Died the Klaus Paimanone of the top forms of germleaving behind a particularly powerful imprint on both art and public sphere. Was known for the unconventional of the approach and the strong political nature of his directing choices.

His personality has been standing out since his childhood – as his teacher noted in 1947, Paiman stood out for the “triumphant style” of. Speaking of his life and work, he had said: “I was not born in 1937. I was born then as Claus Paan in Bremen. But my real birth was in 1968. And my illusion, in which I still believe as a mammoth that has passed, is that the theater is really responsible for utopias, responsible for a better world,”. This political view defined both its stage course and its public interventions.

Political dimension scandals

Paiman has repeatedly caused unrest in the cultural and political becomes of Germany. In the 1970s, she triggered a fierce dispute when she posted on the theater of the call of her mother’s mother -in -law Gudrone for financial aid to repair her daughter’s teeth, at a time when RAF terrorism was trying out the boundaries of society. Reactions-positive and negative-also in 2007, offering work-lecture to the prisoner Christian Clarine, as proposed by his social official.

Theater as a tool of intervention

Pamean wrote history in top theaters, such as Burgtheater in Vienna and the Berliner ensemble in Berlin. In 1965, in the midst of the war in Vietnam, he directed her Antigone of Sophocles (Brecht’s adaptation), giving the character of a character of social activism and anti -war message. In 1966 he presented the rigorous work “Screaming at the public” By Peter Handke, openly questioning traditional theatrical conventions.

In 1988, on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the founding of Burgtheater and the 50th anniversary of Austria’s annexation to Third Reich, he ordered Thomas Bernhard’s severe social commentary “Heroes Square”. The work reminded public opinion the guilty past of national socialism, causing a wave of reactions: then Austrian President Curt Waldoim described it as “Coarse of Austrian people”while a writer and director were targeted by extreme groups.

The legacy and the end of an era

Even in his last years, Claus Paan remained creative, though he observed that role of theater As a body of political dialogue he had now retreated: the theatrical halls ceased to fill, unlike the stadiums. In one of his latest interviews, he formulated his characteristic reflection: “Today is the goalkeeper’s ambiguration on the pitch. In a tragic sense, the one that makes the player of Hamlet of our time”.