Born in Dortmund in 1883 as the son of a Jewish furniture manufacturer,
Hugo Wolfgang Philipp wrote plays while still at school and acted at
provincial theaters in his youth.
In 1901, he began studying art history, philosophy, and literature in
Berlin, in addition to taking violin and voice lessons at the Stern
Conservatory. In 1907, he began working as an opera singer, actor, and
director at various smaller theaters, debuting as Basilio in Rossini’s
The Barber of Seville at Berlin’s Theater des Westens. From 1908
onward, he performed at the municipal theaters in Kattowitz,
Wuppertal-Barmen, and Ulm. He had also been working as a reviewer for
various newspapers since his student days and supplemented his income as
a freelance writer, with limited success. In 1914, he sang as a bass in
the chorus at the Bayreuth Festival.
In 1914, Philipp volunteered for military service. After the war, he
turned to writing, achieving his literary breakthrough in 1923: his
grotesque tragedy Der Clown Gottes premiered at several theaters and
was staged at more than 60 venues in Germany and abroad in the years
that followed. That same year, he was engaged as a director at the
Albert-Theater, one of the largest theaters in Dresden, with a capacity
of 1,200 seats.
There, he attracted attention with productions such as Schiller’s Mary
Stuart and his own play Die Welt im Blickpunkt. In 1927, he took over
the management of the theater together with the renowned actress Hermine
Körner.
As a Jew, Hugo Philipp lost his position in Dresden after the Nazis came to power in 1933. In 1934, he and his wife went into exile—first in Yugoslavia, and in 1936 in Italy via Switzerland. When anti-Semitic racial laws were introduced there as well in 1938, they returned to Switzerland. All attempts to emigrate from there to safety in Brazil or the United States failed. As Philipp wrote in a letter, he felt “like a mouse in a trap.” The situation became even more dire after the outbreak of the war in 1939, and he and his wife had no choice but to remain in Zurich.
While in exile, Philipp repeatedly devoted himself to his literary work, though this was interrupted by the need to earn a living. His attempts to revive his earlier success after the war were unsuccessful. Although his works were republished in Germany, his name had largely been forgotten—and even the award of the Federal Cross of Merit in 1967 did little to change that. Hugo Wolfgang Philipp remained in Switzerland, working in Zurich as a writer, head of an acting school, and voice teacher. He died there on March 18, 1969.
1883 Dortmund
1969 Zurich