Kaufmann, Oskar

In Berlin the name Oskar Kaufmann is inseparably linked with many still prominent theater buildings. But his oeuvre also includes many interiors, commercial buildings and villas. Born in Hungary, Kaufmann went to Karlsruhe to study architecture, where he met his wife and converted to Christianity. His professional career began in the Berlin office of the theater architect Bernhard Sehring, who aroused Kaufmann’s interest for building theaters. Kaufmann’s first independent commission was the Hebbel Theater, followed by the Volksbühne, the Komödie and the Renaissance Theater.
Kaufmann intended to flee to Hungary soon after the National Socialists came to power in 1933. However, a commission to design the Habima Theater in Tel Aviv took him to Palestine. In 1939 he left Palestine via Romania for Budapest, where after years of persecution he was officially rehabilitated as an artist and architect in 1948 and received a pension until his death.