Ernst Busch Academy of Dramatic Arts
Berlin institution of higher education as the National Theatre School in Berlin with the status of college then university status
The Ernst Busch Academy of Dramatic Arts (German: Hochschule für Schauspielkunst Ernst Busch, HFS), located in the Mitte district of Berlin, Germany, was founded in 1951 as the National Theatre School in Berlin with the status of college. In 1981, it was granted higher education status, and a year later, it was renamed after the East German singer and actor Ernst Busch.
History
Origins: 1905–1945
The origins of the university go back to the Max Reinhardt drama school established in 1905 at the Deutsches Theater Berlin. The first training facility was the ground floor of the Palais Wesendonkschen, where Reinhardt lived, near the Reichstag. In 1914, Reinhardt's childhood friend and fellow theatre artist Berthold Held became the school's first director.
Reinhardt emigrated in 1933, and the Nazis took over the theatre, along with the acting school. The director of the Deutsches Theater, Heinz Hilpert, secured subsidies for the first time in the school's history but struggled to keep the institution open. After 1945, Gustav von Wangenheim, back from exile in Russia, became director of the Deutsches Theater, shortly followed by Wolfgang Langhoff, who held the position for many years.
State drama school: 1951–1980s
The state drama school of Berlin was conceptually and legally established as a public institution in September 1951. In a conscious departure from previous practice, the somewhat remote training center known as the Old Boat House in Niederschöneweide, East Berlin, was selected.
“Ernst Busch Academy of Dramatic Arts” enters the record as berlin institution of higher education as the National Theatre School in Berlin with the status of college then university status. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Ernst, Busch and Academy can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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Object files, edition statements, performance records and contemporary criticism preserve different stages of the work’s history. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jun 25, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q895796. VIAF identifies the subject as 344145857900923020852. The Library of Congress control number is n95026350. Authority coordinates are 52.533, 13.383. 5 of 5 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1951, 1981, 1905 and 1945.
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This entry incorporates text from “Ernst Busch Academy of Dramatic Arts” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.