The technical staff of the Hessian Landestheater Darmstadt was systematically purged of all individuals regarded as hostile. On June 12, 1933, the theater’s employees summarily received termination notices, effective July 31, 1933. No reasons were provided. In the weeks that followed, their political and family backgrounds were reviewed by a partisan “Purification Committee”. Those classified as Jewish or politically undesirable were not rehired.
Born on February 20, 1878, in Weiterstadt, Johann Schuchmann initially worked as a carpenter before taking a position as a machinist at the Hessian Landestheater Darmstadt in 1914. Having been a member of the Social Democratic Party since 1919, he was dismissed from the theater in June of 1933 “on grounds of political unreliability.” He was not able to find permanent work again until 1938. It is known that Schuchmann lived in Weiterstadt in 1955. No details are known about the course of his later life.
1878 Weiterstadt