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The LIEDERTHEATER OF WENZEL & MENSCHING: A CREATIVE USE OF THE AGITPROP TRADITION IN THE GDR

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 November 2011

David Robb
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The East German poet-clowns Hans-Eckardt Wenzel and Steffen Mensching rose to prominence during the GDR's (German Democratic Republic; Deutsche Demokratische Republik, DDR) Peaceful Revolution of autumn 1989 with their cabaret production Letztes aus der Da Da eR. A film adaptation of the production was made by Jörg Foth in 1990, which was finally released on DVD with English subtitles in the United Kingdom and North America in 2009 (Latest from the Da-Da-R). In light of this long-overdue interest in Wenzel & Mensching, this article will attempt to put the work of the duo in historical and aesthetic context. Their use of character, masks, music, and philosophy combined to create the distinctly grotesque world that constituted their Liedertheater performances.

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Articles
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Theatre Survey , Volume 52 , Issue 2 , November 2011 , pp. 225 - 249
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Copyright © American Society for Theatre Research 2011

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References

Endnotes

1. Busch, Ernst, Internationale Arbeiterlieder (Berlin: Lied der Zeit, 1949)Google Scholar.

2. See Robb, David, “Political Song in the GDR: The Cat-and-Mouse Game with Censorship and Institutions,” in Protest Song in East and West Germany since the 1960s, ed. Robb, David (Rochester, NY: Camden House, 2007), 227–54Google Scholar, at 228–35.

3. Günther Jahn, in “6. Tagung des ZK der SED” (transcript of speeches given at the Sixth Conference of the Central Committee of the SED), Berlin, 1972, 55, quoted in Kirchenwitz, Lutz, Folk, Chanson und Liedermacher in der DDR (Berlin: Dietz Verlag, 1993)Google Scholar, 50. As David Bathrick states, the public arena tended to be viewed as “a forum for the shaping of consciousness and not for open debate” [“ein Forum für Bewußtseinsbildung und nicht für die öffentliche Auseinandersetzung”]; Bathrick, , “Kultur und Öffentlichkeit in der DDR,” in Literatur der DDR in den siebziger Jahren, ed. Hohendahl, Peter Uwe and Herminghouse, Patricia (Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp, 1983)Google Scholar, 57. (Translations of all original German, including titles and quotations, are mine unless otherwise stated.)

4. Lammel, Inge, Das Arbeiterlied (Leipzig: Reclam, 1970)Google Scholar, 82, quoted in Kirchenwitz, 86.

5. Oktoberklub, Unterm Arm die Gitarre, LP, VEB Deutsche Schallplatten, 1968.

6. DDR-Singegruppen, Junge Leute, Junge Lieder, LP, VEB Deutsche Schallplatten, 1969.

7. Oktoberklub, Das Beste, CD, Edition Barbarossa, 1995. For more detail on the Singebewegung, see Robb, “Political Song in the GDR,” 228–35.

8. Biermann, Wolf, “Ballad of the Poet François Villon,” in Wolf Biermann: Poems and Ballads, trans. Gooch, Steve (London: Pluto Press, 1977), 82–91Google Scholar, at 87. For a more detailed analysis of the Villon motif in German political song, see David Robb, “Narrative Role-Play as Communication Strategy in German Protest Song,” in Robb, Protest Song, 67–96, at 83–6.

9. Wolf Biermann in Frankfurter Rundschau, 30 December 1972, 5.

10. Stefan Körbel (member of Karls Enkel), interview with the author, Berlin, 29 September 1993.

11. Wenzel, radio program Sag mir wo du stehst, Rockradio B, 20 October 1992.

12. Gundi Gundermann (DDR-Fernsehen, 1983), a documentary by Richard Engel, was heavily censored and was only shown once in the GDR.

13. Schreiber, Neidhardt, “Hoffnungsloser Fall Heiner Müller in Magdeburg,” Zitadelle, February 1996, 16–18Google Scholar, at 17.

14. Hirdina, Karin, “Präzision ohne Pingelichkeit: Wenzel und Mensching im Gespräch mit Karin Hirdina,” Temperamente 4 (1984): 35–43Google Scholar, at 38.

15. Schlager refers to a particularly bland type of commercial German song often seen on early evening TV.

16. Rolf Fischer (member of Karls Enkel), interview with the author, Berlin, 24 November 1993.

17. Enkel, Karls, S'geht los! aber nicht mit Chassepots: Eine Collage über die Zeit des Sozialistengesetzes (1980)Google Scholar, audio recording of theatrical production (reel-to-reel); and “S'geht los! aber nicht mit Chassepots: Eine Collage über die Zeit des Sozialistengesetzes,” unpublished manuscript, collected by Karin Wolf, archive of the Akademie der Künste der DDR, Berlin, Liedertheater-Dokumentation, Forschungsabteilung Musik/Liedzentrum (hereinafter, Wolf/AfK).

18. The Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands (Social Democratic Party of Germany) was established in 1875.

19. Enkel, Karls, Wacholder, and Beckert & Schulz, Hammer Revue (1982)Google Scholar, video recording of theatrical production; and “Hammer Revue,” unpublished manuscript, Wolf/AfK.

20. See Christa Hasche, “Bürgerliche Revue und ‘Roter Rummel,’ Studien zur Entwicklung massenwirksamen Theaters in den Formen der Revue in Berlin 1903–1925” (Ph.D. diss., Humboldt University of Berlin, 1980), 90.

21. Robb, David, Zwei Clowns im Lande des verlorenen Lachens: Das Liedertheater Wenzel & Mensching (Berlin: Ch. Links Verlag, 1998), 58–9Google Scholar.

22. “Hammer Revue,” unpublished manuscript, n.p.

23. Gestus, an acting technique developed by Bertolt Brecht, carries the sense of a combination of physical gesture and “gist,” or attitude.

24. Enkel, Karls, Dahin! Dahin! Ein Göte-Abend (1982)Google Scholar, audio recording of theatrical production (reel-to-reel); and “Dahin! Dahin! Ein Göte-Abend,” unpublished manuscript, Wolf/AfK. See an analysis of this production in Robb, David, “‘Seid reinlich bei Tage und säuisch bei Nacht’: Karls Enkel's Dahin! Dahin! Ein Göte-Abend,” Goethe Yearbook 11 (2003): 327–46CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

25. Hammer Revue, video recording of theatrical production.

26. Hasche, 13.

27. Brecht, Bertolt, Aufstieg und Fall der Stadt Mahagonny, in Die Stücke von Bertolt Brecht in einem Band (Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp, 1987), 203–26Google Scholar, at 214.

28. Brecht, Bertolt, Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny, trans. Feingold, Michael, in Bertolt Brecht, Collected Plays, vol. 2, ed. Willett, John and Manheim, Ralph (London: Methuen, 1998), 171–235Google Scholar, at 198–9.

29. “Hammer Revue,” unpublished manuscript, n.p. The “Du” at the start of the first line is also a reference to the banned Biermann song “Du, laß dich nicht verhärten, in dieser harten Zeit” (“Don't let yourself be hardened in this hard time”). Wolf Biermann, “Ermutigung,” aah-ja! LP, CBS, 1974. Because Biermann's songs were banned in the GDR, it is possible that some people missed this reference even though the Hammer Revue audience included many insiders in the political song scene.

30. See Leeder, Karen, Breaking Boundaries: A New Generation of Poets in the GDR (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1996)Google Scholar, 109.

31. Karls Enkel, “Hammer Revue,” unpublished manuscript, n.p.

32. Enkel, Karls, Von meiner Hoffnung laß ich nicht—Der Pilger Mühsam (1980)Google Scholar, video recording of theatrical production; and “Von meiner Hoffnung laß ich nicht—Der Pilger Mühsam,” unpublished manuscript, Wolf/AfK. All subsequent quotations from this program are to the unpaginated manuscript for this production. See also David Robb, “Mühsam, Brecht, Eisler, and the Twentieth-Century Revolutionary Heritage,” in Robb, Protest Song, 35–66.

33. Heiner Müller, Jenseits der Nation (Berlin: Rotbuch Verlag, 1991), 75, quoted in Leeder, 122.

34. Leeder, 127.

35. Mensching, Steffen, “Traumhafter Ausflug mit Rosa L.,” in Erinnerung an eine Milchglasscheibe: Gedichte (Halle and Leipzig: Mitteldeutscher Verlag, 1984), 14–15Google Scholar.

36. F. C. Weiskopf, quoted in production program for Von meiner Hoffnung laß ich nicht.

37. For an account of Wenzel's and Mensching's respective tributes to Mühsam in their own poems, see Leeder, 87–8.

38. Enkel, Karls, Die komische Tragödie des 18. Brumaire oder Ohrfeigen sind schlimmer als Dolchstöße: Nach Karl Marx (1983)Google Scholar, video recording of theatrical production; and “Die komische Tragödie des 18. Brumaire oder Ohrfeigen sind schlimmer als Dolchstöße: Nach Karl Marx,” unpublished and unpaginated manuscript, Wolf/AfK, 1983.

39. Heiner Maaß, interview with the author, Berlin, 23 March 1994.

40. Enkel, Karls, “Die komische Tragödie,” unpublished manuscript, n.p., derived from Marx, The 18th Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte (1852; reprint, London: Electric Book Company, 2001)Google Scholar, 7.

41. See Marx, The 18th Brumaire, 7.

42. Karls Enkel, “Die komische Tragödie,” unpublished manuscript, n.p.

43. See the clowns' dialogue in Brecht's The Baden-Baden Lesson on Consent (Das Badener Lehrstück vom Einverständnis) in Brecht, Bertolt, Collected Plays, vol. 3, ed. and trans. Willet, John (London: Methuen, 1997), 27–31Google Scholar.

44. Bakhtin, Mikhail, Rabelais and His World, trans. Iswolsky, Hélène (Bloomington: University of Indiana Press, 1984)Google Scholar, 75.

45. Maaß, interview with the author.

46. Enkel, Karls, Spanier aller Länder (1984)Google Scholar, audio recording of theatrical production (cassette); and “Spanier aller Länder,” unpublished manuscript, Wolf/AfK.

47. See Robb, David, “Clowns, Songs and Lost Utopias: Reassessment of the Spanish Civil War in Karls Enkel's Spanier aller Länder,” Debatte 9.2 (2001): 156–72Google Scholar.

48. Rudolf Münz's analysis of the significance of the commedia and the Harlequin can be found in his book Das andere Theater: Studien über ein deutschsprachiges teatro dell'arte der Lessingzeit (Berlin: Henschel Verlag, 1979)Google Scholar.

49. See Robb, David, “The Court Jesters of the GDR: The Political Clowns-Theatre of Wenzel & Mensching,” Comedy Studies 1.1 (2010): 85–100CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

50. Bakhtin, , The Dialogic Imagination, ed. Holquist, Michael, trans. Emerson, Caryl and Holquist, Michael (Austin: University of Austin Texas, 1981)Google Scholar, 403.

51. Wenzel & Mensching, Neues aus der Da Da eR (1983), video recording; and “Neues aus der Da Da eR,” unpublished manuscript, Wolf/AfK.

52. Baxandall, Lee, “Bertolt Brecht's J.B.,” in Brecht Sourcebook, ed. Martin, Carol and Bial, Henry (London and New York: Routledge, 2000), 81–5Google Scholar, at 84.

53. See also Robb, “Political Song in the GDR,” 239–46.

54. BStU, Berlin, MfS X5/2522/78, Ministerium für Staatssicherheit (hereafter, Ministry for State Security) report, GDR, 9 May 1977, 103.

55. Körbel interview.

56. Karls Enkel, Vorfahrt (1977), sound recording (cassette); and “Vorfahrt,” unpublished manuscript, Wolf/AfK. “Vorfahrt” is a play on words between “right of way” and “forefathers.”

57. Enkel, Karls, Zieharmonie (1979)Google Scholar, sound recording (cassette); and “Zieharmonie,” unpublished manuscript, Wolf/AfK. The title “Zieharmonie” (literally, “Pulling Harmony”) plays on the word for concertina, “Ziehharmonika.”

58. BStU MfS XV/2522/78, Ministry for State Security report, GDR, 2 March 1980, 170.

59. Kirchenwitz, 43.

60. Schwarz, Petra and Bergholz, Wilfried, Liederleute (Berlin: Lied der Zeit, 1989)Google Scholar, 28.

61. Kirchenwitz, 103.

62. Reinhold Andert, in Sektionsbrief, 20 June 1988, quoted in Kirchenwitz, 95.

63. Kirchenwitz, 98.

64. BStU MfS XV/2522/78, Ministry for State Security report, GDR, 4 February 1980, 207.

65. Ibid.

66. Ibid., 31 May 1978, 40.

67. Ibid., 11 March 1981, 281.

68. Reinhard Ständer writes: “‘The court jesters of the nation’ (as they sang of themselves) could allow themselves anything. Later it turned out that this rumour [that they enjoyed special treatment from the State] was spread by the Stasi. Both of them [Wenzel & Mensching] could refer to numerous bans.” See Ständer, , “Wenzel und Mensching: Die Kult-Clowns aus der Da Da eR,” Folk Michel 4 (1997): 24–6Google Scholar, at 25.

69. Jürgen Wolff, Dieter Beckert, Erik Kross, and others, “Die Boten des Todes: Nach dem Märchen der Gebrüder Grimm,” unpublished opera, performed in Leipzig, 1982.

70. Wolff, Jürgen in interview with Reinhard Ständer, “Folk-Urgestein und Brachialromantiker Jürgen Wolff,” Folker 21.3 (2001): 16–19Google Scholar, at 19.

71. See Kießling, Matthias, “Kurze Geschichte eines Auftrittsverbots,” in Hammer-Revue 82: Dokumentation (Potsdam: Brandenburgische Landeszentrale für politische Bildung, 1993)Google Scholar, unpaginated.

72. Karin Hirdina, interview with the author, Berlin, 9 June 1992.

73. Hammer Revue, video recording.

74. Kießling, n.p.

75. BVfS Cottbus AKG178, report from 5 April 1983, 13.

76. Ibid., 14. The song is introduced as “das Lied über die große Stadt Berlin” (“the song about the big city of Berlin”). This was controversial because this is a clear reference to Greater Berlin, which was a virtually a taboo subject in GDR public discourse because of the Wall that prevented citizens from traveling there. For the communists, East Berlin was “Berlin,” while West Berlin was referred to somewhat dismissively as “Westberlin.” This song was typical for Karls Enkel in that the political content was only alluded to. Rather than mentioning the Wall specifically, Karls Enkel spoke only in terms of the mixture of “steel and papier-mâché” that was used to make it.

77. Kießling, n.p.

78. Resolution No. III/44-50, Secretarial Meeting of the Kulturbund, 29 March 1983, Bundesarchiv Berlin, SAPMO-BArch DY27/2109, 4–5, at 4.

79. Wenzel, interview with the author, Berlin, 9 March 1994. Nothing about this conflict appeared in the Kulturbund report.

80. See Robb, Zwei Clowns, 88–90.

81. See ibid., 103–6.

82. David Bathrick, “Die Intellektuellen und die Macht: Die Repräsentanz des Schriftstellers in der DDR,” in Schriftsteller als Intellektuelle: Politik und Literatur im Kalten Krieg, ed. Sven Hanuschek, Therese Hörnigk, and Christine Malende (Tübingen: Niemeyer, 2000), 235–48, at 246.

83. See, for example, the remarks: “The program [Come Let's Get Closer Together] was enthusiastically received by a few members of the audience” (BStU MfS XV/2522/78, 105); and “Lines [in the Hammer Revue] such as ‘We only know from the newspapers about how well we are doing’ were received by the audience with great applause” (BVfS Cottbus AKG178, BStU, 13).

84. Bathrick, “Die Intellektuellen und die Macht,” 246.

85. Sichel-Kollektiv, Das, Die Sichel-Operette (1987)Google Scholar, video recording; and “Die Sichel-Operette,” unpublished manuscript, Wolf/AfK.

86. For an in-depth analysis of Die Sichel-Operetta, see Robb, Zwei Clowns, 108–17.

87. Wenzel in Junge Welt, 6 October 1990, quoted in Kirchenwitz, 135.

88. Kirchenwitz, 35–6.

89. Wenzel & Mensching, Altes aus der Da Da eR (video recording); and “Altes aus der Da Da eR,” unpublished manuscript, Wolf/AfK, 1989.

90. BStU MfS HAXX/AKG, no. 1493, Ministry for State Security report, 8 October 1989, 356.

91. Ibid., 12 October 1989, 366.

92. Wenzel & Mensching, Gina Pietsch, and Gerhard Gundermann, Roter Rummel, unpublished video recording, Wolf/AfK, 1989.

93. Bakhtin, Dialogic Imagination, 159.

94. Wenzel & Mensching, , Allerletztes aus der Da Da eR / Hundekomödie, ed. Doberenz, Andrea (Halle and Leipzig: Mitteldeutscher Verlag, 1991)Google Scholar, 30.

95. Ibid., 31–2.

96. Ibid., 53–4.

97. Wenzel & Mensching, Letztes aus der Da Da eR, directed by Jörg Foth, DEFA 1990, DVD 2009.

98. Wenzel & Mensching, , Aufenthalt in der Hölle (1992)Google Scholar, video recording; and “Aufenthalt in der Hölle,” unpublished manuscript in Wenzel & Mensching's archive. See also David Robb, “The Demise of Political Song and the New Discourse of Techno in the Berlin Republic,” in Robb, Protest Song, 255–78, at 259–62.

99. See Rolf Tiedemann's comments on “die Ewigkeit der Hölle” in his introduction to Benjamin, Walter, Das Passagen-Werk, Erster Teil [Part I] (Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp, 1983)Google Scholar, 21.

100. Wenzel interview.

101. Wenzel & Mensching, “Aufenthalt in der Hölle,” act 5, p. 6. Published in Mensching, Steffen, Berliner Elegien: Gedichte (Leipzig: Faber & Faber, 1995)Google Scholar, 49, at 49.

102. Ibid., act 5, p. 4.

103. Braun, Volker, “Rimbaud: Ein Psalm der Aktualität,” in Sinn und Form 37.5 (1985): 978–98Google Scholar, at 986, quoted in Leeder, 151; Braun's italics.

104. Wenzel interview. Quotation from Brecht, Bertolt, Der Untergang des Egoisten Johann Fatzer (Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp, 1978)Google Scholar, 116.

105. Wenzel, Hans-Eckardt, Hanswurst und andere arme Würste: Hanns-Eisler-Collage, CD, Conträr Musik, 2001Google Scholar.

106. In the GDR, particularly in the 1950s, works of art, literature, and music were expected to conform to the tenets of socialist realism. This was marked by clarity and an almost classical structure. Anything that was perceived as modernist or formalist was classed as decadent. Both Brecht and Eisler endured accusations of formalism in the 1950s in the GDR.

107. See Wenzel, , “Grenzen (sechs Gedichte für Hölderlin),” in Wenzel, Lied vom wilden Mohn: Gedichte (Halle/Leipzig: Mitteldeutscher Verlag, 1984), 53–8Google Scholar. See also Karls Enkel, “Die komische Tragödie des 18. Brumaire.”

108. Wenzel, Hanswurst und andere arme Würste.

109. Ibid.

110. For example, Mensching's unpublished solo program “Amok,” a one-man cabaret production performed all over East Germany in 2001.