Leopold Jessner - Intendant der Republik

Leopold Jessner (1878-1945) was the first German director to display an explicit commitment to political theatre. As of 1919 he was in charge of the biggest theatre in the Weimar Republic, the Staatstheater Berlin. The Jewish socialist put paid to the Wilhelmine artistic spirit prevalent at the time and gave the democratic epoch a new profile. Among conservatives this aroused greater enmity than they felt for many of the politicians taking a similar stance. Jessner's specific use of the stage and his terse, objective style of direction initiated the development of German Regietheater even before the arrival of Piscator and Brecht. Jessner's work also reflects the division of the Republic. His resignation in 1930 was a symptomatic case of the ousting of Jews from German cultural life.