Paul Walter Jacob(P. Walter Jacob, Paul Walter)
Paul Walter Jacob(P. Walter Jacob, Paul Walter)
Denn alles, was wir im Augenblick dem Nazisystem entgegenstellen können und woraus dereinst […] eine Gegenkraft entstehen kann, das ist die geistige Ordnung, die wir den enttäuschten Massen, wenn einmal der Rausch verflogen sein wird, als Grundlage für einen neuen Kampf geben können.
[Because all we can currently set against the Nazi system, all that can one day become an opposing force [...] is the spiritual order which we will be able to give the disappointed masses once the frenzy has passed, the order which will become the bedrock of a new struggle. (ed. trans.)]
Paul Walter Jacob in a lecture on Verbotene Musik (Forbidden Music), given in Paris in 1934
| Born | on 26 January 1905 in Duisburg |
|---|---|
| Died | on 20 July 1977 in Schwäbisch-Hall |
| Exile | France, Luxembourg, Czechoslovakia, Argentina |
| Remigration | Federal Republic of Germany |
| Profession | Conductor, Conductor, Actor, Writer |
After working in Koblenz, Lübeck and Wuppertal, Paul Walter Jacob was appointed Director of Opera and Operetta at Essen’s Städtische Bühnen (Civic Theatres) in 1931. He had already experienced hostility in Wuppertal for being a Social Democrat. Paul Walter Jacob was dismissed in March 1933 after Essen’s press also vilified him for being a “Jew and Social Democrat”. Fearing arrest, he fled via Amsterdam to Paris shortly afterwards.
At the time of his flight, Paul Walter Jacob was not yet internationally renowned and it turned out to be impossible for him to continue his career as a director in exile. However, his many talents enabled him to make a living as a music critic and writer, actor, conductor and director at various locations in France, Luxembourg and Czechoslovakia. Due to the increasingly tense political situation in Europe, Paul Walter Jacob and his second wife, actress Liselott Reger, emigrated to Argentina at the end of 1938. While living in Buenos Aires, Jacob gave lectures and wrote for publications such as the Argentinisches Tageblatt [Argentine Daily]. In April 1940, he joined forces with Liselott Reger to found a German-language theatre, the Freie Deutsche Bühne, which he directed until 1949.
In 1950, Paul Walter Jacob returned to Germany and became the Artistic Director, later the General Director, of the Städtische Bühnen in Dortmund. In 1962, his contract was not renewed and he never again found a suitable position.
Selected works:
Zeitklänge. Komponisten-Porträts und Dirigenten-Profile [Sounds of the Times. Composer Portraits and Conductor Profiles] (1945)
Rampenlicht. Köpfe der Literatur und des Theaters [Limelight. Leading Figures in Literature and the Theatre] (1945)
Further reading:
Trapp, Frithjof: Zwischen Schönberg und Wagner. Musikerexil 1933-1945. Das Beispiel P. Walter Jacob. Berlin: Henschel Verlag 2005
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