Max Burghardt (November 27, 1893 – January 22, 1977) was a German actor, director, and president of the Cultural Association of the GDR.
Life
Burghardt was born in Wickendorf, Schwerin, where his maternal grandfather owned a small estate near Lake Schwerin. He lived there for about three to four years and then moved with his family to Berlin-Moabit. One of his school friends was Gustav von Wangenheim, who later also became known as an actor. Burghardt later stated that his first visit to the theater, to see the Friedrich Schiller play The Robbers at the Schiller Theater in Berlin, inspired him to become an actor.[1]
Following his parents' divorce in 1910, Burghardt moved to Rostock. In Rostock he worked initially for an insurance company and later for a bookseller.
Burghardt studied at the Maria Moissi Acting School in Berlin from 1913 to 1914. At the acting school he adopted aspects of the acting style of Alexander Moissi.[2]
At the beginning of the First World War, Burghardt volunteered for the Imperial German Navy in Kiel, but was rejected. Later, he volunteered for the 17th Dragoon Regiment in Ludwigslust and joined the cavalry.[2] After basic training he was sent to the Eastern Front and fought on the Daugava. He was taken to a hospital with a knee injury and later transferred back to Ludwigslust. In the late autumn of 1917, he was transferred to the infantry, where he worked as a telephone operator at regimental headquarters and returned to the Eastern Front.
After the conclusion of the war, Burghardt resumed his acting career in Bremen, where he was hired as a trainee at the Bremen City Theatre. His first important role was as Mortimer in Mary Stuart at the Theater Lübeck. During this time he took acting lessons from Hermann Wlach, who worked in Hamburg.
In Plauen, Burghardt met the opera singer Charlotte Massenburg, whom he married a year later in Darmstadt. After the marriage, he acted predominantly in the Frankfurt region, in order to remain closer to his wife. The growing popularity of the Nazi Party begun to cause problems, especially for his wife, who was exposed to hostility on account of her Jewish heritage. Burghardt spent time in Berlin writing short stories and poetry.
In 1930, Burghardt and his wife became members of the Communist Party of Germany (KPD); they had previously been close to the party for a long time. The couple attended the Marxist Workers' School together; with their first teacher being Kurt Hager. In 1932 Burghardt returned to Frankfurt from Berlin to play the role of Hamlet at the Frankfurt Artists' Theater.
After the Nazi Party seized power in 1933, the theater scene in Germany changed dramatically. He continued to act in Frankfurt, and wrote radio plays during this time.
Burghardt sheltered political opponents of the Nazis, including Alexander Maaß and Max Opitz. He also undertook underground activities on behalf of the banned Communist Party of Germany; travelling to Basel and Zurich to make contact with Swiss communists.
On December 5, 1935, Burghardt was arrested by the Gestapo in Degerloch, on account of his association with Lilo Herrmann.[2] He spent two years in prison awaiting trial. During his trial he was found not guilty of treason, which carried the death penalty. He was sentenced to four years and six months in prison on other charges. Burghardt was sent to the Ludwigsburg Prison to serve his sentence. However, after serving his sentence, he was not immediately released, instead being transferred to a prison camp in Welzheim. After about a year in Welzheim, he was released on April 6, 1941.
Burghardt then had an opportunity to head a radio station in Stuttgart, but was prevented from doing so by American occupation authorities on account of his communist sympathies.
Burghardt's appointment to the directorship of the Cologne NWDR radio station drew considerable criticism, particularly in conservative circles. Konrad Adenauer complained about the "red director" accusing the British occupation authorities of ignorance.
In 1946, Burghardt was able to premiere a play he had written during the war Judiths Sohn (trans. Judith's Son) in Stuttgart.
Despite the political tensions, Burghardt was considered for directorship of the Nordwestdeutscher Rundfunk, but ultimately not selected. Eventually, British occupation authorities became increasingly unsettled about the communist sympathies of both Burghardt and Karl-Eduard von Schnitzler. Due to this conflict, he resigned in late 1946.
After leaving Cologne, Friedrich Wolf brought him to Berlin. Wolf introduced Burghardt to Erich Weinert. Weinert hired Burghardt to oversee the postwar reconstruction of the theatre industry in the Soviet occupation zone. During this time, Burghardt was initially lived in the still damagedHotel Adlon but later obtained an apartment in Niederschönhausen. He later brought his wife Charlotte, who had remained in Cologne but had since become ill with angina, to Berlin.
Intendant in Leipzig
In 1950, Burghardt was made general director of the Leipzig Municipal Theater at the suggestion of his friend Max Opitz, who was now mayor of Leipzig. In 1951, Burghardt became a member of the Academy of Arts.
The world premiere of Robespierre took place in Leipzig, directed by Arthur Jopp, with the president of the German Democratic Republic, Wilhelm Pieck, in attendance, accompanied by Otto Grotewohl and Max Opitz. Other notable performances include: The Maid of Orleans by Schiller, Die Flamme von Paris by Boris Asafyev, Wat Tyler by Alan Bush, Florian Geyer by Gerhart Hauptmann, and the Winterschlacht by Johannes R. Becher. The premiere of the Winterschlacht took place in February 1953 and was attended by Bertolt Brecht.
Paul Dessau's adaption of Friedrich Wolf's poem Die Studentin von Stuttgart was premiered in Leipzig under Burghardt. Many further plays by Wolf would be performed in the theater. These included: Die Matrosen von Cattario, Tai Yang erwacht, Der arme Konrad, and Bürgermeister Anna. The premiere of Der arme Konrad on October 1, 1953, was also the last theater performance that Wolf attended before he died on October 5, 1953.[3]
Intendant of the German State Opera in Berlin
From 1954 to 1963, Burghardt was intendent of the Berlin State Opera. He was appointed by Johannes R. Becher, Minister of Culture of the German Democratic Republic. He replaced Henner Allmeroth. The State Opera building was still under construction, so the Admiralspalast served as a temporary venue.[4]
Burghardt attempted to recruit Erich Kleiber as a conductor at the State Opera. Kleiber came to Berlin, but ultimately declined the role for political reasons.[5]Franz Konwitschny became the new music director in Kleiber's place.[6] Various other artists left the State Opera around this time, including Lovro von Matačić.
In 1958, Burghardt became president of the Cultural Association of the German Democratic Republic, succeeding Johannes R. Becher.[7] In 1959, he became a member of the Central Committee of the Socialist Unity Party.[2]
On May 21, 1961, his wife Charlotte died of a stroke in Berlin.[8]
The construction of the Berlin Wall in 1961 imposed challenges for the opera. Around 200 employees residing in West Berlin terminated their contracts. Although the employees could still cross into East Berlin after the construction of the wall, their salaries could no longer be converted from East German marks into West German marks. Despite these challenges, the opera was still able to proceed with a November 22, 1961, performance of Fidelio.
Facing increasing health problems, Burghardt asked the then minister of culture Hans Bentzien to release him from directorship of the State Opera; to allow him to concentrate exclusively on his role as president of the Cultural Association. Burghardt ultimately left his position at the State Opera in 1963, with his recommendation for successor, Hans Pischner, holding the role until 1988.[9][10]
Burghardt, Max (1972). Ich war nicht nur Schauspieler. Erinnerungen eines Theatermannes. Weimar: Buchclub 65. ISBN 978-3351010430
— (1968). Fürchtet euch nicht.Berlin: Verlag Neues Leben.
— (1967). Briefe, die nie geschrieben wurden. Berlin: Verlag Neues Leben.
References
^Burghardt, Max (1972). Ich war nicht nur Schauspieler. Erinnerungen eines Theatermannes [I wasn't just an actor: Memories of a theater man] (in German). Weimar: Buchclub 65. ISBN978-3351010430.
^ abcdefMüller-Enbergs, Helmut; Hoffmann, Dieter; Wielgohs, Jan (2010). Wer war wer in der DDR? [Who was who in the GDR?] (in German). Vol. 1 (5th ed.). Berlin: Ch. Links Verlag. ISBN978-3-86153-561-4.
^Klemstein, Franziska (2021). Denkmalpflege zwischen System und Gesellschaft [Monument Preservation between System and Society] (in German). Transcript Verlag. pp. 199–344. ISBN978-3-8376-5779-1.
^ abPischner, Hans (2006). Tasten, Taten, Träume. Musik und Politik zwischen Utopie und Realität [Keys, Actions, Dreams: Music and Politics between Utopia and Reality.] (in German). Leipzig: Henschel Verlag. ISBN978-3894875381.
