Hanns Dieter Hüsch

Life and work

Hüsch grew up in the Niederrhein area near the Netherlands and had metatarsus adductus until age 11. Unable to play with other children, he became a loner and began writing. At 22 he started studying in Mainz, but instead of studying he wrote cabaret pieces. In 1949 he married Marianne, and they had a daughter named Anna. The family struggled financially, so Hüsch moved to Stuttgart for a job at the local radio station under Guy Walter, working as author, songwriter and radio commentator. In 1955 he founded his first cabaret ensemble, 'Arche nova', which gained fame in southern Germany and Switzerland. From 1965 onward he released phonograph records of literary cabaret pieces, chansons and poems, eventually selling more than 50 albums. In 1967 he joined the left-wing German student movement and performed in Berlin on Burg Waldeck. Some elements of the student movement disliked his non-violent attitude and heckled his performances from June 1968 until August 1969. Hüsch felt disappointed and hurt, decided not to perform in Germany for years, and moved to Switzerland. He returned to German cabaret stages in 1972 and subsequently became one of the most productive and successful representatives of literary cabaret in Germany, with more than 200 performances each year. After his wife died in 1985, he wrote his most successful programme, 'Und sie bewegt mich doch'/'And yet she moves me'. In 1988 he left Mainz for Cologne, where he met his second wife Christiane. In 1996 he contracted lung cancer from cigarette smoking but survived. Until the end of 2000 he toured with his farewell programme 'Wir sehen uns wieder' ('We will meet again') in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. A stroke in 2001 ended his plan to play King Lear at the Staatstheater Dresden. Complications from the stroke and cancer confined him to his home in Windeck near Cologne, where Christiane nursed him. He died six months after his 80th birthday.