Schirach, Carl von

Intendant

Born: 10.11.1873 in Kiel

died: 11.07.1948 in Weimar

Schirach completed his training under the director Max Martersteig (1853-1926) at the municipal theaters in Cologne, took over the directorship of the Weimar court theater in 1908 and became Grand Ducal Chamberlain. As an avowed opponent of the Weimar Republic, he joined the NSDAP in 1925 and four years later the "Kampfbund für deutsche Kultur".

After the dismissal of the Jewish artistic director Paul Bekker in Wiesbaden and the transfer of his successor Max Berg-Ehlert (1875-1953), who enforced the dismissal of Jewish members of the ensemble and political dissidents, Schirach became general director of the Staatstheater in September 1933. When he took office, the great wave of dismissals of Jewish and politically dissident artists was already over. Under his aegis, however, the opera singer Friedrich Ginrod (1904-78), who was classified as a so-called Jewish half-breed, was dismissed in 1934; others, such as the actor Selmar Victor (1874-1944), were forced to retire in 1935. In contrast, he stood up for the trombonist and chamber musician Paul Freitag (1881-1957), who was married to a "half-Jewish woman". Schirach worked as artistic director until 1943 and then retired to Weimar.