German specialist in the history of puppet theatre, publicist and collector. Hans Richard Purschke, Doctor of Law and a lawyer by training, worked in Frankfurt am Main as a historian of puppet theatre. He was one of the instigators of the reorganization of UNIMA in 1957. As a member of commissions and a UNIMA councillor, he supported international cooperation and was named a UNIMA Member of Honour in 1980.

Between 1950 and 1985, Purschke published the journal Perlicko-Perlacko. His ten volumes on the history of German and European puppet theatre have added an immeasurable wealth to the information on puppetry and the history of puppetry in Europe and especially Germany. The legacy of Hans Richard Purschke is preserved in the Puppentheatermuseum Kaufbeuren (Museum of Puppet Theatre in Kaufbeuren).

(See Germany.)

Bibliography

  • Purschke, Hans Richard. Die Anfänge der Puppenspielformen und ihre vermutlichen Ursprungsländer [The Origins of Puppetry Forms and Their Probable Countries of Origin]. Bochum, 1979.
  • Purschke, Hans Richard. Die Entwicklung des Puppenspiels in den klassischen Ursprungsländern Europas [The Development of Puppetry in the Classic Origins of Europe]. Frankfurt: Puppen und Masken, 1984.
  • Purschke, Hans Richard. Die Puppenspieltraditionen Europas. Deutschsprachige Gebiete [The Puppetry Traditions of Europe. German-speaking Regions]. Frankfurt: Puppen und Masken, 1986.
  • Purschke, Hans Richard. Le Théâtre de marionnettes en Allemagne [Puppet Theatre in Germany]. Darmstadt: Neue Darmstädter Verlagsanstalt, 1957.
  • Purschke, Hans Richard. Puppenspiel und verwandte Künste in der Reichstadt Nürnberg [Puppets and Associated Arts in Nuremberg]. Special number of Mitteilungen des Vereins für Geschichte der Stadt Nürnberg. Vol. 68. Nuremberg, 1981.
  • Ram, Detlev. Obituary in Fundevogel, 26 May 1986.