The essay “The Sad Fate of The Fate of the Theater: On an unrealized German book by Viacheslav Ivanov” concerns the history of a German book of essays on theater by the Russian poet and philosopher Viacheslav Ivanov. This unrealized project was one of many attempts by Ivanov’s friend and admirer E. D. Shor to acquaint German readers with the works of contemporary Russian thinkers. A central role in the events recons¬tructed in the essay is played by Rudolf Roeßler, whom Shor met in 1932. Roeßler was the head of the union of German theaters (the “Bühnenvolksbund”) and its publishing arm, which selected and printed a significant number of books on theater. After long and complicated discussions, Ivanov’s book was accepted for publication in April of 1933, a few months after Hitler came to power. However, the reason that the book never appeared in print has little to do with the political changes and much to do with Ivanov himself, who either did not have time or did not wish to find time to rework his earlier essays. This history is reconstructed based on archival material from Rome, Cologne, and Jerusalem.

This article is written in Russian.

Keywords: Viacheslav Ivanov, E. D. Shor, Rudolf Roeßler, history of theater, the “Bühnenvolksbund”, Russian culture in exile, Russian-German cultural relations