Köhler-Helffrich, Heinrich

Artistic Director

Born: 09.07.1904 in Karlsruhe

died: 02.02.1960 in Lenzkirch (Black Forest)

Köhler-Helffrich was the illegitimate son of the Baden Finance Minister, State President and Reich Finance Minister Heinrich Köhler (1878-1945); his mother was a singer. He studied musicology, theater studies and history.

His first engagement took him to the Mainz Municipal Theater in 1927. Further engagements took him to Saarbrücken, Munich, Mannheim, Breslau and Wuppertal. After his release from Czechoslovakian captivity as a prisoner of war, he worked at the newly rebuilt Süddeutscher Rundfunk and was involved in the revival of the Schwetzingen Festival. From 1945-49, Köhler-Helffrich worked as artistic director at the Heidelberg City Theater.

In 1949 he became artistic director (since 1950 state director) in Wiesbaden and opened the season with Wagner's "Meistersinger". Köhler-Helffrich became artistic director of the revived International May Festival. Under his aegis, ensembles from Paris, Brussels, Barcelona, Zurich and especially Vienna came to Wiesbaden.

In 1951, he became the founding chairman of the Wiesbaden Dante Society, later he was also chairman of the Deutsch-Französische Gesellschaft Wiesbaden e.V. Due to accusations of homosexuality, he had to leave his post very suddenly and never regained a position as artistic director.

As a stage artist, Köhler-Helffrich is almost forgotten today, but he gave the post-war festival its decisive contours and gave the people of Wiesbaden back their beloved prestigious opera theater.