Ilse Rodenberg

Ilse Rodenberg (born: Ilse Haupt: 3 November 1906 – 5 January 2006) was a Hamburg typist who became an actress and, later, an influential East German theatre director. She combined this with a political career, sitting as a member of the East German parliament for four decades between 1950 and 1990. She was a member not of the ruling SED (party) but of the National Democratic Party of Germany ( / NDPD), one of the smaller Block Parties which contributed a semblance of pluralism to the country's political structure.

Life Provenance and early years Ilse Haupt was born into a working-class family in Düsseldorf. During 1921/22 she attended a course at a commercial training college in Düsseldorf which led to a qualification as a typist. Between 1925 and 1938 she worked in Hamburg as a typist-secretary. She also found time, between 1926 and 1928, to obtain extra income with cleaning jobs,

Ilse Rodenberg's relationships with men is a topic that, in the words of one admiring commentator, involved much flexibility. She was married five times or perhaps only three: opinions vary. There is more agreement over the large number of affairs she conducted outside marriage, something about which, even by the standards of the time and place, she was always remarkably open.

She moved on again in 1958, taking over as theatre director at the "Friendship Theatre" in East Berlin. in 1950 and was the first theatre in Berlin that was targeted explicitly on children and adolescents. At the time, the only larger theatre of this nature was reportedly the "Children's Theatre" ("детский музыкальный театр") in Moscow. After 1958 Ilse Rodenberg played a central role in winning political and public backing for a dedicated children's theatre in Berlin. In 1966 she was a founder member of the Association of Theatre Creatives , becoming a member of its presidium and, later, honorary president.

Awards and honours

1961 Clara Zetkin Medal 1966 National Prize of the German Democratic Republic 3rd Class, for Arts and Literature 1970 Banner of Labour 1971 Patriotic Order of Merit in Gold 1976 Patriotic Order of Merit Gold clasp 1985 Humboldt University of Berlin Honorary doctorate. 1981 Star of People's Friendship in Gold 1986 Star of People's Friendship