Geschichte des deutschsprachigen Theaters in Kroatien

Nikola Batušić (1938–2010), well renowned Croatian theatre scientist, has written this history of the German-speaking theatre in Croatia before the fall of the Berlin Wall. He thus committed the manuscript to the director of the former Commission for Theatre History of the Austrian Academy of Sciences to be printed. With the approval of his daughter and later executer of his will, Ida Raffaelli, the revised manuscript is now released with additional photographic material and updated bibliography. Batušić’s monography summarises his long-time researches, which were published during his lifetime in Croatian and are listed in the biography in the annex. For the first time his researches and results are now presented to a German-speaking public. Starting with the theatrical events of the Renaissance and continuing with the theatre plays of the Jesuits, who sensitized the public for regular theatre performances, Batušić shows how the discussed zones became part of a theatrical network of the German touring companies through the political administration of the Habsburg Monarchy. The interactions and interdependencies of the German-speaking Theatre owners with the young national theatrical efforts in Croatian language formed the basis of the later Croatian National Theatre. In Nikola Batušić’s monography all developments of the German Theatre in Croatia by the end of the Habsburg Monarchy are portrayed. Especially in our European present, which is characterized by migration and linguistic diversity, the interdependencies and interrelationships of German entrepreneurs and the development of a Croatian Theatre might be of special interest.