Photographs of Donat Herrnfeld

Photographer Unknown

Early 20th Century

Photograph of man in top hat looking off to the side.

Photograph of man standing with hands in his pockets.

The actor, comedian, and playwright Donat (David) Herrnfeld grew up in the small town of Raab (Győr) in Hungary; his family later moved to Vienna. Donat and his siblings performed and toured early on with their parents. In 1896, he and his brother Anton founded the Gebrüder Herrnfeld Theater in Berlin, which became a popular Yiddish theater for both Jewish and general audiences. The brothers wrote and performed in more than one hundred burlesque plays, some of which inspired silent movies. While the plays were praised by literary figures such as Kurt Tucholsky and Franz Kafka, there were also voices that warned that the stereotypical image of Jews portrayed by the Herrnfelds could play into the hands of antisemites. With the start of World War I, the plays became more serious and less whimsical, and revenues dropped significantly. Donat died in 1916; the theater was sold in 1918.

Credits

Peter Sprengel, Populäres jüdisches Theater in Berlin von 1877 bis 1933 (Berlin: Haude & Spenersche, 1997). Photo courtesy Harvard University Library.
Peter Sprengel, Populäres jüdisches Theater in Berlin von 1877 bis 1933 (Berlin: Haude & Spenersche, 1997). Photo courtesy Harvard University Library.

Published in: The Posen Library of Jewish Culture and Civilization, vol. 7.