A Düren businessman, Eberhard Hoesch, had donated 500,000 Marks for a new theatre; until then performances had been held at inns.

The theatre had no permanent ensemble but housed visiting performances, including by actors Willy Birgel, Paul Henckels and Asta Nielsen, pianist Elly Ney and conductor Herbert von Karajan.

The theatre was destroyed by bombing in World War II on 16 November 1944.

The ruin was demolished in 1952, using the stones for the walls of a cemetery in the Kölnstraße.

Theatre performances were resumed in various venues, first on 25 April 1946 in a hall of a hospital (today: LVR-Klinik Düren), then in the hall of the gymnasium Stiftisches Gymnasium, from 30 November 1991 in the municipal Haus der Stadt.