Trenck der Pandur – the open-air theater in Waldmünchen

The Pandurs are here!
It is a bizarre bunch of violent warriors, who rampage in Bavaria in 1742. They are completely fearless and fight for their notorious leader Trenck and for themselves. When they come to Waldmünchen at September 15, they are already known as terribly cruel and ravening.

They come from the Balkans, most of them from the southern border of the kingdom of Hungary, which is part of the imperial and royal monarchy. They are called Pandurs, which means “Bodyguards“. They are the Pandurs of Trenck: He hired them at his own expense, and they only obey to his commands.

Love is also involved
Three women influence the course of this history: The empress  Maria Theresia in distant Vienna,  who is adored by Trenck and for whom “he would die for laughing“; the gypsy woman Mariuzza, who foresees Trenck’s fate, but is struck with blindness because of her passionate love for him; the beautiful Kathi Schwab from Cham, which was burned down by the Pandurs, who is loot at first, but sacrifices herself voluntarily afterwards, because she recognizes that “all senses change for the better” because of love.

For the people of Waldmünchen, Trenck’s change of mind means the rescue. For Trenck himself, his change for the better is the beginning of the end: He got attackable for the foes in his own rows.

In the name of her majesty – the empress
The protagonist of the play played also a tragic role in life, about 250 years ago. Baron Franz von der Trenck was born as the son of an imperial and royal officer in 1711, in Reggio (Calabria), spent the largest part of his youth in Jesuit colleges and joined the army at the age of 17. He fought against the Turks as a franciteur, stood out due to bravery, but was court-martialed because of insurgency against an officer, sentenced to death and pardoned at the last second to working at the front.

Some years later he got famous again, when he chased Turkish robbers to their home country and was called to Esseg (the today Croatian Osijek) because of his arbitrary actions. Instead of turning up there, he fled to the court of Vienna, where he managed to find apprehension for his actions and to be selected for imperial services with his Pandur troop.

When the War of the Austrian Succession broke out in 1741, Trenck rallied a corps of volunteers, counting 1000 men, at his own cost, which was soon to be feared between Isar and the Bavarian – Bohemian border. The fortunes of war left him in Waldmünchen. After sparing the city in 1742, he was allowed to go the Rhine with a Habsburgs corps and to defend Bohemia against the Prussians afterwards.

In 1745, Bavaria and Austria concluded peace in Füssen. After that, he was put on trial in a lawsuit, which lasted more than 2 years. Empress Maria Theresia eventually changed the death sentence to life imprisonment. Only scarcely a year after that, at October 4, 1749, Baron  1745 erfolgt zu Füssen der Friedensschluss zwischen Bayern und Österreich. Danach wird ihm aber in einem über zwei Jahre dauernden Verfahren der Prozeß gemacht. Kaiserin Maria Theresia wandelt das Todesurteil schließlich in lebenslange Haft um. Nur ein knappes Jahr später, am 4. Oktober 1749, stirbt Franz Freiherr von der Trenck auf der Festung Spielberg bei Brünn. Trenck

Waldmünchen‘s role
As many other places at important trade and military routes, Waldmünchen didn’t have only advantages because of its location. The city, as a passage for friend and foe, was involved again and again in acts of war. At September 15, 1742, the Pandurs came. Their leader Trenck had been appointed an colonel by the empress Maria Theresia and was subjected with his corps of volunteers to Marshal Khevenhüller, the supreme commander of the imperial troops in the War of the Austrian Succession. The war was complotted by the Bavarian elector Karl Albrecht, who would have had a claim to the throne as the son of an Austrian daughter of an emperor, if Emperor Karl VI hadn’t enacted a new Habsburg law( the “Pragmatische Sanktion” of 1713). It initially opened daughters of the dynasty, and thus the 23-year-old Maria Theresia the succession to the throne.

Trenck came to Waldmünchen with his Pandurs, after he had conquered Plattling, Deggendorf, Mainburg, Reichenhall, Tölz, Fürstenfeldbruck and Munich and plundered Cham, before burning it down. He spared Waldmünchen against payment of 50 Species-ducats. The pastor and the community of Gleißenberg had to pay the same, and for the release of the wife of the fled town keeper Kern, further 400 guilders had to be procured. The Pandur leader lodged for three days in the “Gasthof zur Post”. For his beloved Kathi, he requisitioned a new chaise from the postmaster.

In the years after 1945, a theater-enthusiastic group of Waldmünchen citizens suggested to stage a folk theater play, to promote the native tradition. While searching the history of Waldmünchen, one came across the events of the War of Austrian Succession and decided to take this as historical background for the open-air theater. The premiere of "Trenck der Pandur vor Waldmünchen" was took place in the frame of the first native festival of Waldmünchen at July 16, 1950. Since then, the open-air theater play takes place annually in July/August at the festival court and thus is the only native play, which arose after WWII and still exists.

In the middle of the 18th Century
Nightfall. The herald has proclaimed the terrible news just now: "Trenck in front of the gates!" We hear the drumming of whirling horse’s hoofs, which draws closer and closer.

A handful of keen journeymen bring their horses to a stand directly in front of us. Harsh commands and a shrill fanfare cut through the excited silence. A covered wagon rumbles of us, which is followed by adventurously looking statures follow with heavy steps. Bundles of brushwood are lighted.

The flickering fires illuminate a spooky scenery . The shadows on the old city wall take menacing dimensions. The gestures of the men speak a terrifying language of rawness and violence. The alternation of light and darkness distorts faces to grimaces, which make our blood run cold.

Another squad of rider approaches in wild gallop. The whirling up dust and the smell of the horses nearly take our breath away . We are right in the middle of it: in the 18th Century, in Waldmünchen.