Christel Sembach-krone
Animal trainer who directed Europe’s largest circus
CHRISTEL SEMBACHKRONE, who has died aged 80, was the granddaughter of Carl Krone, the founder of Circus Krone, Europe’s largest traditional circus, and performed in the ring as an animal trainer for most of her life.
From 1995 until her death she was responsible for running the circus and in her latter years became involved in a series of skirmishes with animal rights organisations campaigning for wild animal acts to be banned.
The origins of Circus Krone date back to 1870 when Christel’s great grandfather, Carl Krone, formed a “Menagerie Continental” in Germany and went on to stage travelling shows known as Krone’s Zoological Undertaking. His son, also Carl, inherited his father’s business and launched Circus Krone in 1905 as an animal exhibition.
At one time the Munichbased circus had as many as 800 animals in addition to three circus rings, 1,000 staff and four orchestras. Although the use of animals in circuses has been banned in several countries, Circus Krone retains the backing of the German government which markets it as an international tourist attraction. “A circus without animals is not a circus but a travelling theatre or variety,” Christel Sembachkrone declared.
She was born in Munich on November 27 1936 to Carl Sembach, a young animal trainer and his wife Frieda, the only daughter of Carl Krone Jr. Carl Krone would die in 1943 and would not witness the destruction of the circus building by Allied bombardment in December 1944, when staff and animals were evacuated to the Krone stud farm in Wessling.
Christel made her first appearance in the ring at the age of nine, in 1945, when the circus was operating in a temporary wooden structure. In 1950 a magnificent new circus building was opened with a seating capacity of 3,000.
From the age of 12 Christel performed as a horse trainer and presenter and continued to do so for some 60 years. In the late 1940s she joined her parents in a triple haute ecole riding act. Later she presented, among other things, a solo high school horse act with Jaro, Star of Hannover, a Tyrolean novelty equine number, and large groups of liberty horses. In 1960 she presented the “courrier” riding act, standing on two horses while driving a team of ten others.
She occasionally introduced other novelty acts, including one in which Bijoya, an Asiatic elephant, rode a huge bicycle in the ring, and a dressage riding act involving a horse and an elephant.
After her father’s death in 1984, Christel shared the responsibility for running the circus with her mother, after whose death in 1995 she took over completely.
Each winter she presented three completely different changes of programme in the Munich building, often appearing in the ring herself, and every five years she would surprise audiences with an all new tour production, the biggest of its kind in Europe.
In addition she allowed famous film stars, sports personalities and others to show her animals in the annual Stars in der Manege German television show to raise money for charity.
Although in recent years Circus Krone has come under attack from animal rights organisations for allegedly keeping wild animals in unsuitable conditions, at the same time Christel Sembach-krone received many awards for the humane conditions in which she kept her animals.
These included a special international husbandry award from the British circus publication The World’s Fair, and the Bundesverdienstkreuz (Order of Merit) of the Federal Republic of Germany, awarded to her for achievements in animal welfare.
Christel Sembach-krone was unmarried. She adopted the Swiss animal trainer Jana Mandana Lacey-krone, who will take over the leadership of Circus Krone.
Christel Sembach-krone, born November 27 1936, died June 20 2017