Augsburger Puppenkiste

The Augsburger Puppenkiste is a marionette theater in Augsburg, Germany.

It is located at the former Heilig-Geist-Spital in the historic center of Augsburg. Since 1948, the "Augsburger Puppenkiste" had been producing theatrical adaptations of fairy tales and serious pieces. In 1953, it began producing television series and gained nationwide prominence with productions, such as Jim Knopf und Lukas der Lokomotivführer and Urmel aus dem Eis.

In 1943, Walter Oehmichen (1901–1977) founded his own small puppet theater together with his wife Rose Oehmichen (1901–1985) and their daughters Hannelore (1931–2003) and Ulla: the Puppenschrein, a puppet theatre which consisted of a small wooden stage that could be set up in a door frame. In the night of February 26, 1944, this stage was destroyed in a fire following a bomb assault in Augsburg. The figures, however, remained undamaged - luckily Walter Oehmichen took them home after performing for the kids of the stage members in the city theatre of Augsburg. Both the city theatre and the Puppenschrein within were almost completely destroyed by flames. Today, only one ornament from the original shrine is left.

After the war, Walter Oehmichen began planning a new puppet theatre. At the former Heilig-Geist Hospital, he found a room to perform his shows. First, however, Oehmichen had to share the premises with the city’s Office of Statistics.

Despite all odds of the post-war period, the Oehmichen family was able to re-open the marionette theater as "Augsburger Puppenkiste" with the play Der gestiefelte Kater (Puss in Boots) on 26 February 1948 – exactly four years after the puppet shrine was destroyed. The first puppeteers and speakers were young actors from Augsburg – among others, Manfred Jenning. He would soon become the staff writer for the Augsburger Puppenkiste and in 1951 he established the year-end puppet cabaret show for adults, which has since become a yearly tradition. The first cabaret premiere was on 31 December 1950.

At first, Walter Oehmichen whittled the puppets himself, but he soon passed this important job on to his daughter Hannelore. She created all the puppets which would soon be well known as the "stars on strings". Hannelore whittled her first puppet at the age of 13. She had to keep her work a secret, because at this time she wasn’t allowed to use the sharp woodcarving knife. The first of her puppets to become famous was The Little Prince (a character from Antoine de Saint-Exupéry's famous novel). In the first public performance of the Puppenkiste, Puss in Boots, Hannelore was responsible for manipulating Puss. Oehmichens wife Rose made all the clothes for the marionettes and lent her voice to many of the mother and grandmother characters.

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