Ohnsorg-Theater Hamburg
Low German playhouse where a once-mocked dialect became must-watch national television.
Location
About this audio guide
This guide to the Ohnsorg-Theater in Hamburg follows Richard Ohnsorg, a librarian who grew up hearing neighbors apologize for speaking Plattdeutsch, the old Low German of the docks and merchant houses alike. You'll hear how he founded a stage in 1902 to put the dialect in front of a paying audience, moved his company through several names before settling into a former comedy house on the Große Bleichen in 1936, and didn't live to see the theater renamed for him in 1946. The guide then picks up a generation later with Heidi Kabel, the actress who carried his language further than he ever imagined, starting with NDR's first broadcasts of the theater's plays in 1954.
This audio guide was created using AI.
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