Georg Betz (15 June 1903 – 2 May 1945) was a SS officer (SS number: 625,419), who rose to the rank of SS-Obersturmbannfuhrer during World War II. Betz served as Adolf Hitler's personal co-pilot and Hans Baur's substitute. Betz was present in the Führerbunker in Berlin in late April 1945. On 1 May 1945, Betz took part in the break-out from the Reich Chancellery in Berlin. Early on 2 May 1945, Betz was wounded and died while crossing the Weidendammer Bridge which was under heavy fire from Soviet troops.^[1]

Biography[link]

Betz was born in Kolbermoor near Rosenheim (Bavaria). He attended college for mechanical engineering in Munich. Betz then trained as a pilot. In 1932, he became a captain and flew European routes for Lufthansa. He joined the SS and was transferred to the staff of Reichsführer-SS Heinrich Himmler. Betz was appointed captain of the reserve aircraft of Die Fliegerstaffel des Führers. Betz served as Hitler's personal co-pilot and Hans Baur's substitute. Betz was promoted to SS-Obersturmbannfuhrer on 30 January 1944.^[1] He further held the rank of Oberstleutnant der Reserve in the Luftwaffe.

Berlin[link]

By 30 April 1945, the Soviet Red Army was less than 500 metres from the bunker complex. That afternoon, Betz was present in the Führerbunker during the time when Hitler committed suicide.^[2] In one of Hitlers last orders, he had given permission for the Berlin forces to attempt a breakout of the Soviet encirclement after his death.^[3] General Helmuth Weidling, commander of the Berlin Defence Area, and SS-Brigadeführer Wilhelm Mohnke, the (Kommandant) Battle Commander for the centre government district, devised a plan to escape out from Berlin to the Allies on the western side of the Elbe or to the German Army to the North. Mohnke split up the Reich Chancellery and Führerbunker soldiers and personnel into ten main groups.^[4] Betz left the Reich Chancellery as part of one of the groups attempting to break out. After midnight on 2 May 1945, Betz was part of a large group of German soldiers and civilians who crossed the Weidendammer Bridge while under heavy fire from Soviet tanks and guns. Betz was wounded during the crossing. According to Erich Kempka, he came across Betz and left him in the care of Kaethe Hausermann.^[5] Other sources give more details as to Betz's fate, stating that he died from his wounds received in the area of the Weidendammer bridge. Betz was age 42.^[1]

See also[link]

• Battle of Berlin
• List of Nazi Party leaders and officials
• List of SS personnel

Notes[link]

References[link]

• Beevor, Antony (2002). Berlin: The Downfall 1945. London: Viking-Penguin Books. ISBN 0-670-03041-4. 
• Fischer, Thomas (2008). Soldiers of the Leibstandarte: SS-Brigadefuhrer Wilhelm Mohnke and 62 Soldiers of Hitler's Elite Division. Winnipeg: J.J. Fedorowicz. ISBN 978-0-921991-91-5. 
• Joachimsthaler, Anton (1999) [1995]. The Last Days of Hitler: The Legends, the Evidence, the Truth. Trans. Helmut Bögler. London: Brockhampton Press. ISBN 978-1-86019-902-8. 
• Trevor-Roper, Hugh (1992) [1947]. The Last Days of Hitler. Chicago, IL: University Of Chicago Press. ISBN 0-226-81224-3. 

Dario Fo
Dario Fo in Milan
Born	(1926-03-24) 24 March 1926 (age 86) Sangiano, Varese, Italy
Occupation	Playwright, Actor, Director, Composer
Nationality	Italian
Period	Post-war era
Genres	Drama
Subjects	Corruption, organised crime, political murders, religion, war
Literary movement	Revival of commedia dell'arte
Notable work(s)	Accidental Death of an Anarchist, Can't Pay? Won't Pay!, Trumpets and Raspberries, Elizabeth: Almost by Chance a Woman, The Pope and the Witch
Notable award(s)	Nobel Prize in Literature 1997
Spouse(s)	Franca Rame
Children	Jacopo Fo
Influences Bertholt Brecht, Antonio Gramsci
www.dariofo.it

Dario Fo (born 24 March 1926) is an Italian satirist, playwright, theatre director, actor, composer and recipient of the 1997 Nobel Prize in Literature. His dramatic work employs comedic methods of the ancient Italian commedia dell'arte, a theatrical style popular with the working classes.

Fo's works are characterised by criticisms of organised crime, political corruption, political murders, most of the Catholic Church doctrine and conflict in the Middle East. His plays often depend on improvisation, commedia dell'arte style. His plays, especially Mistero Buffo, have been translated into 30 languages and, when performed outside Italy, they are often modified to reflect local political and other issues. Fo encourages directors and translators to modify his plays as they see fit, as he finds this in accordance to the commedia dell'arte tradition of on-stage improvisation.

Fo currently owns and operates a theatre company with his wife, actress Franca Rame. Upon awarding him the 1997 Nobel Prize in Literature, the committee highlighted Fo as a writer "who emulates the jesters of the Middle Ages in scourging authority and upholding the dignity of the downtrodden".^[1]

Biography[link]

Early life[link]

Fo was born in Sangiano, in the province of Varese, near the eastern shore of Lago Maggiore. His father, Felice, was a stationmaster for the Italian state railway, and the family frequently moved when Felice was transferred to new postings. Felice was also an amateur actor and a socialist. Fo learned storytelling from his maternal grandfather and Lombard fishers and glassblowers.

In 1940, Fo moved to Milan to study architecture at the Brera Academy, but World War II intervened. His family was active in the anti-fascist Resistance and reputedly he helped his father to smuggle refugees and Allied soldiers to Switzerland. His father helped smuggle Jewish scientists to safety in Switzerland. ^[2] Near the end of the war, Fo was conscripted into the army of the Republic of Salò, but he escaped and hid for the remainder of the war in an attic. ^[2]

After the war Fo continued his architectural studies in Milan. Initially he commuted from Lago Maggiore, but soon his family moved to Milan. There Fo became involved in the piccoli teatri (small theatres) movement, in which he began to present improvised monologues. In 1950 he began to work for Franco Parenti's theatre company, and gradually abandoned his work as an assistant architect.

1950s[link]

In 1951, Fo met Franca Rame, daughter of a theatrical family, when they were working in the revue Sette giorni a Milano, and they eventually became engaged. In 1951 he was invited to perform a radio play Cocorico on RAI (Italian national radio). He made 18 satirical monologues where he adapted biblical tales as political satire. Scandalized authorities cancelled the show. In 1953, Fo wrote and directed a satirical play Il dito nell'occhio. After initial success both government and Church authorities censored his work and the theatre company had trouble finding theatres in which to perform it. Rame and Fo were married on 24 June 1954. They had a son, Jacopo (born 31 March 1955), who also became a writer.

In 1955, Fo and Rame worked in movie production in Rome. Fo became a screenwriter and worked for many productions, including those of Dino De Laurentiis. Rame worked in Teatro Stabile of Bolzano. In 1956 Fo and Rame were together in the Carlo Lizzani's film Lo svitato. Other movies followed. In 1959, the couple returned to Milan and founded the Compagnia Dario Fo-Franca Rame. Fo wrote scripts, acted, directed, and designed costumes and stage paraphernalia. Rame took care of the administration. The company débuted in Piccolo Teatro and then initiated its first annual nationwide tour.^{[citation needed]}

1960s[link]

In 1960, Fo and Rame gained national recognition with Gli arcangeli non giocano a flipper (Archangels Don't Play Pinball) in Milan's Teatro Odeon. Other successes followed. In 1961 Fo's plays began to play in Sweden and Poland.

In 1962, Fo wrote and directed a game show, Canzonissima, for RAI. He used the show to depict the lives of ordinary people and it was a great success. However, an episode about a journalist who was killed by the Mafia led to Fo and Rame receiving death threats and being placed under police protection. They left the show when RAI made more cuts to the program. The Italian Actors' Union told its members not to replace the couple in their roles. Fo and Rame were effectively banned from RAI for the next 15 years. They continued their work in Teatro Odeon.^{[citation needed]}

In 1962, Fo's play about Christopher Columbus, entitled Isabella, Three Tall Ships, and a Con Man, was subject to violent attacks by fascist groups in Rome. The Italian Communist Party provided security for Fo and Rame. Fo recounted this event in the prologue of Johan Padan and the Discovery of the Americas. La Signora è da buttare (1967) made topical comments on the Vietnam War, Lee Harvey Oswald, and the assassination of John F. Kennedy. The U.S. government consistently denied Fo a visa to enter the U.S. for many years under the now defunct McCarran-Walter Act.^{[citation needed]}

Nonetheless, he gained international fame with Archangels Don't Play Pinball, when it was performed in Zagreb. In 1968, Fo and Rame founded Associazione Nuova Scena theatre collective with movable stages, which toured throughout Italy. In Milan, an abandoned factory was converted into a theatre and became the home of another new stage company, Il Capannone di Via Colletta. The collective had links to the Italian Communist Party, but Fo openly criticised the Party's methods and policies in his plays. Soon the Party's press opposed him as much as the Catholic Church, and many performances were cancelled. Fo had never been a Communist Party member but the conflict made Rame resign her Party membership.^{[citation needed]}

Fo withdrew all rights to perform his plays in Czechoslovakia in protest after Warsaw Pact forces crushed the Prague Spring in 1968, and refused to accept cuts demanded by Soviet censors. Productions of his plays in the Eastern Bloc ended. In 1969, he presented for the first time Mistero Buffo ("Comic Mystery"), a play of monologues based on a mix of medieval plays and topical issues. It was popular, and ran for 5000 performances, some even in sports arenas.^{[citation needed]}

1970s[link]

Dario Fo in Cesena (in 2008)

In 1970, Fo and Rame left Associazione Nuova Scena due to political differences. They began their third theatre group, Collettivo Teatrale La Comune. It produced plays based on improvisation about contemporary issues. Accidental Death of an Anarchist (1970) criticized abuse of forces of law and order; he wrote it after a terrorist attack on the Banca Nazionale dell'Agricoltura in Milan. Fedayin (1971) was about a volatile situation in Palestine and performers included genuine PLO members. From 1971-85, the group donated part of its income to support strikes of Italian labor organizations. In 1973 the company moved to Rossini Cinema in Milan.

When Fo criticised police in one of his plays, police raids and censorship increased. On 8 March, a fascist group, reportedly commissioned by high ranking officials in Milan's Carabinieri, the Italian federal police, kidnapped Franca Rame, torturing and raping her.^[3] Rame returned to the stage two months later with new anti-fascist monologues.

Later in that year, the company occupied an abandoned market building in Central Milan and dubbed it the Palazzina Liberty. They opened in September with Guerra di popolo in Cile, about a rebellion against Chilean military government. It was written because of the deposing and assassination of Salvador Allende. Fo was arrested when he tried to prevent police from stopping the play. The 1974 play, Can't Pay? Won't Pay!, was a farce about the self-reduction movement where women (and men) would take what they wanted from markets, only paying what they could afford. In 1975, Fo wrote Fanfani rapito in support of a referendum for the legalization of abortion. Fo was nominated for the Nobel Prize for the first time.

In 1976, the new director of RAI2, Massimo Fichera, invited Fo to create a new programme, Il teatro di Dario (Dario's Theatre). However, when the second edition of Mistero Buffo' was shown on Italian television in 1977, the Vatican described it as "blasphemous", prompting complaints from Italian right-wingers. Rame, however, was awarded an IDI prize for Best Television Actress. In 1978, Fo made the third version of Mistero Buffo. He also rewrote and directed La storia di un soldato (Story of a Soldier), based on an opera by Igor Stravinsky. It was a success. Later he adapted operas from Gioacchino Rossini. He also wrote a play about the murder of Aldo Moro, but it has never been performed in public.^{[citation needed]}

1980s[link]

In 1980, Fo and his family founded a retreat, the Libera Università di Alcatraz, in the hills near Gubbio and Perugia. They bought the valley bit by bit. The retreat is currently run by Fo and Rame's son, Jacopo Fo.

In 1981, Cambridge's American Repertory Theater invited Fo to perform in the Italian Theatre Festival in New York. The United States Department of State initially refused to grant Fo a visa but agreed to issue a six-day visa in 1984 after various U.S. writers protested the ruling. In 1985, he received another visa and performed at Harvard University, Repertory Theater, the Yale Repertory Theater, Washington's Kennedy Center, Baltimore's Theatre of Nations and New York's Joyce Theatre.

Despite the acclaim, Fo continued to experience problems. In 1983, Italian censors rated Coppia Aperta forbidden to anyone under the age of 18. During a performance in Argentina, a saboteur threw a tear gas grenade, and performances were disturbed by youths who threw stones at the windows. Catholics picketed the performance with large religious pictures.^{[citation needed]}

In 1989 Fo wrote Lettera dalla Cina to protest the Tiananmen Square Massacre.

Since 1990[link]

On 17 July 1995, Fo suffered a stroke and lost most of his sight; Rame subsequently took his place in productions for awhile. He recovered almost fully within a year.

In 2006, Fo made an attempt to run for mayor of Milan, the most economically important city of Italy, finishing second in the primary election held by the centre-left The Union. Fo, who received more than 20% of the vote, was supported by the Communist Refoundation Party.

Franca Rame was elected as senator for the Italy of Values party in the 2006 Italian general election held from 9-10 April 2006. As of 2010, Fo and Rame are independent members of the Communist Refoundation Party (PRC – Partito della Rifondazione Comunista).^[4]

Fo remains an active participant and campaigner on various political, social and cultural issues.^[5] Fo questioned the official accounts of the September 11 attacks and the collapse of the World Trade Center buildings in the film. ^[6]

Awards and honours[link]

• 1981 Sonning Prize from Copenhagen University
• 1985 Premio Eduardo Award
• 1986 Obie Award in New York
• 1987 Agro Dolce Prize
• Honorary doctorate from the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (in Belgium)
• 1997 Nobel Prize in Literature

List of works[link]

Translated titles

• Archangels Don't Play Pinball (1959)
• He Had Two Pistols with White and Black Eyes (1960)
• He Who Steals a Foot is Lucky in Love (1961)
• Isabella, Three Tall Ships, and a Con Man (1963)
• Mistero Buffo (Comic Mystery, 1969)
• The Worker Knows 300 Words, the Boss 1000, That's Why He's the Boss (1969)
• Accidental Death of an Anarchist (1970)
• Fedayin (1971)
• We Won't Pay! We Won't Pay! (Non Si Paga! Non Si Paga!) (aka Can't Pay? Won't Pay!) (1974)
• Mama's Marijuana is the Best (1976)
• All House, Bed, and Church (1977)
• The Tale of a Tiger (1978)
• Trumpets and Raspberries (1981)
• The Open Couple (1983)
• Elizabeth: Almost by Chance a Woman (1984)
• One was Nude and One wore Tails (1985)
• Abducting Diana (1986) – Adapted to English in 1996 by Stephen Stenning
• The Tricks of the Trade (Manuale minimo dell'attore) [1987] (1991)^[7]
• The Zeedonk and the Shoe (1988)
• The Pope and the Witch (1989)
• A Woman Alone (1991)
• Johan Padan and the Discovery of the Americas (1992)
• The Devil with Boobs (1997)
• The First Miracle of the Infant Jesus
• Orgasmo Adulto Escapes from the Zoo
• About Face
• The Virtuous Burglar
• Francis The Holy Jester (2009)

English translations

A number of Fo's plays have been translated into the English language, including Abducting Diana and St Francis – The Holy Jester (Beautiful Books Limited, UK, 2009)

References[link]

Literature[link]

• Scuderi, Antonio: Dario Fo: Framing, Festival, and the Folkloric Imagination. Lanham (Md.): Lexington Books, 2011. ISBN 978-0-7391-5111-2.

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Dario Fo

• Dario Fo at Nobelprize.org (English)
• Official website of Fo's candidacy as Mayor of Milan (Italian)

Portals Access related topics

Society portal Theatre portal Writing portal World War II portal Catholicism portal Italy portal

Georg Schramm
Schramm as Lothar Dombrowski on stage in 2006.
Born	(1949-03-11) 11 March 1949 (age 63) Bad Homburg vor der Höhe, Germany
Nationality	German
Occupation	Kabarett artist, psychologist
Website
georg-schramm.de

Georg Schramm (born 11 March 1949 in Bad Homburg vor der Höhe) is a German psychologist and Kabarett artist. He was a host of the Kabarett shows Scheibenwischer and Neues aus der Anstalt.

Biography[link]

Schramm was born as the son of a worker in Bad Homburg vor der Höhe. His father was a member of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) which influenced his later performances as a Kabarett artist.^[1] He then enlisted for the Bundeswehr as a short-term career soldier which he retired from as a reserve officer. Afterwards he studied psychology in Bochum and worked as a psychologist in a rehab clinic from 1976 to 1988.^[1] Since 1992 he works full time as a Kabarett artist.

Kabarett[link]

Schramm never stars on the stage as himself but uses a range of different characters to speak their minds. Even if he stars on the stage as "Schramm", he only does so acting as a character of the same name.^[2] Most of the time he uses three characters for his performances:

Lothar Dombrowski

Dombrowski is a Prussian pensioner, disabled by a war and living in a retirement home. He is against any trends and funny comedy. Schramm uses this character to dish out coarse criticism of current events.^[2]

Oberst Sanftleben

An officer of the Bundeswehr, Schramm created this character based on his personal experience with the army. Sanftleben often comments on military and war related matters, for example the Iraq War and offers his personal insight on the reasons for those conflicts. ^[2] Also, he shines a light on warlike aspects of the financial crisis.

August

August is a worker and SPD member from Hesse, talking in the typical dialect of that region. Coming from a social democratic background himself, Schramm uses August to both criticize the party from a member's perspective and to shield it from criticism.^[2] The character is partly modeled after Schramm's father.^[1]

Schramm is considered the most aggressive, outspoken and serious Kabarett artist of his time.^[2] In 2007, he published his first book, Lassen Sie es mich so sagen – Dombrowski deutet die Zeichen der Zeit, a compilation of texts from his shows from 1983-2007.

Television[link]

From 2000 to 2006 he was a regular guest in the Scheibenwischer which he co-hosted since 2003. He left the show on 24 April 2006 for reasons of conceptional and personal differences with fellow co-hosts Bruno Jonas and Mathias Richling.^[3] From 2007 to 2010 he co-hosted Neues aus der Anstalt with Urban Priol.^[4]

Solo programs[link]

• Solche Männer hat das Land
• Dein Platz an der Sonne
• Schlachtenbummler
• Ans Eingemachte – Best Of
• Mephistos Faust
• Thomas Bernhard hätte geschossen
• Meister Yodas Ende

Awards[link]

• Salzburger Stier (1990)
• Deutscher Kleinkunstpreis (1991)
• Leipziger Löwenzahn (1994)
• Deutscher Kabarettpreis (1999)
• Stern des Jahres from the Munich Abendzeitung in the category "Kabarett" (2005)
• Gaul von Niedersachsen (2001)
• Schweizer Kabarett-Preis Cornichon of the Oltner Kabarett-Tage (2005)
• Ehrenpreis Tegtmeiers Erben (2005)
• Deutscher Fernsehpreis for Beste Comedy (with Urban Priol) (2007)
• Bayerischer Kabarettpreis (2008)
• 2012 Erich Fromm Prize (2012)

Bibliography[link]

• Lassen Sie es mich so sagen – Dombrowski deutet die Zeichen der Zeit, München, Karl Blessing-Verlag, 2007, ISBN 3-89667-348-3, ISBN 978-3-89667-348-0

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official website

Thomas Tuchel (born 29 August 1973 in Krumbach, West Germany) is a former German footballer and current Coach of Bundesliga club 1. FSV Mainz 05.

Playing career[link]

Tuchel's youth club was TSV Krumbach. In 1988, he moved to nearby FC Augsburg (then fourth-tier Bayernliga). He then got the opportunity to play in the 2nd Bundesliga for Württemberg side Stuttgarter Kickers from 1992. He played in only 8 matches in 1992/93, and, after an even more disappointing 1993/94 season, when he was dropped from Kickers first team, he joined Regionalliga Süd, i.e. third-tier side SSV Ulm, where he played in 69 matches for the Swabian side in four years before ending his active career due to a chronic cartilage injury in 1998.

Coaching career[link]

Tuchel began his coaching career in 2000 as Head coach of the Under 19 of VfB Stuttgart. After five years he returned to his former club FC Augsburg, where he worked as youth team co-ordinator for three years.^[1] He was named as the new head coach of 1. FSV Mainz 05 on 3 August 2009, after the club was promoted to the Bundesliga. He signed a two-year contract^[2] being promoted to that position from the FSV Mainz 05 Under 19 side.^[3] In the 2010/11 season, Thomas Tuchel coached FSV Mainz 05 to 7 wins in their first 7 games, including an away victory over Bundesliga's powerhouse FC Bayern Munich. The team finished 5th in the rankings.

Coaching statistics[link]

As of 5 May 2012

Team	Country	From	To	Record
				G	W	D	L	Win %
Mainz 05		2009	Present	&10000000000000110000000110	&1000000000000004200000042	&1000000000000002900000029	&1000000000000003900000039	&1000000000000003817999938.18
Total				&10000000000000110000000110	&1000000000000004200000042	&1000000000000002900000029	&1000000000000003900000039	&1000000000000003817999938.18

References[link]

External links[link]

• Profile at kickersarchiv.de (German)
• Profile at weltfussball.de (German)
• Profile at fussballdaten.de (German)