show. It was founded in 1980 by Dieter Hildebrandt and produced by BR / RBB to be broadcast on Das Erste. The show ended in 2008 after 28 years on the air. Con ...

" (Windscreen Wiper) first aired on the SFB, and remained on the air until 2003. In 1974 Hildebrandt, together with

Werner Schneyder Werner Schneyder (25 January 1937 – 2 March 2019) was an Austrian kabarett performer, journalist, writer, actor, stage director, television presenter and sports reporter. He performed political kabarett with Dieter Hildebrandt from 1974 to 19 ...

, started the "Autorenkabarett". This project lasted until 1982. Hildebrandt was married to Irene Mendler from 1956 until her death in 1985. They had two daughters, Ursula and Jutta. He married German

actress An actor or actress is a person who portrays a Character (arts), character in a performance. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. The analogous Greek ...

Renate Küster in 1992. Hildebrandt died in Munich on 20 November 2013. Just a few days earlier it had become public that he had cancer, something Hildebrandt himself apparently had known since the summer.

Awards

Grimme-Preis The Grimme-Preis ("Grimme Award"; prior to 2011: Adolf-Grimme-Preis) is one of the most prestigious German television awards. It is named after the first general director of Nordwestdeutscher Rundfunk, Adolf Grimme.Schiller Prize of the City of Mannheim The Schiller Prize of the City of Mannheim has been awarded by the City of Mannheim since 1954. It was donated on the occasion of the 175th anniversary of the National Theatre. The prize is awarded every two years and endowed with €20,000. It i ...

*Högner-award *Knoeringen-award *

Kassel Literary Prize The Kassel Literary Prize for Grotesque Humor (''Kasseler Literaturpreis für grotesken Humor''), established 1985, is an annual prize awarded by the city of Kassel and the Brückner-Kühner foundation in recognition of "grotesque and comic work" ...

Selected filmography

Actor * ''

Stage Fright Stage fright or performance anxiety is the anxiety, fear, or persistent phobia which may be aroused in an individual by the requirement to perform in front of an audience, real or imagined, whether actually or potentially (for example, when perf ...

'' (1960) * ' (1964, TV film, based on the story ''"

Murke's Collected Silences "Murke's Collected Silences" (german: Doktor Murkes gesammeltes Schweigen) is a short story by German writer Heinrich Böll, first published in the ''Frankfurter Hefte'' in 1955 and in ''Doktor Murkes gesammeltes Schweigen und andere Satiren'' in 1 ...

"'') … Dr. Murke * ' (1966) … Silvestre * '' Zwei himmlische Töchter'' (1978, TV series) … Air traffic controller * ' (1983) … Dr. Berzelmeier * ''

Kir Royal The Kir royal is a French cocktail, a variation on the Kir. It consists of crème de cassis topped with champagne Champagne (, ) is a sparkling wine originated and produced in the Champagne wine region of France under the rules of the ...

'' (1986, TV miniseries) … Herbie Fried * ' (1988) … Dr. Friedhelm Eigenbrodt * ' (1992) … Dr. von Wuest * ' (2012) … Herbie Fried Screenwriter * ' (1958) (US version: '' The Bellboy and the Playgirls'', 1962) * '' Mein Mann, das Wirtschaftswunder'' (1961) * ' (1961)

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Hildebrandt, Dieter 1927 births 2013 deaths People from Bolesławiec People from the Province of Lower Silesia German Army personnel of World War II German television personalities German male comedians German satirists German cabaret performers German-language film directors Kabarettists Deaths from cancer in Germany ARD (broadcaster) people ZDF people Luftwaffenhelfer German prisoners of war in World War II held by the United States Nazi Party members