Iffland-Ring

The origins of the Iffland-Ring are shrouded in some mystery, and the current ring is said to have been the most precious of a set of seven, of which only two appear to have survived: the Iffland-Ring itself and a less valuable similar ring which in the 1950s was in the private possession of Wilhelm Burckhardsberg, but that may now also be lost.[2][3][4]

Iffland, a leading actor in his time in Germany, was inspired by Romanticism and is claimed to have commissioned the ring, to be carried by the leading German-speaking actor of his time.[5] If so, Iffland's inspiration was most likely the play Nathan the Wise by Gotthold Ephraim Lessing.[3]

The circumstances of where and when Iffland passed on the ring to Ludwig Devrient are uncertain; according to Albert Bassermann, Iffland handed the ring to Devrient in 1814, after his last performance in Breslau. Shortly after, in September 1814, Iffland died in Berlin.[5]

Devrient, a close friend of E. T. A. Hoffmann, whose death in 1822 he never got over, was one of the most gifted actors Germany ever produced, but also a drunkard. He collapsed while performing King Lear and died on 29 December 1832. His choice as his successor to the ring fell on his nephew Emil Devrient.[6]

Much of the history of the ring during this period remains lost. Emil Devrient, and after him Theodor Döring, were gifted but not outstanding actors in Berlin.[7]

From Friedrich Haase onwards, the history of the ring is much better known.

Haase was born in Berlin, as the son of the personal servant of the then crown prince of Prussia, Friedrich Wilhelm IV. Rumor had it that he was the illegitimate son of a member of the house of Hohenzollern, something Haase used to his advantage.[8]

After early performances in Potsdam and Weimar, Haase moved to Prague, where he had considerable success. His career took him to Karlsruhe, Munich, Frankfurt, St. Petersburg and New York, and he became one of the most successful German actors.

Neither Haase nor Döring were ever actually seen with the ring, despite both being known to have been rather vain, and one theory concerning the ring's origins has it that Haase himself had the ring made and invented its history. The now-known history of the ring in any case begins with Haase.[3] Certain discrepancies in the wording of a note, found in the case in which the ring was kept, point in this direction, but they can also be quite easily explained otherwise. In particular, the date Haase gives for his receipt of the ring from Döring's widow, 1875, appears wrong as Döring died in 1878.[3]

He left the ring to Albert Bassermann upon his death in 1911.[8] Together with the ring, Haase left a note for Bassermann, dated Berlin, Christmas 1908, in which he declares his regret at their not having known each other much better. He also gives the history of the ring, and that letter became the prime source for future research into its history.[9]

Bassermann never wore the ring himself and named three successors during his lifetime, all of whom he survived.[10]

He outlived his first two choices, Alexander Girardi and Max Pallenberg and upon the death of his third choice, Alexander Moissi, Bassermann placed the ring on top of Moissi's coffin, to cremate the ring alongside his last choice. The director of the Burgtheater, Hermann Röbbeling, saved the ring by taking it off the coffin, declaring that it belonged to a living actor, not a dead one.[11] Bassermann considered the ring cursed after all three actors died shortly after he named them as his successors.[1]

After this incident, Bassermann gave the ring to the Austrian National Library in Vienna, where it remained almost forgotten. In 1946, when Bassermann visited Vienna, Egon Hilbert, director of the Austrian theatre administration, had two meetings with the actor. Bassermann refused to take the ring back and, at the second meeting, declared that Hilbert could do with the ring as he pleased.[12]

Hilbert asked Werner Krauss to take the ring after Bassermann died in 1952 but Krauss refused.

In October 1954, after an extraordinary meeting of the actors' guild, the ring was awarded to Werner Krauss and this time he accepted. Despite protests, especially from the Swiss actors' guild and the fact that the ring was now in private possession of Egon Hilbert, Krauss eventually received the ring. To prevent a repeat of the interregnum, laws were passed, requiring the ring bearer to always nominate a successor.[13]

Krauss received the ring on 28 November 1954 and handed a sealed envelope to the Austrian theatre administration on 12 December, stating his choice of succession.

Like Ludwig Devrient, Krauss collapsed while performing King Lear and died on 20 October 1959, passing the ring to Josef Meinrad, his original choice in 1954.[14] However, his widow later declared that Krauss would have liked to leave the ring to Alma Seidler, but was prevented from doing so by the fact that the ring could only be passed to a male. A female equivalent of the Iffland-Ring, the Alma-Seidler-Ring, was created upon Seidler's death in 1977.

Meinrad's original choice of successor is not known, but in 1984, he changed his will. Upon his death in 1996, rumors were rife as to which Austrian actor would receive the ring. To the disappointment of many actors at the Burgtheater, the ring was awarded to Switzerland; Meinrad had chosen Bruno Ganz.[15]

The next holder of the Iffland-Ring was Swiss actor Bruno Ganz, who died 16 February 2019, aged 77.

Ganz's original choice of successor was Gert Voss, who died 13 July 2014 from leukemia, aged 72.[16]

The current holder of the ring is German actor Jens Harzer, having been named by Bruno Ganz as his successor.[17]

• "Der Iffland-Ring". rolf-krekeler.com (in German). Retrieved 23 March 2019.
• "Der Iffland-Ring". ordenskunde.de (in German). Retrieved 23 March 2019.