Christoph Hein has backed out of the directorship of the Deutsches Theater. From the story at FAZ:
„Das DT ist nicht das erste Theater, das mir angeboten wurde” sagt Hein. Kurz nach der Wende habe er zwei Angebote großer Häuser abgelehnt, weil er das Gefühl gehabt habe, das geistige Klima lasse es nicht zu, daß er als Ostdeutscher Chef eines großen Theaters werde. „Ich habe gedacht, man könnte es 15 Jahre nach der Wende doch mal versuchen.”[Berliner PDS-Kultursenator Thomas] Flierl meint, er sei entsetzt gewesen über die Heftigkeit, mit der die Entscheidung für Hein „primär vor der Folie ostdeutscher Herkunft gespiegelt und als drohender Rückfall in einen anti- liberalen Kunstdirigismus interpretiert und diffamiert wurde”.
This is a really bad sign, I think. In part it seems to have to do with Hein's personality (a more stubborn person might have withstood this crap), but overall it signals a really firmly-ensconced Ostalgie backlash. I wonder if the media hadn't made such a big hoo-ha out of the last wave of Ostalgie whether Hein's appointment might have been recognized as the progressive step that it was.
"The DT isn't the first theatre that was offered to me," Hein said. Shortly after the Wende he turned down offers from two large houses because he had the feeling that the intellectual climate would not yet permit an East German to head a large theatre. "I thought one could try again fifteen years after the Wende."
[Berliner's Senator for Culture (PDS) Thomas] Flierl expressed his shock over the ferocity with which the decision to appoint Hein was "primarily seen against a backdrop of East German heritage and was interpreted, even villified as a threatening regression into anti-liberal art direction."
Posted by Heather at December 29, 2004 09:42 AM
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