Brüggmann, Walter

(1884-1945)

   Director. Brüggmann was well known for his leftist sympathies in the Weimar Republic, but remained for a time in the Third Reich as director of the Bavarian State Theater. In 1935 he won approval of the Propaganda Ministry to begin directing at Max Reinhardt's former Grosses Schauspielhaus, which the Nazis renamed Theater des Volkes (Theater of the People). His most significant production there was The Taming of the Shrew with an aging Gerda Müller as Katherine. Brüggmann was fired in 1936 for making anti-Nazi comments and for "moral degradation," presumably homosexual activities. Jailed for nine months in 1937, he subsequently emigrated to Switzerland, where he worked steadily in Bern. In 1942 the Propaganda Ministry invited him to return to Berlin, but he turned down the offer and remained in Bern for the rest of his career.