First for beer on Sunday, then against slavery – diepresse.com
Nanu, why are the United States suddenly interested in a 19th century Viennese theater director? How Heinrich Börnstein became Henry Boernstein – and played an amazing role in the fight against slavery.
Old Knacker had brewed the constitution of the United States « without even having the quietest idea of the ideas of modern times »: Heinrich Börnstein, formerly renowned director at Wiener Bühnen such as the Josefstadt and other theaters from St. Pölten to Paris, wrote in his « memoirs of one insignificant », which was completed in 1880. And what did this man had to do with American politics?
A lot as Henry Boernstein. Heinrich Börnstein was not only a theater director, author, actor (sometimes also clever business), he also worked politically. As a politically radical liberal, he was an advocate of the bourgeois revolution of 1848 – a year that he spent as an opera director in Paris. From there he also published the magazine « Vorwärts », which was banned in Germany. After the revolution failed, he emigrated to the United States. What he did there – from his work as a newspaper editor in St. Louis to his service as a colonel in the American Civil War, he is currently unexpected in the United States.
