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The Hebbel Theater in Berlin's Kreuzberg district, built in 1907/08, is one of the most beautiful theaters in Germany to have survived the war almost unscathed.
To this day, its mahogany-paneled Art Nouveau auditorium has lost none of its extraordinary charm.
Artistically, however, the Hebbel Theater has had a very unstable history, with frequent changes of ownership and name.
Many stars from Hans Albers to Inge Meysel and Willem Dafoe have appeared on stage here.
Esther Schweins introduces the "Hebbel" on the edge of Kreuzberg, which was forced by its location to constantly deal with new and surprising things.
Before the war, the Hebbel-Theater had big stars; after the war, it was one of the few undestroyed theaters to be used by the Americans for their "re-education" program.
In the 1960s, it developed into a popular theater in the best sense of the word, with audience favorites such as Harald Juhnke, Klaus Schwarzkopf, Rudolf Platte and Inge Meysel.
Then it got into financial difficulties and in 1978 the operators had to file for bankruptcy.
A year later, the Hebbel Theater was saved from demolition by a preservation order.
Subsequently, the theater was mainly used as an alternative venue by other Berlin theaters.
It is thanks to the private association Verein zur Rettung des Hebbel-Theaters in Berlin-Kreuzberg e. V., in which well-known actors and public figures are involved alongside Hans Rosenthal, that the dilapidated theater does not fall into oblivion.
At the beginning of 1989, Nele Hertling took over the house as managing and artistic director and within a few years transformed it into an attractive venue for contemporary, international, interdisciplinary theater at a high level.
Since the 2003/04 season, there is now the "HAU", the "Hebbel am Ufer".
Under the direction of Matthias Lilienthal, the Hebbel-Theater, the Theater am Halleschen Ufer and the Theater am Ufer in Berlin-Kreuzberg want to jointly establish themselves as a center for guest performances, dance and innovative theater projects.
Photographer Jim Rakete, former mayor Walter Momper and a former squatter talk about the turbulent times in Kreuzberg and their influence on the Hebbel Theater.
Excerpts from productions and archive footage document the eventful history of the theater.
