Shakespeare Stiftung

Weimar

Welcome

The German Shakespeare Foundation was established in 2000 in Weimar. Its founding body was the reunified German Shakespeare Society (Deutsche Shakespeare-Gesellschaft e.V.). This society was originally founded in 1864 at the initiative of the Dessau entrepreneur Wilhelm Ochelhäuser under the patronage of Grand Duchess Sophie of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach, making it the oldest and one of the largest literary societies in Germany. For nearly 150 years, it has promoted engagement with the works of William Shakespeare throughout the German-speaking world, working closely with universities, schools, and theatres.

The German Shakespeare Foundation supports the work of the German Shakespeare Society by providing funding for its larger projects. For example, it annually awards the Martin Lehnert Prize for outstanding theses by students and doctoral candidates, made possible through a bequest from the Berlin-based Anglicist Martin Lehnert.

The foundation supports the Shakespeare Yearbook, which the Shakespeare Society has published almost continuously every year since its founding, making it an outstanding cultural-historical record of Shakespeare reception and scholarship over the past 150 years. Since 2022, it has also honoured individuals from the fields of art and culture with the Shakespeare Prize, recognising those who have made exceptional contributions to the work of William Shakespeare and its dissemination.

To provide the many visitors to the annual Shakespeare Days with special highlights in the form of theatrical, musical, literary, or cinematic events, the German Shakespeare Foundation also subsidises these gatherings of German-speaking Shakespeare enthusiasts.

SHJB 155 (2019) Flucht – Exil – Migration

Flucht – Exil – Migration “Exile hath more terror in his look / Much more than death”, klagt Romeo, als er von seiner Verbannung erfährt. Exil bedeutete den Ausschluss aus der Gemeinschaft; auf Gastfreundschaft konnte man in der Fremde nicht hoffen. Gleichwohl war die Frühe Neuzeit durch vielfältige Formen der Migration geprägt: Arbeitsmigration, religiöses Exil,…

Spring Conference 2019, Weimar

Shakespeare and Translation The conference on “Shakespeare and Translation” takes a twofold approach. On the one hand, it looks historically at the translation theories and practices of Shakespeare’s time, which is characterised more than almost any other epoch by its translation activity. English literature in particular occupies a special position among the cultural areas of…

Autumn Conference 2018, Bochum

Othello “Othello” is the theme that we want to explore in performances, lectures and discussions during the Bochum Autumn Conference from 23 to 24 November 2018. Here you can download the Programme and the President’s invitation letter.

SHJB 154 (2018) Shakespeare und die Reformation

Shakespeare und die Reformation Im ‘Lutherjahr’ hat sich auch die Shakespeare-Gesellschaft mit der Reformation beschäftigt. Obwohl Shakespeare konfessionelle Fragen nicht direkt thematisiert, zeigen sich in seinen Dramen – ebenso wie in denen seiner Zeitgenossen – Einflüsse der religiösen und (kultur)politischen Debatten im Zuge der Konfessionalisierung. Janet Clare betrachtet die Theaterzensur vor dem Hintergrund der Reformation…

Spring Conference 2018, Weimar

Flight – Exile – Migration The Shakespeare Days from 20 to 22 April 2018 in Weimar are dedicated to the highly topical subject of “Flight – Migration – Exile”. The academic lectures will focus on flight, migration and exile in Shakespeare’s plays (for example in the romances), but also on the migration of these dramas…

SHJB 153 (2017) Green Worlds

Shakespeare’s ‘Green Worlds’ “Are not these woods / More free from perils than the envious court?”, fragt Duke Senior zu Beginn des zweiten Aktes von As You Like It. Doch der Schein trügt, denn der ‘Forest of Ardenne’ eröffnet keine pastorale Gegenwelt jenseits von Gewalt und Gefahr. Shakespeares ‘grüne Welten’ erweisen sich stattdessen als komplex strukturierte…

Spring Conference 2017, Weimar

Shakespeare and the Reformation In the year of the Reformation anniversary, the annual conference of the German Shakespeare Society from 20 to 23 April 2017 in Weimar will be dedicated to the topic of “Shakespeare and the Reformation”. Hardly any other playwright of the 16th and 17th centuries dealt with the role of religion, its…

Autumn Conference 2016, Weimar

Shakespeare’s Endings The autumn conference of the German Shakespeare Society will take place on November 25 and 26, 2016, in Weimar. The year 2016 marks the 400th anniversary of William Shakespeare’s death, who has shaped literature and culture worldwide to the present day. Johann Wolfgang Goethe, in “Shakespeare und kein Ende”, describes the nearly inexhaustible…

SHJB 152 (2016) Helden und Heldinnen

Shakespeares Helden und Heldinnen “Was das Vergnügen am Helden und das Tragische betrifft, müssen wir die bloße Einfühlung in den Helden Marcius hinter uns bringen, um zu einem reicheren Vergnügen zu gelangen”, schrieb Bertolt Brecht in seinem Kommentar “Über die Bearbeitung des ‘Coriolan’” (1951/52). Seine 1964 am Berliner Ensemble inszenierte Version wollte die “Tragödie des…

Newsletter abonnieren