A Brief History of Berlin Kabarett at DANK Haus

Direct from Europe : Anne Fromm, Thomas Kellner, and Johanna Paliege

Why sit alone in a room. Come to the KABARETT!

Step into a relaxed nightclub atmosphere as three German cabaret artists, actors, and singers—Anne Fromm, Thomas Kellner, and Johanna Paliege —invite you on a wild ride through the history of German cabaret.

This witty, frivolous, yet deeply touching showcase weaves together songs, anecdotes, and mini-scenes into a captivating historical mosaic.

The journey begins at the dawn of the 20th century. Heavily inspired by the Parisian avant-garde of Montmartre and Montparnasse, these early artistic experiments paved the way for the Golden Twenties and Thirties—a roaring heyday of variety shows in Berlin and Munich that sparked an explosion of creativity, originality, and diversity.

This open-minded, critical golden age met a brutal end under the Nazi regime. The forced emigration and deportation of Jewish, queer, and labeled “degenerate” (Entartete Kunst) artists stripped the art form of its bite, weaponizing it into mere wartime propaganda and distraction. Yet, small glimmers of hope endured through underground resistance and exile in Zurich and overseas.

The post-war era split the stage: in the GDR, political cabaret survived behind a veil of strict censorship, forcing artists to deliver encrypted messages between the lines, while West Germany’s economic miracle years brought a lighter, more exuberant style of entertainment. The late 1960s revived cabaret’s combative spirit, fueled by the peace, anti-nuclear, and ecological movements. Over time, the traditional revue evolved into the distinctly German Kabarett—a sharp, spoken-word format driven by biting socio-political satire and razor-sharp linguistic wit rather than music and spectacle.

What remains of cabaret today? It lives on. Sometimes steeped in historical nostalgia, other times loud, cheeky, and underground, the scene across Berlin, Munich, and Cologne is constantly being reinvented by international artists and diverse, boundary-pushing art movements.

DANK Haus, 4740 N Western Ave, Chicago, IL 60625 Free parking at the 5/3 Bank on the northside of Lawrence. Cash beer bar

Visit cabaretconnexion.org/rsvp2026 for the complete Cabaret Connexion lineup!

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