On the evening of December 18th 2009, passed away at the age of 96 actor and playwright
STEFAN HEINZ KEHRER
character indissolubly related to the history of Swabians from Banat generally, and specifically to the history of the German theatre in Romania.

He was born on 1913 in Sânpetrul Mic (Totina), in Banat. He graduated from the Science Gymnasium of Timişoara and then the German Catholic Institute for Teachers in the same city. Between 1932 and 1952 he was – with intermissions caused by the war – a teacher in various Swabian villages in Banat. He published poetry and prose under the pen name of Hans Kehrer; he also wrote plays in the Swabian dialect that are very popular with the public.

In 1953, the year the German stage of Timişoara was established, he finds employment with the new institution to which destiny will connect him in two aspects: as actor and as playwright, many of his works being written in the Schwab dialect. His creations, staged along the years at the German State Theatre in Timişoara, include: Sunken Fields (1961), It's about Marriage (1966), Fool's Bread (1974), Master Jakob and His Children, adapted from Adam Müller-Guttenbrunn (1974), as well as one of the works that synthesizes in a unique manner the destiny of Romania's Germans in the 20th century: the Schwab drama Two Sisters, performed twice in Timişoara, adapted for television and performed in numerous tours and festivals in Romania and abroad.

He performed several parts in plays such as Intrigue and Love and William Tell by Fr. Schiller, Minna von Barnhelm, by Lessing, Romeo and Juliet, by Shakespeare etc.

In 1980 he moves to The Federal Republic of Germany, where he continues his cultural and publishing activity, especially for the benefit of his Romanian born fellow citizens. In 2001 he is awarded The Federal Merit Cross, First Class, for his contribution in promoting the German language and culture in Banat, as well as after moving to Germany.

The German State Theatre in Timişoara mourns the loss of one of its prime personalities of yore and sends condolences to the grieving family.