Wilhelm Marckwald
Encyclopedia
Wilhelm Marckwald was a German actor and director in both theatre and film. He went to Spain in 1933, fleeing to Stockholm
as the political situation heated up. Accused of being a communist, he and his wife were forced to leave Sweden for France. As World War II
broke out, they made their way to England.
, Martha, née Marckwald.
Marckwald first worked as a businessman, then became a musician and played in a café. He then became an actor and then began directing. In 1929 and 1930, he worked with actor P. Walter Jacob at the Stadttheater Koblenz
and was a senior producer at the Deutsches Theater
in Berlin. He left Germany in 1933, then went to Spain, where he became known as Guillermo Marckwald, and began directing films in Barcelona
. He was married to a Spanish actress, Pilar, and in 1936, they fled Francisco Franco
and his troops. They went to Stockholm, but Marckwald was accused of being a communist and they were expelled to France. As war broke out, they fled to England.
In 1942, Marckwald and his wife arrived at Trench Hall
, where, because of restrictions on employment, Marckwald became the boilerman for the school and did gardening. His wife worked in the kitchen. Marckwald immediately formed a theatrical group at the school and began organizing plays. Among those in his theatre group were Frank Auerbach
, Michael Roemer
and Michael Trede. Decades later, Roemer named Marckwald in the acknowledgments in his 1997 book, Telling Stories
came to know them and wrote about them in his diary, published decades later in 1995, Ich will Zeugnis ablegen bis zum letzten, I Will Bear Witness to the Bitter End, translated into English in three volumes.
Michael Trede described reading the diaries decades later, in which one passage relates what the Marckwalds had said about their son; Trede realized that the son described was his old drama teacher. In Trede's memoir, the description of this moment is followed by an excerpt from a letter written to his mother about Wilhelm and Pilar Marckwald's arrival at Trench Hall.
that had left Nazi Germany
for Kent
, England and become a haven for refugees, both pupils and staff. After England declared war on Germany, the school was evacuated to Trench Hall in Wem
, Shropshire
and the frequent performances continued. They were considered a welcome distraction, sometimes prepared by children or adult residents, sometimes by outsiders. Marckwald began organizing a theatre group and treated them as he had his professional adult actors, as Trede wrote in a letter to his mother, dated November 26, 1942. He described an improvisational exercise the children were given: a person entering a house in some fashion at some point in time and finding a letter on a table. "That's what we had to act out and he seemed to be very pleased. Then there was a long discussion about our performance and our prospects."
Marckwald directed a production (in English) of Lady Precious Stream that one viewer stated was so professional that the performers did not seem like children. It was performed on May 8, 1943 in Shrewsbury
and was written up in the newspaper. Some productions were in German, others in English. There were scenes from George Bernard Shaw
's Saint Joan
and Gotthold Ephraim Lessing
's Minna von Barnhelm
; and Der Tor und der Tod by Hugo von Hofmannsthal
, performed in its entirety.
Stockholm
Stockholm is the capital and the largest city of Sweden and constitutes the most populated urban area in Scandinavia. Stockholm is the most populous city in Sweden, with a population of 851,155 in the municipality , 1.37 million in the urban area , and around 2.1 million in the metropolitan area...
as the political situation heated up. Accused of being a communist, he and his wife were forced to leave Sweden for France. As World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
broke out, they made their way to England.
Biographical details
Marckwald was born to a family related to the wife of painter Max LiebermannMax Liebermann
Max Liebermann was a German-Jewish painter and printmaker best known for his etching and lithography.-Biography:...
, Martha, née Marckwald.
Marckwald first worked as a businessman, then became a musician and played in a café. He then became an actor and then began directing. In 1929 and 1930, he worked with actor P. Walter Jacob at the Stadttheater Koblenz
Koblenz
Koblenz is a German city situated on both banks of the Rhine at its confluence with the Moselle, where the Deutsches Eck and its monument are situated.As Koblenz was one of the military posts established by Drusus about 8 BC, the...
and was a senior producer at the Deutsches Theater
Deutsches Theater
The Deutsches Theater in Berlin is a well-known German theatre. It was built in 1850 as Friedrich-Wilhelm-Städtisches Theater, after Frederick William IV of Prussia. Located on Schumann Street , the Deutsches Theater consists of two adjoining stages that share a common, classical facade...
in Berlin. He left Germany in 1933, then went to Spain, where he became known as Guillermo Marckwald, and began directing films in Barcelona
Barcelona
Barcelona is the second largest city in Spain after Madrid, and the capital of Catalonia, with a population of 1,621,537 within its administrative limits on a land area of...
. He was married to a Spanish actress, Pilar, and in 1936, they fled Francisco Franco
Francisco Franco
Francisco Franco y Bahamonde was a Spanish general, dictator and head of state of Spain from October 1936 , and de facto regent of the nominally restored Kingdom of Spain from 1947 until his death in November, 1975...
and his troops. They went to Stockholm, but Marckwald was accused of being a communist and they were expelled to France. As war broke out, they fled to England.
In 1942, Marckwald and his wife arrived at Trench Hall
Bunce Court School
The Bunce Court School was an independent, private boarding school in the village of Otterden, in Kent, England. It was founded in 1933 by Anna Essinger, who had previously founded a boarding school, Landschulheim Herrlingen in the south of Germany, but after the Nazi Party seized power in 1933,...
, where, because of restrictions on employment, Marckwald became the boilerman for the school and did gardening. His wife worked in the kitchen. Marckwald immediately formed a theatrical group at the school and began organizing plays. Among those in his theatre group were Frank Auerbach
Frank Auerbach
Frank Helmut Auerbach is a painter born in Germany although he has been a naturalised British citizen since 1947.-Biography:Auerbach was born in Berlin, the son of Max Auerbach, a patent lawyer, and Charlotte Nora Burchardt, who had trained as an artist...
, Michael Roemer
Michael Roemer
Michael Roemer is a film director, producer and writer. He has won several awards for his films. He is the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship. A professor at Yale University, he is the author of Telling Stories.- Early years :...
and Michael Trede. Decades later, Roemer named Marckwald in the acknowledgments in his 1997 book, Telling Stories
Family
His father, Fritz Marckwald (October 1871–September 14, 1942) and mother were both baptized Protestant, but were nonetheless deported as Jews by the Nazis and perished in the Theresienstadt ghetto. While they were in the Judenhaus in Dresden, awaiting deportation, Victor KlempererVictor Klemperer
Victor Klemperer was a businessman, journalist and eventually a Professor of Literature, specialising in the French Enlightenment at the Technische Universität Dresden. His diaries detailing his life under successive German states—the German Empire, the Weimar Republic, Nazi Germany and the German...
came to know them and wrote about them in his diary, published decades later in 1995, Ich will Zeugnis ablegen bis zum letzten, I Will Bear Witness to the Bitter End, translated into English in three volumes.
Michael Trede described reading the diaries decades later, in which one passage relates what the Marckwalds had said about their son; Trede realized that the son described was his old drama teacher. In Trede's memoir, the description of this moment is followed by an excerpt from a letter written to his mother about Wilhelm and Pilar Marckwald's arrival at Trench Hall.
Theatre at Trench Hall
Performances were already a regular feature at Bunce Court, a German-Jewish boarding schoolBoarding school
A boarding school is a school where some or all pupils study and live during the school year with their fellow students and possibly teachers and/or administrators. The word 'boarding' is used in the sense of "bed and board," i.e., lodging and meals...
that had left Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
for Kent
Kent
Kent is a county in southeast England, and is one of the home counties. It borders East Sussex, Surrey and Greater London and has a defined boundary with Essex in the middle of the Thames Estuary. The ceremonial county boundaries of Kent include the shire county of Kent and the unitary borough of...
, England and become a haven for refugees, both pupils and staff. After England declared war on Germany, the school was evacuated to Trench Hall in Wem
Wem
Wem is a small market town in Shropshire, England. It is the administrative centre for the northern area committee of Shropshire Council, which has its headquarters at Edinburgh House in the centre of Wem. Wem railway station is on the Shrewsbury to Crewe railway line...
, Shropshire
Shropshire
Shropshire is a county in the West Midlands region of England. For Eurostat purposes, the county is a NUTS 3 region and is one of four counties or unitary districts that comprise the "Shropshire and Staffordshire" NUTS 2 region. It borders Wales to the west...
and the frequent performances continued. They were considered a welcome distraction, sometimes prepared by children or adult residents, sometimes by outsiders. Marckwald began organizing a theatre group and treated them as he had his professional adult actors, as Trede wrote in a letter to his mother, dated November 26, 1942. He described an improvisational exercise the children were given: a person entering a house in some fashion at some point in time and finding a letter on a table. "That's what we had to act out and he seemed to be very pleased. Then there was a long discussion about our performance and our prospects."
Marckwald directed a production (in English) of Lady Precious Stream that one viewer stated was so professional that the performers did not seem like children. It was performed on May 8, 1943 in Shrewsbury
Shrewsbury
Shrewsbury is the county town of Shropshire, in the West Midlands region of England. Lying on the River Severn, it is a civil parish home to some 70,000 inhabitants, and is the primary settlement and headquarters of Shropshire Council...
and was written up in the newspaper. Some productions were in German, others in English. There were scenes from George Bernard Shaw
George Bernard Shaw
George Bernard Shaw was an Irish playwright and a co-founder of the London School of Economics. Although his first profitable writing was music and literary criticism, in which capacity he wrote many highly articulate pieces of journalism, his main talent was for drama, and he wrote more than 60...
's Saint Joan
Saint Joan (play)
Saint Joan is a play by George Bernard Shaw, based on the life and trial of Joan of Arc. Published not long after the canonization of Joan of Arc by the Roman Catholic Church, the play dramatises what is known of her life based on the substantial records of her trial. Shaw studied the transcripts...
and 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...
's Minna von Barnhelm
Minna von Barnhelm
Minna von Barnhelm or the Soldiers' Happiness is a lustspiel or comedy by the German author Gotthold Ephraim Lessing...
; and Der Tor und der Tod by Hugo von Hofmannsthal
Hugo von Hofmannsthal
Hugo Laurenz August Hofmann von Hofmannsthal ; , was an Austrian novelist, librettist, poet, dramatist, narrator, and essayist.-Early life:...
, performed in its entirety.
External links
- Listing for Wilhelm Marckwald University of Hamburg. Exilierte und verfolgte Theaterkünstler 1933-1945 (Exiled and persecuted theatrical artists 1933–1945). Retrieved October 31, 2011