Theater Poster

In the post-World War II era, student life, previously dominated by National Socialist organizations, began to experience new freedoms. Starting in 1948, an amateur student theater emerged at Karlsruhe Polytechnic called Studio Stage (Studiobühne). This theater group performed contemporary plays, including works that, whilst known to only a few today, were considered novel at the time. One such play was Fünf Mann – ein Brot (Five Men – One Loaf) by Hermann Roßmann (1902–1985), a prisoner-of-war drama that was performed on many stages. In Karlsruhe, it was directed by Waldemar Leitgeb, an actor at the state theater who had a teaching assignment to train students in developing skills outside their formal curriculum. The performances provided a collaborative experience, allowing students to engage in a project from its inception through to its presentation in front of a Karlsruhe audience. This experience was particularly valuable, considering the frequently solitary nature of academic study. The rhetorical training provided by Leitgeb also had lasting benefits for some students in their later careers, such as Ernst-Ulrich Hiersche (1931–2015), who later became professor of road construction and railway engineering in Karlsruhe. Initially, the student theater was lambasted by the local press. In 1955, one critic even wrote: “One wouldn’t even want to see the play […] performed by professional actors anymore.” kn