Erich Kästner (1899-1974) was a "singer of the little man and the poet of the little freedoms” (Marcel Reich-Ranicki). With his witty and reflective verses that appear so simple, he guaranteed the continuity of the literary cabaret of the twenties into the postwar years. Following his first performances with his "utilitarian poetry” during the post-inflationary era of "new objectivity” prior to 1933 in Berlin cabarets such as Küka, the Tingel Tangel, Cabaret of the Comedians (Kabarett der Komiker) and Werner Finck’s Catacombs (Die Katakombe), he was only able to publish during the Third Reich with a special authorization or under a pseudonym. After the war, the pessimistic enlightener continued work of the Berlin era, now in Munich. With his melancholy and poetic songs, scenes, and sketches for the Showbooth (Schaubude) and Little Freedom (Kleine Freiheit), he influenced the cabaret of the years immediately following war until the foundation of two German states. His ideal of the cabaret as a moral and philosophical institution and a lyrical theater of the times anticipated the political and satirical ensemble cabarets of the fifties. "My writing is directed against the indolence of the heart and the stubbornness of the mind.” (Erich Kästner)

Otto Grünmandl (1924-2000) was the cranky philosopher of the outlying districts, who told his stories about the lunacy of banality with stoic calm but with complicated intellectual processes. During his work as the head of entertainment for the Tyrolean broadcasting network, he presented his first solo program for the Austrian Radio in 1967. The grumpy comic made the lack of punch lines his punch line, for "the best way to be silent is to talk” (Grünmandl in "My Name Isn’t Oblomow”). Bizarre paradoxes and parodies taken to absurdist extremes characterized the "Alpine Interviews” ("Alpenländische Interviews”) with which he earned his reputation on the radio from 1973 on. Here, the everyday phenomena included a canary that tumbled to his doom while mountain climbing. "What tongue-twisting weasel-like swiftness is for Jandl, tapir-like slowness is for Grünmandl. His one-man barroom gang could grace any performance of Horvath—torture from the Vienna Woods. … Here reason and logic are mercilessly taken to the point of higher nonsense. If one could invent an absurdist cabaret, then he has done it.” (Süddeutsche Zeitung, 1980)

Ernst Busch (1900-1980) was the singer of the proletariat and of proletarian history, a nuanced king of the democratic worker’s song. As the “singing heart of the working class” (according to Hanns Eisler), he performed songs of Tucholsky and Kästner in the Berlin cabarets Stuff and Nonsense (Larifari), the Catacombs (Katakombe) and in the Cabaret of the Comedians (Kabarett der Komiker); he also sang at demonstrations and worker’s meetings. After emigrating in 1933, he took part in the Spanish Civil War, and when interned in France, he led the theater group at the camp Gurs and performed in Peter Pan’s cabaret. He was extradited to Germany in 1943 and sentenced to a life term in prison. After liberation, the “Gründgens of the GDR” revived his career as a powerful actor of the people in numerous films and in Berlin ensembles. “Not an entertainer, not a sentimentalist, nor a dry reciter of revolution, but rather a militant artist of our times. When Busch sings political songs, they retain their humor in all their seriousness, and their seriousness in their humor. They keep us alert. They are hits and others keep singing them.”

Werber Schneyder on Cabaret, art and history.

German-German history as reflected in political cabaret': ridiculed separately and laughed together. Cover poster: Klaus Staeck. The poster texts are accompanied by text panels. A version in Polish is available.

Max Reinhardt on Cabaret.

Cabaret as a form of satire, its literary, political, philosophical and poetic content are at the forefront of documentary interest; the ongoing collection and scientific utilization of its diverse manifestations is the central task of the German Cabaret Archive

The playful, satirical form of cabaret and its literary, philosophical, and poetic qualities are the focus of our documentary interest. The central task of the German Cabaret Archives is the continuous collection and the availability of these materials to academics and historians