Stumbling Stones in Chemnitz
Anton Richard Tauber
Richard Tauber
Born: 21 April 1861
Died: 04.08.1942
Laying location:
In front of the opera houseStumbling stone laying on:
29 May 2024
Photos of the laying of the Stumbling Stones
Life path
Anton Richard Tauber was General Director of the Vereinigte Stadttheater in Chemnitz from 1912 to 1930. His time in office went down in the city's theatre history as the "Tauber era". Born in Vienna in 1861 as the son of a Jewish wine merchant, Tauber's stage career began with acting lessons at the Burgtheater in Vienna. Before becoming Richard Jesse's successor in Chemnitz on 1 September 1912, Tauber had previously worked in Wels, Graz, Berlin, Prague and Wiesbaden. His theatre concept shaped the profile of the municipal theatres at a high artistic level and was thus able to elevate the Chemnitz theatres far beyond the framework of a provincial stage. He was the first person to be appointed general director in 1925, having become artistic director seven years earlier. He was an honorary member of the Deutscher Bühnenverein and the Vereinigung Deutscher Intendanten. On the occasion of his 50th stage anniversary in April 1928, his name was entered in the "Golden Book of the City of Chemnitz" with a dedication.
Anton Richard Tauber initially lived with his wife Elise Henriette in the house at Hoffmannstraße 58, formerly Akazienstraße, before the couple found a permanent home in the house at Helenenstraße 23. The sons of factory owner Martin Cohn still remembered their prominent neighbour decades later.
The stage career of his son, the world-famous tenor Richard Tauber junior, also began in Chemnitz with the role of Tamino in Mozart's "Magic Flute" on 2 March 1913. In 1929/30, Richard Tauber involuntarily became a pawn in the disputes between the political parties in the Chemnitz city council over cultural and theatre policy in the city, which also involved criticism of his work, including accusations of corruption, and his Jewish origins. In view of the fierce disputes, he decided not to extend his contract, took his leave at the end of the 1929/30 season and left Chemnitz.
After 1933, Richard Tauber, who had been baptised a Jew at an early age, also suffered the first reprisals with the city of Chemnitz cutting his pension payments, and in 1939 the payments were stopped altogether. From then on, Tauber and his sick wife had to rely on their son for support.
Tauber, who had moved to Dresden after his retirement, lived there at Weißer Hirsch (Kurparkstraße 8). From 1936, he lived in Italy and Switzerland. Anton Richard Tauber died in Pergassona near Lugano.
The Chemnitz artist Rudolf Pleißner, a brother of the women's rights activist Marie Luise Pleißner, painted a portrait of the General Director in 1927. The Kunstsammlungen Chemnitz acquired the portrait in the same year. It was exhibited in 2010 on the occasion of the celebrations to mark the 125th anniversary of the founding of the Jewish community in the rooms of the art collections. Tauber had already been appropriately photographed by Chemnitz photographer Joseph Rosner.
A street in Chemnitz has borne the name of the prominent son for several years.
Author: Dr Jürgen Nitsche
Stumbling Stones in Chemnitz
It is a project against forgetting: stumbling stones have been laid in Chemnitz every year since 2007.
Embedded in the pavement, the memorial stones commemorate the tragic fates of fellow citizens who were persecuted, deported, murdered or driven to their deaths during the National Socialist regime.
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