The Iffland-Ring is a diamond

Diamond

In mineralogy, diamond is an allotrope of carbon, where the carbon atoms are arranged in a variation of the face-centered cubic crystal structure called a diamond lattice. Diamond is less stable than graphite, but the conversion rate from diamond to graphite is negligible at ambient conditions...

-studded ring with the picture of August Wilhelm Iffland

August Wilhelm Iffland

August Wilhelm Iffland was a German actor and dramatic author. His father intended him to be a clergyman, but Iffland preferred the stage, and at eighteen ran away to Gotha in order to prepare himself for a theatrical career.He was fortunate enough to receive instruction from Hans Ekhof, and made...

 (an actor, dramatist and theatre director who played Franz Moor in the premiere of Friedrich Schiller

Friedrich Schiller

Johann Christoph Friedrich von Schiller was a German poet, philosopher, historian, and playwright. During the last seventeen years of his life , Schiller struck up a productive, if complicated, friendship with already famous and influential Johann Wolfgang von Goethe...

's Die Räuber

Die Räuber

The Robbers was the first drama by German playwright Friedrich Schiller. The play was published in 1781 and premiered on January 13, 1782 in Mannheim, Germany. It was written towards the end of the German Sturm und Drang movement and has been considered by many critics, such as Peter Brooks, to...

in the National Theatre of Mannheim

Mannheim

Mannheim is a city in southwestern Germany. With about 315,000 inhabitants, Mannheim is the second-largest city in the Bundesland of Baden-Württemberg, following the capital city of Stuttgart....

).

The holder of the Iffland-Ring disposes of the ring by will to someone whom he regards as the most significant German-speaking actor. One exception to this rule came in 1954, when Werner Krauß was not determined by the previous holder Albert Bassermann

Albert Bassermann

Albert Bassermann was a German stage and screen actor.-Career:Bassermann began his acting career in 1887 in his birthplace, Mannheim. He then spent four years at the Hoftheater in Meiningen. He then moved to Berlin. From 1899, he worked for Otto Brahm. He began work at the Deutsches Theater...

 but by a committee of German-speaking actors. On three occasions Bassermann had chosen a successor, and on each occasion the actor died shortly thereafter. Bassermann considered the ring cursed, and was afraid to choose a fourth successor. The current bearer of the Iffland-Ring is the Swiss actor Bruno Ganz

Bruno Ganz

Bruno Ganz is a Swiss actor, known for his roles as Damiel in Wings of Desire and Adolf Hitler in Downfall.- Early life :Bruno Ganz was born in Zürich to a Swiss mechanic father and a northern Italian mother. He had decided to pursue an acting career by the time he entered university...

.

Since 1954, the Iffland-Ring has been earmarked as the state property of the Republic of Austria

Austria

Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...

.

Origins

The origins of the ring are shrouded in some mystery and the current Iffland-Ring was most likely the most precious of a set of seven. Of those, only two rings appear to have survived: the current one and a less valuable one which was in the private possession of Wilhelm Burckhardsberg until the 1950s, but which may now be lost, too.

Iffland, a leading actor in his time in Germany, was inspired by the Romanticism

Romanticism

Romanticism was an artistic, literary and intellectual movement that originated in the second half of the 18th century in Europe, and gained strength in reaction to the Industrial Revolution...

, and commissioned the ring, to be carried by the leading German-speaking actor of his time. Iffland's inspiration to have the ring created was most likely the play Nathan the Wise by Gotthold Ephraim Lessing

Gotthold Ephraim Lessing

Gotthold Ephraim Lessing was a German writer, philosopher, dramatist, publicist, and art critic, and one of the most outstanding representatives of the Enlightenment era. His plays and theoretical writings substantially influenced the development of German literature...

.

Ludwig Devrient

The circumstances of where and when Iffland passed on the ring to Ludwig Devrient

Ludwig Devrient

Ludwig Devrient was a German actor, noted for his playing in the works of Shakespeare and Schiller.Devrient, who was born in Berlin, left a commercial career for the stage in 1804. He was a member of a notable theatrical family. His three nephews were actors...

 are uncertain; according to Albert Bassermann

Albert Bassermann

Albert Bassermann was a German stage and screen actor.-Career:Bassermann began his acting career in 1887 in his birthplace, Mannheim. He then spent four years at the Hoftheater in Meiningen. He then moved to Berlin. From 1899, he worked for Otto Brahm. He began work at the Deutsches Theater...

, Iffland handed the ring to Devrient in 1814, after his last performance in Breslau. Shortly after, in September 1814, Iffland died in Berlin

Berlin

Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...

.

Devrient, a close friend of E.T.A. Hoffmann

E.T.A. Hoffmann

Ernst Theodor Wilhelm Hoffmann , better known by his pen name E.T.A. Hoffmann , was a German Romantic author of fantasy and horror, a jurist, composer, music critic, draftsman and caricaturist...

, whose death in 1822 he never got over, was one of the most gifted actors Germany ever produced, but also a drunkard. He collapsed while performing King Lear

King Lear

King Lear is a tragedy by William Shakespeare. The title character descends into madness after foolishly disposing of his estate between two of his three daughters based on their flattery, bringing tragic consequences for all. The play is based on the legend of Leir of Britain, a mythological...

 and died on 29 December 1832. His choice as his successor to the ring fell on his nephew Emil Devrient

Emil Devrient

Gustav Emil Devrient was a German actor and an occasional operatic bass.-Life:Gustav Emil Devrient was the youngest son of the six children of the silk merchant Tobias Philipp Devrient and his wife Marie Charlotte...

.

Emil Devrient & Theodor Döring

Much of the history of the ring during this period remains lost. Emil Devrient, and after him Theodor Döring

Theodor Döring

Theodor Döring was a German actor.Döring was born in Warsaw and settled with his family in 1807 in Prenzlau. He attended high school in Berlin. He found work as an actor, later working in Hamburg in 1834. He received a lifetime contract at the Berlin Hoftheater...

, were gifted but not outstanding actors in Berlin.

Friedrich Haase

From Friedrich Haase

Friedrich Haase

Friedrich Haase was a prominent German actor and theatre director. He was born in Berlin, the son of a valet to King Frederick William IV, who was his godfather.-Career:...

 onwards, the history of the ring is much better known.

Haase was born in Berlin, as the son of the personal servant of the then crown prince of Prussia

Prussia

Prussia was a German kingdom and historic state originating out of the Duchy of Prussia and the Margraviate of Brandenburg. For centuries, the House of Hohenzollern ruled Prussia, successfully expanding its size by way of an unusually well-organized and effective army. Prussia shaped the history...

, Friedrich Wilhelm IV. Rumor had it that he was the illegitimate son of a member of the house of Hohenzollern, something Haase used to his advantage.

After early performances in Potsdam

Potsdam

Potsdam is the capital city of the German federal state of Brandenburg and part of the Berlin/Brandenburg Metropolitan Region. It is situated on the River Havel, southwest of Berlin city centre....

 and Weimar

Weimar

Weimar is a city in Germany famous for its cultural heritage. It is located in the federal state of Thuringia , north of the Thüringer Wald, east of Erfurt, and southwest of Halle and Leipzig. Its current population is approximately 65,000. The oldest record of the city dates from the year 899...

, Haase moved to Prague

Prague

Prague is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. Situated in the north-west of the country on the Vltava river, the city is home to about 1.3 million people, while its metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of over 2.3 million...

, where he had considerable success. His career took him to Karlsruhe

Karlsruhe

The City of Karlsruhe is a city in the southwest of Germany, in the state of Baden-Württemberg, located near the French-German border.Karlsruhe was founded in 1715 as Karlsruhe Palace, when Germany was a series of principalities and city states...

, Munich

Munich

Munich The city's motto is "" . Before 2006, it was "Weltstadt mit Herz" . Its native name, , is derived from the Old High German Munichen, meaning "by the monks' place". The city's name derives from the monks of the Benedictine order who founded the city; hence the monk depicted on the city's coat...

, Frankfurt

Frankfurt

Frankfurt am Main , commonly known simply as Frankfurt, is the largest city in the German state of Hesse and the fifth-largest city in Germany, with a 2010 population of 688,249. The urban area had an estimated population of 2,300,000 in 2010...

, St. Petersburg and New York

New York City

New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

, and he became one of the most successful German actors.

Interestingly, neither Haase nor Döring were ever actually seen with the ring, despite both being known to have been rather vain, and one theory concerning the ring's origins has it that Haase himself had the ring made and invented its history. The now-known history of the ring in any case begins with Haase. Certain discrepancies in the wording of a note found in the case the ring was kept in point in this direction, but can also be quite easily explained otherwise. In particular, the date Haase gives for his receipt of the ring from Döring's widow, 1875, appears wrong as Döring died in 1878.

He left the ring to Albert Bassermann upon his death in 1911. Together with the ring, Haase left a note for Bassermann, dated Berlin, Christmas 1908, in which he declares his regret at their not having known each other much better. He also gives the history of the ring, and that letter became the prime source for future research into its history.

Albert Bassermann

Bassermann never wore the ring himself and named three successors during his lifetime, all of whom he survived.

He outlived his first two choices, Alexander Girardi

Alexander Girardi

Alexander Girardi was an Austrian] actor and tenor singer in operettas.- Career :Girardi was born in Graz; his father was the locksmith Andreas Girardi who had migrated to Graz from Cortina d'Ampezzo. Following the early death of his father, Alexander Girardi was raised by his stepfather who put...

 and Max Pallenberg

Max Pallenberg

Max Pallenberg was an Austrian singer, actor and comedian.Although Pallenberg's career started in 1904 it wasn't until 1909 that he joined Theater an der Wien and Vienna's Deutsches Volkstheater. However, it was at Berlin's Deutsches Theater where he left a lasting mark on German theatrical...

 and upon the death of his third choice, Alexander Moissi, Bassermann placed the ring on top of Moissi's coffin, to cremate the ring alongside his last choice. The director of the Burgtheater

Burgtheater

The Burgtheater , originally known as K.K. Theater an der Burg, then until 1918 as the K.K. Hofburgtheater, is the Austrian National Theatre in Vienna and one of the most important German language theatres in the world.The Burgtheater was created in 1741 and has become known as "die Burg" by the...

, Hermann Röbbeling, saved the ring by taking it off the coffin, declaring that it belonged to a living actor, not a dead one. Bassermann considered the ring cursed after all three actors died shortly after he named them as his successors.

After this incident, Bassermann gave the ring to the Austrian National Library

Austrian National Library

The Austrian National Library , is the largest library in Austria, with 7.4 million items in its collections. It is located in the Hofburg Palace in Vienna; since 2005 some of the collections are located in the baroque Palais Mollard-Clary...

 in Vienna

Vienna

Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...

, where it remained almost forgotten. In 1946, when Bassermann visited Vienna, Egon Hilbert

Egon Hilbert

Egon Hilbert was an Austrian opera/theatre director.- Biography :Hilbert was born in Vienna, Austria where he would later study law and philosophy at the Universität Wien....

, director of the Austrian theatre administration, had two meetings with the actor. Bassermann refused to take the ring back and, at the second meeting, declared that Hilbert could do with the ring as he pleased.

Hilbert asked Werner Krauss

Werner Krauss

Werner Johannes Krauss was a German stage and film actor.-Early life:Krauss was born at the parsonage of Gestungshausen in Upper Franconia, where his grandfather was Protestant pastor. He spent his childhood in Breslau and from 1901 attended the teacher's college at Kreuzburg...

 to take the ring after Bassermann died in 1952 but Krauss refused.

Werner Krauss

In October 1954, after an extraordinary meeting of the actors' guild, the ring was awarded to Werner Krauss and this time he accepted. Despite protests, especially from the Swiss actors' guild and the fact that the ring was now in private possession of Egon Hilbert, Krauss eventually received the ring. To prevent a repeat of the interregnum

Interregnum

An interregnum is a period of discontinuity or "gap" in a government, organization, or social order...

, laws were passed, requiring the ring bearer to always nominate a successor.

Krauss received the ring on 28 November 1954 and handed a sealed envelope to the Austrian theatre administration on 12 December, stating his choice of succession.

Like Ludwig Devrient, Krauss collapsed while performing King Lear and died on 20 October 1959, passing the ring to Josef Meinrad

Josef Meinrad

Josef Meinrad was an Austrian actor.Josef Meinrad was born Josef Moučka in Vienna, as the fourth and youngest child of the tramdriver Franz Moučka and his second wife Katharina. For his secondary education, he received a scholarship in a school run by Redemptorists in Katzelsdorf near Wiener...

, his original choice in 1954. However, his widow later declared that Krauss would have liked to leave the ring to Alma Seidler

Alma Seidler

Alma Seidler was an Austrian actress. She was the daughter of Ernst Seidler von Feuchtenegg, and had an extensive stage and screen career.- References :* at Österreich-Lexikon...

, but was prevented from doing so by the fact that the ring could only be passed to a male.

Josef Meinrad

Meinrad's original choice of successor is not known, but in 1984, he changed his will. Upon his death in 1996, rumors were rife as to which Austrian actor would receive the ring. To the disappointment of many actors at the Burgtheater, the ring was awarded to Switzerland

Switzerland

Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....

; Meinrad had chosen Bruno Ganz

Bruno Ganz

Bruno Ganz is a Swiss actor, known for his roles as Damiel in Wings of Desire and Adolf Hitler in Downfall.- Early life :Bruno Ganz was born in Zürich to a Swiss mechanic father and a northern Italian mother. He had decided to pursue an acting career by the time he entered university...

.

Bearers of the Iffland-Ring

Ring-Bearer	Born	Died	Duration	Nationality
August Wilhelm Iffland August Wilhelm Iffland August Wilhelm Iffland was a German actor and dramatic author. His father intended him to be a clergyman, but Iffland preferred the stage, and at eighteen ran away to Gotha in order to prepare himself for a theatrical career.He was fortunate enough to receive instruction from Hans Ekhof, and made...	19 April 1759	22 September 1818	–1814	Prussian Kingdom of Prussia The Kingdom of Prussia was a German kingdom from 1701 to 1918. Until the defeat of Germany in World War I, it comprised almost two-thirds of the area of the German Empire...
Ludwig Devrient Ludwig Devrient Ludwig Devrient was a German actor, noted for his playing in the works of Shakespeare and Schiller.Devrient, who was born in Berlin, left a commercial career for the stage in 1804. He was a member of a notable theatrical family. His three nephews were actors...	15 December 1784	30 December 1832	1814–1832	Prussian Kingdom of Prussia The Kingdom of Prussia was a German kingdom from 1701 to 1918. Until the defeat of Germany in World War I, it comprised almost two-thirds of the area of the German Empire...
Emil Devrient Emil Devrient Gustav Emil Devrient was a German actor and an occasional operatic bass.-Life:Gustav Emil Devrient was the youngest son of the six children of the silk merchant Tobias Philipp Devrient and his wife Marie Charlotte...	4 September 1803	7 August 1872	1832–1872	Saxonian Kingdom of Saxony The Kingdom of Saxony , lasting between 1806 and 1918, was an independent member of a number of historical confederacies in Napoleonic through post-Napoleonic Germany. From 1871 it was part of the German Empire. It became a Free state in the era of Weimar Republic in 1918 after the end of World War...  /   German Germany Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
Theodor Döring Theodor Döring Theodor Döring was a German actor.Döring was born in Warsaw and settled with his family in 1807 in Prenzlau. He attended high school in Berlin. He found work as an actor, later working in Hamburg in 1834. He received a lifetime contract at the Berlin Hoftheater...	9 January 1803	17 August 1878	1872–1878	Prussian Kingdom of Prussia The Kingdom of Prussia was a German kingdom from 1701 to 1918. Until the defeat of Germany in World War I, it comprised almost two-thirds of the area of the German Empire...  /   German Germany Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
Friedrich Haase Friedrich Haase Friedrich Haase was a prominent German actor and theatre director. He was born in Berlin, the son of a valet to King Frederick William IV, who was his godfather.-Career:...	1 November 1827	17 March 1911	1878–1911	Prussian Kingdom of Prussia The Kingdom of Prussia was a German kingdom from 1701 to 1918. Until the defeat of Germany in World War I, it comprised almost two-thirds of the area of the German Empire...  /   German Germany Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
Albert Bassermann Albert Bassermann Albert Bassermann was a German stage and screen actor.-Career:Bassermann began his acting career in 1887 in his birthplace, Mannheim. He then spent four years at the Hoftheater in Meiningen. He then moved to Berlin. From 1899, he worked for Otto Brahm. He began work at the Deutsches Theater...  1	7 September 1867	15 May 1952	1911–1935	German Germany Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
Interregnum Interregnum An interregnum is a period of discontinuity or "gap" in a government, organization, or social order...			1935–1954	N/A
Werner Krauss Werner Krauss Werner Johannes Krauss was a German stage and film actor.-Early life:Krauss was born at the parsonage of Gestungshausen in Upper Franconia, where his grandfather was Protestant pastor. He spent his childhood in Breslau and from 1901 attended the teacher's college at Kreuzburg...	23 June 1884	20 October 1959	1954–1959	German Germany Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...  /   Austria Austria Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the... n
Josef Meinrad Josef Meinrad Josef Meinrad was an Austrian actor.Josef Meinrad was born Josef Moučka in Vienna, as the fourth and youngest child of the tramdriver Franz Moučka and his second wife Katharina. For his secondary education, he received a scholarship in a school run by Redemptorists in Katzelsdorf near Wiener...	21 April 1913	18 February 1996	1959–1996	Austria Austria Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the... n
Bruno Ganz Bruno Ganz Bruno Ganz is a Swiss actor, known for his roles as Damiel in Wings of Desire and Adolf Hitler in Downfall.- Early life :Bruno Ganz was born in Zürich to a Swiss mechanic father and a northern Italian mother. He had decided to pursue an acting career by the time he entered university...	22 March 1941	N/A	1996–	Swiss Switzerland Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....

• Note: Until 1871, Germany did not exist as a country but instead was sub-divided into a number of countries, citizenship before 1871 shown as applicable.
• ¹ Albert Bassermann was considered to be the bearer of the ring until his death in 1952 but did not have the ring in his possession after 1935.

Laws governing the ring

In 1954, three basic laws were enacted concerning the possession of the ring, these being:.

• The holder of the ring has to determine a successor within three months of receiving the ring.
• Should no successor have been appointed or the documents regarding succession be lost, the federal Austrian theatre administration will form a committee to decide on a successor.
• The ring is the property of the Republic of Austria, but its future holder is determined by personal decision of the current holder.

Further reading

• Viktor Reimann, Der Iffland-Ring - Legende und Geschichte eines Künstleridols

Sources

• The Iffland-Ring
• The Iffland-Ring At ordenskunde.de

External links

• The Iffland-Ring Short abstract on the history of the ring