HAMBURG (dpa) – It’s a tale of two different worlds. Outside on the streets, junkies are shooting heroin, child prostitutes are waiting for customers in dark doorways, crack dealers are furtively making a sale and sex shops advertise their goods in glaring lights.
Inside, the world is – still – in order. Germany’s oldest variete night club, the Hansa-Theater a few blocks from Hamburg’s main train station, is a monument to a bygone era.The 491 seats are richly upholstered, the dark wood gleams from being polished daily, and the brass chandeliers are shiny as ever.But this world, now 107 years old, is in danger of extinction. For the Hansa Theater is in the middle of Hamburg’s troubled St. Georg district and fighting for its survival amid dwindling visitor numbers. Many blame the theatre’s problems on the district’s drug and crime problem.“Unless a miracle happens, then it will be final curtains next December 31,” says theatre spokesman Helmut Kalkowski. “The 65 employees have already been served notice.”For years now, the number of visitors has been declining.“People are afraid to come here any more. There’s drug dealing and crime on the streets and the addicts are lying in the doorways,” Kalkowski said. “Many shopkeepers have already fled from this quarter.”In addition, changed tax laws will make it impossible for the theatre owners to write off their losses as they have been able to in the past. Nor is the Hansa Theater one of those which receive public subsidies.For more than ten years now Hamburg has been waging a battle against the drug scene in the neighbourhood around the central train station, a place where addicts finance their heroin, cocaine and crack needs with crime.Some sell the only capital they have in order to get drugs – their bodies.The grisly side of this business was underscored in recent days by the strangling murders of two prostitutes who had been living in a dilapidated, abandoned building only a few doors away from the Hansa Theater. Now the city’s new Social Democrat interior minister, Olaf Scholz, is working on a new strategy to combat the drug trade.An attempt to add to the cultural life in St. Georg came a few months ago from Tom Stromberg, managing director of the prestigious Deutsches Schauspielhaus theatre, which is also located close to the train station.He set up a studio stage in the Neue Cinema movie house, and since then, with such productions as “The Vagina Monologues”, it has been virtually sold out.“Naturally this isn’t a place for the great classical works,” said Stromberg, who himself lives in the district. “Those with theatre subscriptions don’t come to the Neue Cinema. We want to establish a rapport with a trend audience via a certain lightness.”Despite its problems, the district with its thriving gay scene, the highest percentage of foreigners anywhere in Hamburg and its colourful multi-cultural flair and taverns, still attracts people.“Artists, singles and bohemians are happy to be living here,” says Schauspielhaus spokeswoman Bettina Birk.Some people have their doubts about whether Hansa Theater, for all the fond nostalgia that it evokes, has kept pace with the changing times. But Kalkowski rejects this assertion.“You can’t confuse the decorations with the contents,” he said. “It would be unjust to accuse the artists of being antiquated.”It may be a matter of interpretation. For some, the dancing poodle on stage, the plates of sandwiches brought by waitresses wearing white aprons and laced hats, and the bells at each table in order to ring for a waiter is just the right kind of camp. For others, it is seriously-intended entertainment.Hansa-Theater’s owners hope that they can carry on. Talks are scheduled soon with city authorities, and the theatre managers can point to a flood of expressions of sympathy and solidarity. Above all, artists from around the world are urging the variete managers to keep up the fight.
