{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2019}} {{short description|German actor, theatre director and theatre manager}} {{Infobox person | name = Harry Buckwitz | image = | image_upright = | caption = | birth_date = {{birth date|1904|03|13|df=y}} | birth_place = Munich, Bavaria, Germany | death_date = {{death date and age|1987|12|28|1904|03|13|df=y}} | death_place = Zürich, Switzerland | education = | occupation = {{plainlist| * Actor * Stage director * Theatre manager }} | organizations = {{plainlist| * Münchner Kammerspiele * Schauspiel Frankfurt * Schauspielhaus Zürich * Deutsche Akademie der Darstellenden Künste }} | awards = {{plainlist| * Goetheplakette of Frankfurt }} }} '''Harry Buckwitz''' (13 March 1904 – 28 December 1987)<ref name="Filmhaus" /> was a German actor, theatre director and theatre manager. He was general manager of the Städtische Bühnen Frankfurt from 1951 and 1967, where he was responsible for opera and plays, and initiated a new house for them after the formerly separate theatres had been destroyed in World War II. He is known for Brecht productions, in Frankfurt and at the Schauspielhaus Zürich from 1970 to 1977.
== Career == === Actor === Born in Munich as the son of a merchant, Buckwitz studied German, art history and theatre science.<ref name="Filmhaus" /><ref name="Munzinger" /> He then decided to become an actor and completed an acting course. His first engagement as an actor was at the Münchner Kammerspiele.<ref name="Munzinger" /> From 1925, he worked at different German theatres in Mainz, Bochum, Augsburg and Freiburg. In Augsburg, he began to also direct plays.<ref name="Munzinger" />
In 1937, Buckwitz was expelled from the {{Ill|Reichstheaterkammer|de}} as ''Halbjude'' (half-Jew).<ref name="Filmhaus" /> He worked internationally. At the beginning of World War II, he ran a hotel in Tanganyika to 1940. He was interned by the Allies, but soon sent back to Germany.<ref name="Munzinger" /> From 1941, Buckwitz was director of the Savoy Hotel in Łódź.<ref name="Filmhaus" /> In 1944, he was drafted to the Wehrmacht.<ref name="Munzinger" />
=== Frankfurt === thumb|Opern- und Schauspielhaus Frankfurt, built while Buckwitz was general manager, in 2014 After World War II, Buckwitz became manager of Münchner Kammerspiele in 1946.<ref name="Filmhaus" /> He moved to the Städtische Bühnen Frankfurt in 1951, where he was general director (''Generalintendant'').<ref name="Filmhaus" /><ref name="Frankfurt Lexikon" /> In 1952, he recruited Georg Solti as Generalmusikdirektor for the Oper Frankfurt. Buckwitz suggested housing both opera and theatre under one roof. The separate theatres of the company, which had been destroyed during the war, were replaced by one house, inaugurated in December 1963.<ref name="Frankfurt" /> Its official name is Opern- und Schauspielhaus Frankfurt.
Buckwitz focused on productions of Bertolt Brecht's plays which he directed himself,<ref name="Hock" /> such as ''Der kaukasische Kreidekreis'' in 1955 and ''Mutter Courage und ihre Kinder'' in 1958, with Therese Giehse in the title role.<ref name="Filmhaus" /> He also produced works by contemporary authors such as Friedrich Dürrenmatt, Max Frisch, Rolf Hochhuth, Eugène Ionesco, Arthur Miller, Jean-Paul Sartre and Tennessee Williams, some of them performed in Germany for the first time.<ref name="Frankfurt Lexikon" /><ref name="Jacobi" /> He tried to open the theatre to all social classes,<ref name="Frankfurt Lexikon" /> achieving an occupancy rate of up to 90 percent. His programs were criticised by some as communist propaganda.<ref name="Frankfurt" /><!-- Nebenher führte Buckwitz auch bei einigen Fernsehverfilmungen von Theaterstücken Brechts Regie. So inszenierte er in seinen letzten aktiven Jahren am Hamburger Ernst Deutsch Theater, den ''Kaukasischen Kreidekreis'' und ''Der gute Mensch von Sezuan''. In beiden Inszenierungen besetzte er Angélique Duvier für die weibliche Hauptrolle.--> After health problems and budget disputes with the city government, Buckwitz announced his resignation in January 1967, serving until his contract ended in August 1968.
In 1962, Buckwitz became vice president of the Deutsche Akademie der Darstellenden Künste.<ref name="Frankfurt Lexikon" /><!-- The academy moved its seat from Hamburg to Frankfurt, as he suggested, and remained there until 2004.-->
=== Zürich === Buckwitz was director of the Schauspielhaus Zürich from 1970 to 1977.<ref name="Filmhaus" /> His appointment there led to a fierce controversy with the journalist Hans Habe, who accused him of having once been a henchman of Adolf Hitler, in an article for the newspaper ''Welt am Sonntag''. Habe based his accusation on quotations from the book ''Heimkehr: Vertrieben aus deutschem Land in Afrika'', published in 1940 by the Reichskolonialbund under Buckwitz's name.<ref name="Karasek" /> Buckwitz replied that parts of his manuscripts written in 1940 on his return from internment in Tanganyika in a camp at Berchtesgaden had been altered without his knowledge before publication,<ref name="Spiegel" /> while Friedrich Dürrenmatt and Rolf Hochhuth, among others, took sides for Buckwitz.<ref name="Birkenmeier" /> Buckwitz was confirmed in office with a vote of confidence from the Board of Directors of the Zurich Schauspielhaus, which he fulfilled until 1977.<ref name="Frankfurt Lexikon" />
=== Late years === In December 1977 Buckwitz appeared as an actor in the role of Luis Concha Córdoba in the German television film ''Der Tod des Camilo Torres oder: Die Wirklichkeit hält viel aus'', directed by {{ill|Eberhard Itzenplitz|de}}.<ref name="Filmhaus" /> He worked as a freelance director until his death. At his request, he was not buried in his last place of residence, Zürich, but in Frankfurt.<ref name="Filmhaus" /> His extensive written legacy is held by the Academy of Arts, Berlin.<ref name="adk" />
== Awards == * 1964: Goethe Plaque of the City of Frankfurt<ref name="Frankfurt Lexikon" />
== Further reading == * ''"Den lieb' ich, der Unmögliches begehrt". Harry Buckwitz. Schauspieler, Regisseur, Intendant 1904–1987''. Published by the Foundation Archive of the Academy of Arts. Parthas, Berlin 1998. * {{Theaterlexikon|Harry Buckwitz|1|288|289|author=Ute Kröger}} * Harry Buckwitz: Essay in Zeitschrift ''Zeit und Geist. Eine Zweimonatsschrift für Kunst, Literatur und Wissenschaft.''
== References == <references>
<ref name="Birkenmeier">{{cite news | last = Birkenmeier | first = Werner | url = http://www.zeit.de/1972/14/eichenlaub-gegen-goethe-medaille | title = Eichenlaub gegen Goethe-Medaille: Der Habe-Dürrenmatt-Prozeß in Zürich | work = Die Zeit | issue = 14 | year = 1972 | language = de | accessdate = 26 June 2019 }}</ref>
<ref name="Hock">{{cite web | last = Hock | first = Sabine | url = https://www.sabinehock.de/publikationen/tagespresse/archiv/tagespresse_114_a.html | title = Brechtstadt Frankfurt / Zum 50. Todestag des Dramatikers in diesem Jahr | website = sabinehock.de | year = | language = de | accessdate = 26 June 2019 }}</ref>
<ref name="Jacobi">{{cite news | last = Jacobi | first = Johannes | url = https://www.zeit.de/1963/52/in-frankfurt-lebt-gruendgens-theatergeist-weiter/komplettansicht | title = In Frankfurt lebt Gründgens' Theatergeist weiter / Die Einweihung eines neuen Schauspielhauses | website = Die Zeit | date = 27 December 1963 | language = de | accessdate = 21 August 2019 }}</ref>
<ref name="Karasek">{{cite news | last = Karasek | first = Hellmuth | authorlink = Hellmuth Karasek | url = http://www.zeit.de/1970/24/harry-buckwitz-und-die-welt-am-sonntag | title = Harry Buckwitz und die Welt am Sonntag | work = Die Zeit | issue = 24 | year = 1970 | language = de | accessdate = 26 June 2019 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20161009085349/http://www.zeit.de/1970/24/harry-buckwitz-und-die-welt-am-sonntag | archive-date = 9 October 2016 | url-status = live }}</ref>
<ref name="adk">{{cite news | url = http://www.adk.de/de/archiv/archivbestand/darstellende-kunst/index.htm?hg=darstell&we_objectID=1023 | title = Harry-Buckwitz-Archiv | publisher = Academy of Arts | location = Berlin | language = de | accessdate = 26 June 2019 }}</ref>
<ref name="Filmhaus">{{cite web | url = http://www.deutsches-filmhaus.de/bio_reg/bo_bio_regiss/buckwitz_harry_bio.htm | title = Harry Buckwitz / Regisseur Darsteller | publisher = Deutsches Filmhaus | language = de | accessdate = 27 June 2019 }}</ref>
<ref name="Frankfurt">{{cite web | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20131214074023/http://www.aufbau-ffm.de/doku/Archiv/StaedtBuehnen.html | archive-date=2013-12-14 | url-status=dead | url=http://www.aufbau-ffm.de/doku/Archiv/StaedtBuehnen.html | title = Städtische Bühnen / Berichtszeitraum: 1945–65 | work = Frankfurt baut auf | language = de | accessdate = 26 June 2019 }}</ref>
<ref name="Frankfurt Lexikon">{{cite web | url = https://frankfurter-personenlexikon.de/node/1900 | title = Buckwitz, Harry / Generalintendant der Städtischen Bühnen Ffm. von 1951 bis 1968 | work = Frankfurter Personenlexikon | language = de | accessdate = 27 June 2019 }}</ref>
<ref name="Munzinger">{{cite web | url = https://www.munzinger.de/search/portrait/Harry+Buckwitz/0/3851.html | title = Harry Buckwitz / deutscher Regisseur und Theaterintendant | work = Munzinger | language = de | accessdate = 27 June 2019 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20190627142917/https://www.munzinger.de/search/portrait/Harry%2BBuckwitz/0/3851.html | archive-date = 27 June 2019 | url-status = live }}</ref>
<ref name="Spiegel">{{cite news | url = http://www.spiegel.de/spiegel/print/d-44931191.html | title = Theater / Buckwitz: Fremde Hand | work = Der Spiegel | issue = 25 | year = 1970 | language = de | accessdate = 27 June 2019 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20190128102136/http://www.spiegel.de/spiegel/print/d-44931191.html | archive-date = 28 January 2019 | url-status = live }}</ref>
</references>
== External links == * {{IMDb name|0118798}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Buckwitz, Harry}} Category:German theatre directors Category:German television directors Category:German male television actors Category:German male stage actors Category:1904 births Category:1987 deaths Category:Theatre people from Munich Category:Male actors from Munich Category:German people of Jewish descent