Artur Kutscher

Artur Kutscher
Leutnant Prof. Dr. phil. Kutscher in the uniform of the Reserve Infantry Regiment No. 92
Born	Artur Heinrich Theodor Christoph Kutscher 17 July 1878(1878-07-17) Hannover, Province of Hanover, Kingdom of Prussia, German Empire
Died	29 August 1960 (aged 82) Munich, Bavaria, West Germany
Nationality	German
Alma mater	University of Munich, Kiel and Berlin (Doctor of Philosophy)
Occupation	Literature, writer, scholar

Artur Heinrich Theodor Christoph Kutscher (1878–1960) was a German officer, literary and theater scholar as well as university professor.

Life

Artur Kutscher, in: "Internationales Germanistenlexikon 1800–1950"

Artur Kutscher settled in Munich after studying philosophy, literature, art history and Germanistik in Munich, Kiel and Berlin (doctorate in Munich in 1903). He then completed his mandatory military service as a one-year volunteer (Einjährig-Freiwilliger) in Hanover and traveled through Austria-Hungary, Switzerland, Italy and France. In 1907, he completed his habilitation in literary studies in Berlin, became a private lecturer in the same year and an außerordentlicher (n. b. a. o.) or extraordinary professor (not holding a chair) for modern German literature in Munich in 1915.

Together with Max Herrmann he can be seen as a founding father of theatre studies in Germany. He was a professor at Munich University, where he taught a famous seminar in theatre history. Kutscher was a friend of the iconoclastic dramatist and cabaret-star Frank Wedekind. His work influenced many playwrights, poets, and directors. His students included Bertolt Brecht (studied in 1917), Erwin Piscator (studied in 1913), Peter Hacks, Hanns Johst, Klabund, and Erich Mühsam. Brecht's first full-length play, Baal (written 1918), was written in response to an argument in one of Kutscher's drama seminars. While Kutscher was responsible for inspiring an admiration for Wedekind in the young Brecht, he was "bitterly critical" of Brecht's own early dramatic writings.

During the First World War (all together, he served 21 war months), he served as a Landwehr officer on the Western Front and led the 8th company of the Reserve Infantry Regiment No. 92 under Lieutenant Colonel (later Major General) Robert Otto Rudolf von Wegerer (1867–1963). There he collected soldiers' songs and wrote a "war diary" (Kriegstagebuch, 2 volumes, 1915/1916). Oberleutnant der Landwer (1st Lieutenant) Kutscher was wounded in April 1916 and transported to a military hospital in Munich. Shortly after his return to the war front in the summer of 1916, Kutscher was released home as unfit for field service. In 1917, he was promoted to Hauptmann der Landwehr (Captain).

In 1929, he became a member of the Stahlhelmbund. In 1933, he joined the National Socialist Teachers League (NSLB). From 1934 to 1935, he was a member of the Reichsschutzbund. In 1938, he also became a member of the National Socialist People's Welfare (NSV) and the NS-Reichskriegerbund. After becoming a professor in 1940, he went on a lecture trip to Norway by plane. He applied for admission to the NSDAP on 12 December 1941 and was accepted on 1 January 1942 (membership number 8,802,675). In 1944, his home in the Antonienstraße (Munich) was destroyed by bombs.

After WWII and a while as POW by the Americas, he was once again professor (as of summer semester, 26 June 1946). Then in November 1946, he was removed from office for the second time: this time “even dismissed, and without a new reason,” as Kutscher states in an emergency call to creative people who know him. In the meantime, Kutscher has been declared completely exonerated by the denazification tribunal. His dismissal was reversed in August 1947 and from the following winter semester (9 October 1947) onwards he continued to read regularly. He retired on 30 April 1951.

Family

Artur was the son of teacher Carl A. Kutscher (1839–1889), head of a speech clinic (developed a successful treatment for stuttering), and his wife Eleonore W. E. Zieseniß (1855–1938).

Marriages

In 1907, Kutscher married his fiancée Gertrud Schaper. Daughter Rotraut (14 December 1908 – 26 April 1986; married Hinderks-Kutscher) would become an author and illustrator of children's and young adult books. The couple divorced in 1913. In May 1916, still in military hospital in Munich, Kutscher met Babette [Bettina] "Betti" Karolina Pachtner (b. 6 June 1891 in Munich; d. 1967). They fell head over heels in love. On 10 June 1916, they married and would have five children:

• Ilse (1917–1925)
• Irmgard (b. 27 September 1918; 2015), author and translator (Kutscher-Acha, married from 1940 to 1971)
• Gotlinde (b. 25 September 1920)
• Hubert (b. 23 February 1922 in Munich; ⚔ 7 September 1942 in Pschu, Caucasus)
• Elisabeth Helene "Kriemhilde" (b. 20 June 1926)

Awards, decorations and honours

• Iron Cross (1914), 2nd Class in mid-September 1914
• Military Merit Order (Bavaria), 4th Class with Swords (BMV4⚔) in 1915
• Ehrenkreuz für Frontkämpfer
• Order of the Phoenix (Greece), Knight's Cross in Gold in 1936
• Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany, Great Cross of Merit (Großes Verdienstkreuz) in 1958

Honours

• Kutscherweg in Cernay, path named by the soldiers of the 8th Company in honour of their leader, Leutnant Kutscher
• Artur-Kutscher-Platz in Schwabing-Freimann (Munich) in 1961
• Artur-Kutscher-Brunnen (Munich) in 1968
• Artur-Kutscher-Realschule (Munich)

Works (excerpt)

• Das Naturgefühl in Goethes Lyrik bis zur Ausgabe der Schriften von 1789, dissertation 1903, published partially in Hannover 1904, completely Leipzig 1906
• Friedrich Hebbel als Kritiker des Dramas. Seine Kritik und ihre Bedeutung, Berlin 1907
• Die Kunst und unser Leben, 1909
• Das richtige Soldatenlied. Verse und Singweisen im Felde gesammelt, G. Grothe, Berlin 1917
• Frank Wedekind, sein Leben und seine Werke. With plates, including portraits (Frank Wedekind, his Life and his Work), 1922
• Grundriss der Theaterwissenschaft (Compendium of Dramatics), 2 Vols., 1932-1937
  • new edition in one volume in 1949
• Drama und Theater, 1946
• Stilkunde des deutschen Dichtung (Stylistics of German Fiction), 1949
• Der Theaterprofessor (The Theatre Professor), 1960 (autobiography)