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IX. Czech Puppeteers under
the Nazi occupation
The historical events of 1938, when the Munich
agreement led to the dissolution of the Czechoslovak Republic and, in spring
1939, the occupation of the whole Czech lands by nazi Germany, together with
the ensuing outbreak of the second world war, had a profound effect on the
whole of the Czech nation. The initial skepticism and despair was soon replaced
by a national determination not to submit to the pressure of the German
occupants and protect the threatened national identity, especially in the field
of national culture ant the arts. Needless to say, this new situation also had
consequences for Czech puppetry. With the annexation of the border regions,
Czech puppeteering lost almost a quarter of its puppet theatres. The outlawing
of the Sokol organisation in 1940 had a particularly harsh effect on Czech
puppeteering, as its puppet component was one of the most active elements of
Czech puppetry at that time.
One notable characteristic of the period of occupation was a reawakening of
public interest in the productions of the folk puppeteers. This phenomenon was
related to the tremendous revival of interest in folk culture, where the
threatened nation perceived its cultural roots. The descendants of Mat?j
Kopecký, especially Antonín Kopecký, the Maisners, Dubskýs and other folk
puppeteers reminded spectators of the national revival, that important period
in Czech history, with their patriotic plays, and they found grateful
audiences, even in towns with a developed theatre culture.
The activity of Josef Skupa and his travelling company occupy a unique
position in the history of Czech puppetry of the period. Already in the second
half of the 30s, Skupa was attempting to react to the growing danger of
fascism. At the beginning of the occupation he wrote together with F. Wenig, an
allegorical comedy Merry-go round with Three Floors in which he
satirized the occupational designs of Hitler in the bossy figure of Mrs
Drbálková (Mrs Gossip). Other allegorical comedies: Bouquets (1939), Long
Live Tomorrow (1941) and Miracles Today and Tomorrow (1942) were
written for Skupa´s company by J. Malík under the pseudonym Ji?í Kubeš.
Hundreds of performances of these plays were seen by thousands of spectators,
who fully comprehended their symbolism. With his plays, in which even Spejbl
and Hurvínek were somewhat altered because they too had become victims of the
tragic historical events, Skupa gave his audience restored faith in the future.
The performances of his theatre became silent demonstrations of patriotism and
determination to continue to resist the occupying powers. The Gestapo reacted
against this in January 1944 by arresting Josef Skupa and disbanding his
company.
The events of the war in 1945 in some towns completely paralysed the activity
of even the puppet theatres. Only a few theatres e.g. Prague´s Realm of
Puppets of the PULS handpuppet company, were able to play almost up to
the final days of the war. Many puppeteers were however already preparing to
renew their activities once the war was over. The prevalent tend of thought was
that after the war, it was necessary to guarantee the growth of Czech
puppeteering, first and foremostly by forming new organisations and especially
by regulating puppet theatre and thereby putting it on an equal footing with
the other theatrical forms. In was obvious to many amateur puppeteers that the
foremost puppet theatres had already reached such a level that the amateur
statutes would restrict their further growth, and therefore their future
development should be to focus purely on the establishment of professional
puppet theatres - the development of Skupa´s theatre fully supporting them in
this opinion. So they started to prepare for these changes. Thus the end of the
war marked the end of the phase of amateur puppeteering , which had lasted for
more than half a century. With their searching, experimentation and the results
of their work, the amateur puppeteers of the first half of the 20th century had
fulfilled their historic task - they had paved the way for Czech puppet theatre
to enter a new phase of development in which in the post-war years the baton
was passed on to the professional puppeteers.
(Author: Alice Dubská, Czech Puppet Theatre over the Centuries)
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