BRUCKNER, FERDINAND

BRUCKNER, FERDINAND (pseudonym of Theodor Tagger; 1891–1958), German poet and playwright. Bruckner was born in Vienna, and studied music and law in Vienna and Paris. He began his literary career as a lyric poet and essayist, but soon became a playwright. In 1923 he founded and became director of the Renaissance-Theater in Berlin. After Hitler came to power, Bruckner wrote the first anti-Nazi exile-drama, a play titled Die Rassen (1934). This play was directed and performed in the Zürcher Schauspielhaus the same year. Bruckner emigrated to the U.S. He returned to Berlin in 1951, where he lived until his death. Most of Bruckner's plays deal with contemporary life and politics. One of his favorite themes was the struggle between the generations, which he dealt with in Krankheit der Jugend (1928), Die Verbrecher (1929), Die Rassen (1934), and Die Befreiten (1945). Bruckner also wrote several historical dramas, including Elisabeth von England (1930), Napoleon der Erste (1937), and Simon Bolivar (1945). His last play was Pyrrhus und Andromache (1952). -BIBLIOGRAPHY: H. Friedman and O. Mann, Deutsche Literatur im 20. Jahrhundert, 1 (1961), 162ff.; E. Rieder Laska, Ferdinand Bruckner (thesis, Heidelberg, 1961). ADD. BIBLIOGRAPHY: F. Bruckner, Werke, Tagebücher, Briefe, ed. H.G. Roloff (2003); G. Labroisse, in: Die Resonanz des Exil (1992), 154–63; H.P. Bayerdörfer, in: Deutsch jüdische Exilund Emigrationsliteratur (1993), 165–83. (Rudolf Kayser / Noam Zadoff (2nd ed.)