Friedrich Schiller - Eine Dichterjugend (1923)

The young Friedrich Schiller had actually intended to become a pastor. But he yields to his father’s strict wishes and attends the Württemberg Karlsschule, an educational institution focused on discipline and order and under the patronage of the all-powerful Duke of Württemberg. The aim is to stamp out the young Schiller’s “youthful fancies”—above all, his passion for poetry. Instead, they forcefully try to make him take a liking to the courses of study in law and medicine. Appointed as a young regimental doctor, Friedrich soon devotes himself wholeheartedly to his passion: writing. In secret, he writes his drama “The Robbers,” and in 1782 he attends its premiere at the Mannheim National Theatre, also secretly and without permission. The play is a huge success and paves the way for the young writer’s great career as a poet. But the public’s enthusiastic response is matched by an equally fierce reaction from those in power. The absolutist duke, the domineering and hot-tempered ruler of the land, is furious—especially since he was not asked to give his approval before the performance. He believes he can see in Schiller’s revolutionary play the ever-present spirit of rebellion and overthrow, and threatens the young poet with censorship and imprisonment. Schiller sees no way out: if he is to continue living in freedom, including artistic freedom, he must leave the country. And so he flees the garrison with his friend, the talented musician Andreas Streicher.