| German Ethnic Theatre represented a widespread phenomenon in the United States during the nineteenth century, in cities as well as rural communities where large German populations resided. As a development of German-America, or Deutschtum, German language theatre should be examined not only as an historical entity, but as a sociological phenomenon employed by an immigrant people as a defense against cultural assimilation. Germans of Missouri utilized theatre as a means of creating community, providing social involvement, and as an outlet for creative energies. By the middle of the nineteenth century, additional purposes were articulated, as leaders recognized the value of theatre as a vehicle for not only transmitting culture, but as a preserver of the German language.;Idealistic Forty-Eighters (Refugees of the 1848 German Revolution) promoted German art, encouraging theatre as a means of transmitting culture to the masses. This highly vocal minority created resentment within the German-American community, where few shared these elitist views, preferring theatre seasons of lighter material than German classics. Throughout the century, the elitist press of St. Louis failed to recognize theatres supported by the people, except those which fulfilled the cultural idealism of the gewahlt (elite) class. Except in the case of the Germania Theater, where the profit motive was the principal factor, the wealthy elite failed to actively support the German stage. Throughout the ninety-four year history of the German stage of St. Louis (1842-1935), it was the German-American middle class which supported the varied repertoire of theatres such as the Apollo (1859-1892), the Victoria (1912-1926), and the Intimes Theater (1903-1926).;Intense anti-slavery activities of the Forty-Eighters brought the entire German-American population, most of whom, although less vocal, shared the view, under the scrutiny of the Pro-Southern Missouri population. Nativists focused on the German habits of drinking and attending theatre and other social activities on Sundays. Anti-German reaction erupted into violence or censure before the Civil War, resulting in the closing of the St. Louis Opernhaus' professional German stage, and all of the German theatres in Rural Missouri, except at Hermann and Washington.;Proliferation of organizations seeking German-American support did irreparable harm to the stability of theatre. In Hermann, the competition of music societies and the Turnverein forced the Liebhabertheater, founded in 1843, to cease operation in 1876. The citizens of Washington wisely merged all activities under the auspices of the Turnverein, and consequently, enjoyed the benefits of their Liebhabertheater, founded in 1854, until 1914. The German community of St. Louis had to contend not only with the expansion of social organizations, but the proliferation of the theatres themselves. Only after 1896, did the destiny of the St. Louis German stage rest with only one theatre company, and it was supported by such organizations as the Deutscher Theater Verein (established in 1899) and the Kunstbienen (Art Bee) (1903), both of which represented a cross-section of Deutschtum.;Anti-German reaction in the nineteenth century had encouraged an isolationism within Deutschtum where energies were directed toward defenses against Americanization. Cultural Assimilation, however, relentlessly eroded the foundations of Deutschtum. Survival in an American society necessitated economic assimilation. Temperance proponents censured the Germans' social life, the legislature closed their schools, and their children became Americanized. While theatre lasted, and its life is virtually coincident with Deutschtum itself, German Ethnic Theatre had proved a valuable vehicle for preventing cultural assimilation. However, economic pressures, nativist defamation, and the German-Americans' failure to recognize their potential destiny, made assimilation inevitable. |
