Herrmann, Max

Born May 14, 1865, in Berlin; died Nov. 17, 1942, in the Terezin concentration camp. German historian of literature and the theater. Founder of German scientific study of the theater.

Herrmann began teaching at the University of Berlin in 1891 with a course on the history of literature. From 1901 he concentrated on the history and theory of the theater. He was the author of Research on the History of the German Theater of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, published in 1914. He used extensive documentary material and endeavored to recreate plays of the past. However, his idealistic worldview made him view the theatrical productions of the past as isolated from general historical and literary developments. In 1923 the Institute of Theater History was established at the University of Berlin on his initiative. After the fascist coup d’etat in Germany, he was removed from his post of professor and confined in a concentration camp where he died.