1930: White Horse Inn (Im weißen Rößl)

White Horse Inn was originally the title of an operetta written by Oskar Blumenthal and Gustav Kadelburg in 1896. The play tells the story of a summer holiday at the White Horse Inn in St. Wolfgang in the Salzkammergut region of Austria. The plot is made up of love stories inconspicuously interwoven with politics. The singspiel version of the play by Ralph Benatzky gained international renown, and was set to music by Robert Gilbert, Erik Charell and with a libretto from Hans Müller-Eigen. With the film adaptation starring Peter Alexander, the White Horse Inn burned itself into the consciousness of the Second Republic. An essential part of the reception history of the play was formed by refugee communities in New York, Australia and Shanghai who adapted White Horse Inn to the experiences of exile by setting Nazi terror and emigration against the supposedly apolitical backdrop of the summer resort.