3.9.2023, 11 a.m., Atelier, Villa Schoeck
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The livelihood of Swiss creative artists in the interwar period and during the Second World War: The case of Oskar Eberle

Dr Heidy Greco-Kaufmann

Oskar Eberle (1902-1956) was both a theatre scholar and a theatre practitioner. He came from an old established family in Schwyz, studied in Germany, and endeavoured thereafter to establish himself professionally in Switzerland. His prime concerns included research into the theatre history of Central Switzerland, cultivating Switzerland’s cultural heritage, reforming amateur theatre and creating training centres for theatre studies and theatre practice. With his publications and lectures, and as a busy managing director of the „Society for Swiss Theatrical Culture“ (which he himself had founded), Eberle played an important role in the national cultural discourse. He finally also gained recognition as a stage director with his productions of open-air plays in Lucerne and Einsiedeln (the „Great Theatre of the World“) and with the festival plays he organised for the National Exhibition in Zurich in 1939 and the Federal Celebrations of 1941.

This lecture will shed light on the biographical circumstances and the livelihood of this Swiss man-of-the-theatre, who pursued his professional goals in the difficult economic and political environment of the interwar years and during the Second World War.

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