Theater am Nollendorfplatz

 

The most eye-catching building in Nollendorfplatz was (and still is) the Theater am Nollendorfplatz. Its name has changed several times, it has also been known as Neues Schauspielhaus, Goya and today it is called Metropol.

It was built in 1905-1906, on the SW part of the square, at the same time as the elevated U-Bahn. Its style was labeled modern, with elements of Art Nouveau. A concert hall (the Mozartsaal), upstairs, was part of the building. In 1911 it was transformed into a movie-theater. In 1930, the premiere of the pacifist film All Quiet on the Western Front took place at the Mozartsaal, a premiere disrupted by a Nazi mob led by Goebbels and which ultimately led to the prohibition of the film in Germany.

The theater staged mostly operettes, but during 1927 and 1931 it was the scene of Erwin Piscator’s productions. Piscator’s was an avant garde and political theater, which used such modern techniques as film-projections, multiple or simultaneous setting and motorized bridges. John Heartfield, George Grosz and Bertolt Brecht, all of them with close ties to the political left, took part in these productions.

September 6th 1929 was the date for the premiere of Der Kaufmann von Berlin, by the playwright Walter Mehring. The play caused wild debate and the Nazis paraded outside the theater.

There was a café, the Café Woerz, in the building, with entrance on the Motzstrasse.

The theater was severely damaged during WWII, but it could be restored.

 

 

The Mozartsaal

 

 

The building today