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- Born the fourth of six children to Austrian customs officer Alois
Hitler--who had been married twice before--and the former Klara Polzl,
Adolf Hitler grew up in a small Austrian town in the late 19th century.
He was a slow learner and did poorly in school. He was frequently
beaten by his authoritarian father. Things got worse when Adolf's older
brother, Alois Jr., ran away from home. His mild-mannered mother
occasionally tried to shield him, but was ineffectual. Adolf's attempt
to run away at 11 was unsuccessful. At the age of 14 he was freed when
his hated father died - an event that he did not mourn.
Hitler dropped out of high school at age 16 and went to Vienna, where
he strove to become an artist, but was refused twice by the Vienna Art
Academy. By this time Hitler had become an ardent German
nationalist--although he was not German but Austrian--and when World War
I broke out, he crossed into Germany and joined a Bavarian regiment
in the German army. He was assigned as a message runner but also saw
combat. Temporarily blinded after a gas attack in Flanders in 1918, he
received the Iron Cross 2nd Class and was promoted from private to
corporal. In 1918, when the war ended, Hitler stayed in the army and
was posted to the Intelligence division. He was assigned to spy on
several radical political parties that were considered a threat to the
German government. One such organization was the German Workers' Party.
Hitler was drawn by party founder Dietrich Eckart, a morphine addict
who propagated doctrines of mysticism and anti-Semitism. Hitler soon
joined the party with the help of his military intelligence ties. He
became party spokesman in 1919, renamed it the National Socalist German
Workers Party (NSDAP/NAZI) and declared himself its Führer (leader) one
year later. In 1920 Hitler's intelligence handler, Munich-based colonel
named Karl Haushofer, introduced the swastika insignia. In 1921
Haushofer founded the paramilitary Storm Troopers ("Sturmabteilung", or
SA), composed of German veterans of WWI and undercover military
intelligence officers. They helped Hitler to organize a coup
attempt--the infamous "beer hall putsch"--against the Bavarian
government in Munich in 1923, but it failed. The "rebels" marched on
Munich's city hall, which was cordoned off by police. Hitler's men
fired at the police and missed; the police fired back and didn't,
resulting in several of Hitler's fellow Nazis being shot dead. Hitler
himself was arrested, convicted of treason and sent to prison. During
his prison time he was coached by his advisers and dictated his book
"Mein Kampf" ("My Struggle") to his deputy
Rudolf Hess. He only served several months
in prison before being released. By 1925 the Nazi party was in much
better straits both organizationally and financially, as it had secured
the backing of a large group of wealthy conservative German
industrialists, who funneled huge amounts of money into the
organization. Hitler was provided with a personal bodyguard unit named
the "Schutzstaffel", better known as the SS. The Nazis began to gain
considerable support in Germany through their network of army and WWI
veterans, and Hitler ran for President in 1931. Defeated by the
incumbent Paul von Hindenburg, Hitler next attempted to become Chancellor of Germany. Through under-the-table deals with powerful conservative businessmen and right-wing politicians, Hitler was appointed Chancellor in January 1933. One month later, a mysterious fire--which the Nazis claimed had been started by "terrorists" but was later discovered to have been set by the Nazis themselves--destroyed the Reichstag (the building housing the German parliament). Then Hitler's machine began to issue a series of emergency decrees that gave the office of Chancellor more and more power.
In March of 1933 Hitler persuaded the German parliament to pass the
Enabling Act, which made the Chancellor dictator of Germany and gave
him more power than the President. Two months later Hitler began
"cleaning house"; he abolished trade unions and ordered mass arrests of
members of rival political groups. By the end of 1933 the Nazi Party
was the only one allowed in Germany. In June of 1934 Hitler turned on
his own and ordered the purge of the now radical SA--that he now saw as
a potential threat to his power--which was led by one of his oldest
friends, a thug and street brawler named
Ernst Röhm. Röhm's ties to Hitler counted for
nothing, as Hitler ordered him assassinated. Soon President Hindenburg
died, and Hitler merged the office of President with the office of
Chancellor. In 1935 the anti-Jewish Nuremburg laws were passed on
Hitler's authorization. A year later, with Germany now under his total
control, he sent troops into the Rhineland, which was a violation of
the World War I Treaty of Versailles. In 1938 he forced the union of
Austria with Germany and also took the Sudetenland, a region of
Czechoslovakia near the German border with a large ethnic German
population, on the pretext of "protecting" the German population from
the Czechs. In March 1939 Hitler overran the rest of Czechoslovakia. On 23 August 1939 Hitler and Joseph Stalin made a non-aggression treaty. In September of 1939 Hitler and Stalin invaded Poland. France and the British Commonwealth and Empire declared war on Germany. In 1940 Germany occupied Denmark, Norway and the Low Countries, and launched a major offensive against France. Paris fell and France surrendered, after which Hitler considered invading the UK. However, after the German Air Force was defeated in the Battle of Britain, the invasion was canceled. The British had begun bombing German cities in May 1940, and four months later Hitler retaliated by ordering the Blitz. In 1941 German troops assisted Italy, which under dictator Benito Mussolini was a German ally, in its takeover of Yugoslavia and Greece. Meanwhile, in Germany and the occupied countries, a program of mass extermination
of Jews had begun.
On June 22, 1941, German forces invaded the Soviet Union. In addition
to more than 4,000,000 German troops, there were additional forces from
German allies Romania, Italy, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Croatia, Spain
and Finland, among others. Hitler used multinational forces in order to
save Germans for the future colonization of the Russian lands.
Following the detailed Nazi plan, code-named "Barbarossa," Hitler was
utilizing resources of entire Europe under Nazi control to feed the
invasion of Russia. Three groups of Nazi armies invaded Russia: Army
Group North besieged Leningrad for 900 days, Army Group Center reached
Moscow and Army Group South occupied Ukraine, reached Caucasus and
Stalingrad. After a series of initial successes, however, the German
Armies were stopped at Moscow, Leningrad and Stalingrad. Leningrad was
besieged by the Nazis for 900 days until the city of 4,000,000
virtually starved itself to death. Only in January of 1944 was Marshal
Georgi Zhukov able to finally defeat the
German forces and liberate the city, finally lifting the siege after a
cost of some 2,000,000 lives. In 1943 several major battles occurred at
Kursk (which became the largest tank battle in history), Kharkov and
Stalingrad, all of which the Germans lost. The battle for Stalingrad
was one of the largest in the history of mankind. At Stalingrad alone
the Germans lost 360,000 troops, in addition to the losses suffered by
Italian, Hungarian, Romanian, Czech, Croatian and other forces, but the
Russians lost over one million men. By 1944--the same year the Western
allies invaded occupied Europe--Germany was retreating on both fronts
and its forces in Africa had been completely defeated, resulting in the
deaths and/or surrender of several hundred thousand troops. Total human
losses during the six years of war were estimated at 60,000,000, of
which 27,000,000 were Russians, Ukrainians, Jews and other people in
Soviet territory. Germany lost over 11,000,000 soldiers and civilians.
Poland and Yugoslavia lost over 3,000,000 people each. Italy and France
lost over 1,000,000 each. Most nations of Central and Eastern Europe
suffered severe--and in some cases total--economic destruction.
Hitler's ability to act as a figurehead of the Nazi machine was long
gone by late 1944. Many of his closest advisers and handlers
had already fled to other countries, been imprisoned and/or executed by
the SS for offenses both real--several assassination attempts on
Hitler--and imagined, or had otherwise absented themselves from
Hitler's inner circle. For many years Hitler was kept on drugs by his
medical personnel. In 1944 a group of German army officers and
civilians pulled off an almost successful assassination attempt on
Hitler, but he survived. Hitler, by the beginning of 1945, was a frail,
shaken man who had almost totally lost touch with reality. The Russians
reached Berlin in April of that year and began a punishing assault on
the city. As their forces approached the bunker where Hitler and the
last vestiges of his government were holed up, Hitler killed himself.
Just a day earlier he had married his longtime mistress
Eva Braun. Hitler's corpse was taken
to Moscow and later shown to Allied Army Commanders and diplomats.
Joseph Stalin showed Hitler's personal
items to Winston Churchill and
Harry S. Truman at the Potsdam
Conference after the victory. Hitler's personal gun was donated to the
museum of the West Point Military Academy in New York. Some of his
personal items are now part of the permanent collection at the National
History Museum in Moscow, Russia. - Actor
- Additional Crew
On the cast list of
The Magnificent Seven (1960),
you will find several names that doubtless you know well:
Charles Bronson,
Steve McQueen, and
Yul Brynner. But there is one name that you
will have difficulty pronouncing, let alone identifying as an actor you
have seen before. That man is
Horst Buchholz, and he was one of the few
German actors to have a considerable success in both Hollywood and in
Europe. One would hardly guess that he was sought out to act in one of
the most famous films of all time, only to have to turn it down.
Horst Buchholz was born in Berlin, Germany, in the year 1933. His
father was a German shoemaker, while his mother was born to Danish
parents. Buccholz was put in a foster home in Czechoslovakia when World
War II broke out in Europe, but he returned to Berlin the moment he had
the chance. Realizing his talent in acting, Buchholz dropped out of
school to perfect his acting skills. After moving from East Berlin to
West Berlin, he became well-known for his work in theatre and on the
radio. In 1952 he turned to film, and after a series of small roles, he
found a larger one in the
Julien Duvivier film
Marianne of My Youth (1955).
He was praised for his role in the romantic/drama
film Sky Without Stars (1955)
by Helmut Käutner, but it was the
lead role in the comedic
Confessions of Felix Krull (1957)
that made him an established German actor.
He followed this breakthrough role with the romantic film
Two Worlds (1958) and the
thriller Wet Asphalt (1958),
where the handsome young actor plays a former criminal who associates
himself with a journalist. Now a familiar face in his country, Buchholz
pursued making foreign films. His first non-German film was the British
film Tiger Bay (1959). The film is
about a girl who witnesses a seaman named Korchinsky (Buchholz) murder
his girlfriend. The film won praise in both Germany and Britain, but it
was Buchholz' next foreign film that secured his name in the history of
classic films. This film was the epic western
The Magnificent Seven (1960)
directed by John Sturges. Buchholz played
Chico, the inexperienced Mexican youth that wants to be a gunman and
abandon his past. Buchholz starred alongside such legends as
Charles Bronson and
Yul Brynner. both of whom had strong
European roots. The film was a hit, first in Europe, then was
re-distributed in the States to a much higher profit. The film gained
massive popularity, and even now is treasured as a classic.
Buchholz could now find good and steady work nationally and
internationally, which is something few actors could do at the time. He
worked on the romantic film Fanny (1961),
which is based on a trilogy of plays written by legendary writer
Marcel Pagnol. Buchholz plays the role of
Marius, a passionate but unsure youth who must choose between the girl
he loves, and the life at sea he has always wanted. The film was a fine
success, nominated for five Oscars, including Best Picture and Best
Actor for Charles Boyer (who plays
Buchholz' onscreen father).
It was at this point in his film career where he was sought as the
first choice to play the role of Sherif Ali in
David Lean's legendary film
Lawrence of Arabia (1962).
However, Buchholz had to turn it down, as he had already signed up for
another film, which turned out to be the Oscar-nominated comedy
One, Two, Three (1961) (directed
by Billy Wilder). The film was once again a
fine success to add to Buchholz' career, but ultimately gained nowhere
near as much of a status as
David Lean's film. Buchholz also made
the Italian film The Empty Canvas (1963) in which
he plays an untalented artist who begins a love affair with a young
model. Throughout his in the early 60s, Buchholz had made a name for
himself, acting in one Oscar-nominated film after another and showing
off his talent as an actor. However, the success he had reached was not
to last.
Buchholz continued with film, including the James Bond spoof
That Man in Istanbul (1965) and the crime film
Johnny Banco (1967). He starred in
the B-movie failure that was
The Young Rebel (1967). Buchholz rebounded
with the fiery film The Saviour (1971)
in which he plays a man who claims to be organizing resistance against
the Nazis. He also played Johann Strauss in the Golden Globe-nominated
musical The Great Waltz (1972).
which was sadly another failure.
The rest of the 1970s and the early 1980s were spent mostly on
television and movies released for television, whether it be foreign
(Dead of Night (1977), Return to Fantasy Island (1978)) or German
(Derrick). Buchholz found mild success again when he returned to the
big screen with the WW II espionage film
Code Name: Emerald (1985) in
which he plays alongside such stars as
Ed Harris and
Max von Sydow. After this film,
Buchholz returned to European movies, such as
And the Violins Stopped Playing (1988)
in which a group of gypsies flee Nazi persecutors. After taking a
supporting role in the fantasy film
Faraway, So Close! (1993),
Buchholz acted in one of his most well known films: the Oscar-winning
Italian film
Life Is Beautiful (1997) which was
directed by and starred Roberto Benigni.
Buchholz played the role of a doctor who befriends Benigni's character
and frequently duels with him in riddles. This choice of role proved to
be an echo of Buchholz' taste in choosing his projects in earlier
years; the film won best foreign film that year, and was also nominated
for Best Picture. Thanks to his gift for languages, Buchholz was able
to dub himself in the foreign releases of the film.
Buchholz continued making films and television appearances until 2002,
by which time he was sixty-eight years old. He died the next year, in
Berlin, of pneumonia. Berlin had been the city of his heart, and was
buried there in honour of that fact. Horst Buchholz had been a renowned
German actor, and had gained credibility in the United States and other
countries. He was a varied performer, acting all kinds of roles in his
life, but was always a proud German to the last.- Günter Meisner was born on 18 April 1926 in Bremen, Germany. He was an actor and director, known for Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory (1971), The Boys from Brazil (1978) and In a Glass Cage (1986). He was married to Gisela Albrecht Meisner. He died on 5 December 1994 in Berlin, Germany.
- Composer
- Music Department
- Writer
Jóhann Jóhannsson was born on 19 September 1969 in Reykjavík, Iceland. He was a composer and writer, known for Last and First Men (2020), The Theory of Everything (2014) and Sicario (2015). He died on 9 February 2018 in Berlin, Germany.- Dieter Laser is a German actor. He is known to English-speaking audiences for his roles: Mantrid in Lexx, Prof. Otto Blaettchen in The Ogre and Dr. Joseph Heiter in The Human Centipede (First Sequence), for which he won Best Actor at the Austin Fantastic Fest. In 1975, he was awarded the German Film Award in Gold in the category of Best Actor for his title role in John Glueckstadt.
He was born in Kiel. On a cold winter afternoon at the age of sixteen, Dieter Laser went to the stage door of the Deutsches Schauspielhaus in Hamburg at that time the most famous theatre in Germany and he asked the doorman how to become an actor. There was an extra missing for the Christmas fairy tale afternoon-performance for children and 30 minutes later he stood on stage among a bunch of "sailors". That was the beginning of his career as an extra. - He had grown up in a fundamentalist Christian sect where the Theatre was regarded as devil's work. As a brainwashed believer he had to hazard the consequences. Therefore he made a deal with the devil: 'I will become an actor and I'll pay later on - in hell!' - Watching as an extra the famous actors "The Gods" by doing their marvelous work during rehearsals and performances became his "drama school". Gradually he got a word to speak in a play - then two words - even a sentence - a tiny part - another little part - and one day he suddenly got a contract and overnight his dream had come true: he now was a real actor with whom the "Gods" shook hands. - After 14 passionate years on stage and as a co-founder and member of the board of the meanwhile most famous German theatre, the Schaubuehne in Berlin, he decided to become a freelancer and got his first work for the cinema: the title role in John Glueckstadt. For this performance he won the German Film Award in Gold. Since then, and besides countless guest appearances on the most important stages of Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Luxemburg, with parts like Don Juan, Valmont, Peer Gynt, Macbeth, Captain Ahab etc. Dieter Laser played in about 65 films, at times co-starring with "Gods" like Burt Lancaster, Julie Christie, Donald Sutherland, Glenn Close, John Malkovich etc.. - Actress
- Writer
- Additional Crew
Hildegard Frieda Albertine Knef was born on December 28, 1925 in Ulm,
Germany. In 1940, she began to study acting. Even before the fall of the
Third Reich, she appeared in several films, but most of them were only
released after the war. To avoid being raped by Soviet soldiers, she dressed
like a young man and was sent to a camp for prisoners of war. She escaped
and returned to war-shattered Berlin, where she played her first parts on
stage. The first German movie after World War II,
Murderers Among Us (1946),
made her a star. David O. Selznick
invited her to Hollywood and offered her a contract--with two conditions:
Hildegard Knef should change her name to Gilda Christian, and she should
pretend to be Austrian instead of German. She refused both and returned
to Germany. In 1951 she provoked one of the greatest scandals in German
film history when she appeared naked in the film The Sinner (1951).
The Roman Catholic Church protested vehemently against that film, but
Hildegard just commented: "I can't understand all that tumult--five years
after Auschwitz!"
With the support of her first husband, the American
Kurt Hirsch, she tried a second time to launch a Hollywood
career and changed her surname from Knef to Neff (Americans
could not pronounce Knef), but the only worthwhile part she got was
a supporting role in the Hemingway adaptation of
The Snows of Kilimanjaro (1952). She became a leading lady in German, French, and
British films. Finally, America offered her another chance, this time on
the stage. She achieved a kind of stardom as Ninotchka in the very
popular Broadway play "Silk Stockings".
In 1963 she began a new career as a singer, surprising audiences with
her typical, deep, smoky voice and the fact that she wrote many of her
own song lyrics. In 1970, she wrote the autobiographical bestseller
"Der Geschenkte Gaul". She got sympathy from all over the world for
her fight against cancer, which she defeated several times.
After the German reunification, Hildegarde Knef moved back to Berlin
and died at age 76 of a lung infection on February 1, 2002.- Actress
- Director
- Writer
Tall, blonde, busty and radiant, Eva Renzi created a sensation when she rose to stardom in her native West Germany in the mid-60s. Born to a 17-year-old French mother and a 49-year-old Danish father, Eva's childhood was everything but happy. Her parents got divorced when she was three, and her mother put her into an orphanage run by nuns. Eva was 14 when she returned to live with her abusive father; she later claimed that "he beat the daylights out of me on a daily basis". Living with her father proved to be so difficult that Eva tried to kill herself twice before she eventually left home at the tender age of 17 to pursue a career in acting. Famous drama coach Else Bongers took her under her wing, and the beautiful teenager supported herself as a model, a phone operator, and a waitress before making her debut on stage in late 1961. She became a member of the Freie Volksbühne Berlin in 1964 when renowned director Erwin Piscator hired her as "Electra".
In early 1965, Renzi was a single mother - her daughter Anouschka Renzi was fathered by a Brazilian bar owner named Raimundo - and a fairly successful stage actress when journalist-turned-director Will Tremper became so fascinated and infatuated with her extraordinary temper and raving beauty that he wrote a movie specifically for her: That Woman (1966), a personality vehicle for Eva Renzi, successfully premiered in 1966. The German press hailed her as "a sensuous mix between Julie Christie and Ingrid Bergman", and the movie itself caused quite a stir with its almost Godard-like atmosphere and international flair. On the set of That Woman (1966), Renzi, then 21, met Paul Hubschmid, 27 years her senior. The Swiss film star and notorious womanizer fell madly in love with Eva, married her in Las Vegas in 1967 and adopted her little daughter Anouschka to raise her as his own child. By that time, Eva's international career was going gangbusters: she was doing two, sometimes three movies a year, alternating between Hollywood, France, Italy, West Germany, and England. Her most successful movies were Funeral in Berlin (1966) alongside Michael Caine (unable to master the English language without an accent, she was dubbed by Nikki Van der Zyl in this one), the charming and underrated The Pink Jungle (1968) with James Garner and George Kennedy, and The Bird with the Crystal Plumage (1970) by Dario Argento, a movie that she later labeled "my career-suicide". The Renzi-Hubschmid family lived in Southern France, near Saint Tropez, and on the surface everything seemed happy, happy, happy.
By 1972, however, Eva's momentum was pretty much over, and she got tired of acting, the spotlight, her marriage, and society in general. She rejected a movie offer by Orson Welles and refused to be cast as a Bond girl in a Sean Connery film, passionately hating her sexy-girl image. She later said that, young as she was, she did not value her movie career in the first place and loathed everything about it except the money. After a miscarriage, her marriage was in deep trouble, and her often aggressive outbursts didn't help. She delved into a depression and turned to spirituality and Eastern religions to find answers. One day, she took her then 9-year-old daughter, packed the car and drove 14,000 miles to India. But that trip turned into a nightmare when she found herself in the midst of the Osho-Rajneesh movement. She later told the press about drug abuse and forced group sex experiences and launched a law suit in India against the leaders of the movement. Now in her early 30s, she relocated permanently to France and revived her career with beautifully tailored parts in Das blaue Palais (1974) and Papa Poule (1980). She gave one of her finest, most nuanced and mature performances in a supporting role in The Prodigal Daughter (1981), sensitively directed by Jacques Doillon. Her co-stars were Jane Birkin, Michel Piccoli and Natasha Parry.
Her marriage to Paul Hubschmid was practically over in 1980. The pair continued to work together on stage but lived in separate hotels. The divorce was finalized in 1983 after 16 years of marriage. In the late 1980s, Renzi returned to Germany and had a minor comeback on TV in Das Erbe der Guldenburgs (1987). She continued to act successfully in the 1990s and early 2000s, touring Germany, Austria and Switzerland with a stage production of Anton Chekhov's "The Seagull" and receiving rave reviews for her moving portrayal of a woman coming to terms with herself after her husband's death in the one-woman play "Amanda". One of her final TV appearances was alongside her (then) son-in-law Jochen Horst in Das Schweigen der Hämmer (1995).
A heavy smoker throughout her life, Eva Renzi was diagnosed with lung cancer in 2004. Mistrustful of contemporary treatments, she chose not to have any and died in her daughter's arms at the age of 60 on August 16, 2005.- Susanne Lothar was born on 15 November 1960 in Hamburg, Germany. She was an actress, known for Funny Games (1997), The White Ribbon (2009) and The Reader (2008). She was married to Ulrich Mühe. She died on 21 July 2012 in Berlin, Germany.
- Writer
- Producer
Josef Goebbels, the man who almost single-handedly developed the field
of propaganda into an art form, would, for a day, be the leader of
World War II Germany. Goebbels was born in the German Rhineland to
strict Catholic parents. He was short, standing at 5'5", of
small stature and thin build, and had a sharp, prominent nose and an oily,
sallow complexion. He was rejected by the German army in World War I on
the basis of being a cripple, specifically, he had a club foot for
which he wore a brace, contracted after a bout of osteomyelitis. After
Germany was defeated, Goebbels joined the National Socialist Workers
Party, more infamously known as the Nazi party, which opposed the
democratic Weimar Republic that had been set up to govern Germany.
Because of his impressive oratorical skills and uncanny ability to
slant arguments to his view, Goebbels was considered an ideal leader in
the Nazi party. It was there that he met Hitler in 1925. Though they
both shared a hatred of Jews, Goebbels, a dedicated socialist,
initially tried to expel the relatively capitalistic Hitler, who he
saw as simply an opportunist. He would change his tune, however, when
Hitler rose in rank to become leader. Hitler rewarded Goebbels
with a post as Nazi district leader of Berlin, where he would wage
year-round political campaigns that eventually drained the organization
of virtually all of its funds. He met and married divorcée Magda Quandt
around this time. Though their membership grew, the Nazis didn't manage
to attract a sizable enough number of voters - especially in Berlin -
to attain any kind of legitimate political power, due to both the
rebounding German economy and a distrust of the gang of street thugs
within the Nazi party called the Sturm Abteilung (SA). However, after
the US stock market crashed in 1929, the European economies took a
tremendous hit, and the resulting worldwide economic depression hit
Germany especially hard. The dire economic straits of many Germans were
tailor-made for a demagogue like Hitler, and, slowly, he began to take
power; first as Chancellor in 1933, then as Führer in 1934. Goebbels
was named minister of entertainment and propaganda, a position that
gave him have sole discretion as to what books, magazines, films,
radios, newspapers, etc., could print, say, or show. Knowing the media
power where the influencing of people was concerned, he searched for a
director to place as the head of UFA, Germany's leading film studio. In
a famous meeting, he offered the position to respected German director
Fritz Lang, who tried to excuse
himself by saying that he had Jewish grandparents, to which Goebbels
curtly replied, "We will decide who is Jewish!" Lang promptly fled the
country and Goebbels settled on a rising female director,
Leni Riefenstahl, as the "official"
Nazi filmmaker. She directed two documentaries on the party's Nuremburg
rallies of 1932 and 1933. The first was disowned by Riefenstahl because
of the little time she had to prepare and the fact that it was never
shown publicly because the film featured
Ernst Röhm, leader of the SA, who along with
many SA leaders, was murdered by the Nazi high command when they moved
against the SA, just after the film was completed. Their second
attempt, on which Goebbels assisted Riefenstahl extensively, is perhaps
the most famous propaganda film ever made:
Triumph of the Will (1935).
It took almost a year to prepare from the miles upon miles of footage
shot. It was a success worldwide, but was not particularly popular in
Germany at the time. Goebbels then commissioned Riefenstahl to shoot
the 1936 Berlin Olympics, which the Nazi leadership assumed would be
dominated by German athletes. The Germans did win the total medal
counts, but African-American sprinter
Jesse Owens shattered the myth of
Aryan dominance by winning gold medals in four different events - more
than any other competitor - and was idolized by the German crowds.
After World War II broke out, Goebbels was responsible for creating a
massive propaganda body of work by the German government, much of which
still remains recorded. He was known to use almost anything for
propaganda purposes, such as posters from French and German movies with
Jewish stars as examples of the "typical Jew." Even when Germany was
crumbling in 1945 and the Allies demanded unconditional surrender,
Goebbels used that as a motivational tool to demonstrate that every
German needed to fight or face destruction.
As Allied forces began to advance toward Germany, a paranoid and
rapidly deteriorating Hitler had many of his assistants executed or
imprisoned, but Goebbels was given the title of "Defender of Berlin."
Hitler committed suicide by gunshot on April 30, leaving Goebbels as
the next in command to take over the faltering government, which, by
then, controlled only a small part of Berlin. As both Soviet forces on
one side and American and British forces on the other closed in on the
capital, Goebbels was well aware of the fate he would meet if he were
captured alive. On May 1, 1945, he reluctantly endorsed the plan his
wife had conjured, which she had communicated to Albert Speer, and
permitted her to drug their six children with morphine and proceed to
poison them to death through the administration of a cyanide capsule.
Later that day, after requesting a moment of privacy with his wife from
the onlooking SS soldiers, he shot her in head, as they had also
planned, and then took his own life within seconds. Soviet troops, who
Goebbels had always boasted would never get to Berlin, found him and
his wife partially burnt and unburied outside the Fuhrerbunker. He was
survived only by a stepson from Magda's first marriage.- Cinematographer
- Director
- Actor
Michael Ballhaus was a German cinematographer. He worked on many American films, including Baby It's You (1983), Old Enough (1984), After Hours (1985), The Color of Money (1986), The Last Temptation of Christ (1988), Goodfellas (1990), Dracula (1992), The Age of Innocence (1993), Gangs of New York (2002), and The Departed (2006).
Ballhaus was nominated three times for the Academy Award for Best Cinematography, for Broadcast News (1987), The Fabulous Baker Boys (1989), and Gangs of New York (2002), but never won.
His son Florian Ballhaus is also a cinematographer who worked on Flightplan (2005) and The Devil Wears Prada (2006).
Ballhaus died on 11 April 2017, at the age of 81.- Born and raised in Magdeburg (Germany), Frank Giering gained first
stage experience as a background actor at the former known
"Maxim-Gorki" theatre Magdeburg". During this time the desire arose to
become an actor even though he said at a later time, that this desire
was mainly animated due to his hunger to get visible and noticed
combined with the unrealistic belief to get more interesting for the
womankind.
Nevertheless he started his studies at the "Westfälischen
Schauspielschule Bochum" (Germany) but changed short time after to the
"Hochschule für Film und Fernsehen" (HFF) in Potsdam Babelsberg
(Germany). But again he felt quite uncomfortable with the education
methods. Some exercises led him to his physical and mental limits.
Furthermore he failed on his teacher's demands to "fill up the space of
the theatre". As he realized that he clenched more and more as soon as
he got instructions to "give more" or to become "louder" he decided to
break off.
His last public theatre performance before leaving the HFF Potsdam in
summer 1994 was the turning point. He gained the attention of an
assistant director, which gave him the possibility to attend a casting
for the television film
Der Verräter (1995), in
which he starred an instable young man searching for acceptance and
affection who got into the claws of a neo-Nazi gang.
Finally - in front of the film camera - he was able to live out his own
belief of acting which was the opposite of the requirements at school.
He loved to reduce and to express feelings solely by glances and a
minimum of gestures and facial expression. According to his teachers in
the theatre he was only able to catch the first row. But now he met the
facility - not to gain the last rows by broaden himself - but to bring
them closer using the camera. At last he felt like coming home.
With his first role he gained the attention of the Austrian director
Michael Haneke, who cast him for two of
his productions. After the Kafka adaption
The Castle (1997), Giering starred the
cine film Funny Games (1997). With
the figure of the sadistic murderer he became popular over night.
The final breakthrough followed 1999 with his performance as Floyd in
Gigantic (1999) by
Sebastian Schipper, a small but
particular film about friendship, longing and farewell and a very last
but magic night in Hamburg. For a short time he was announced as one of
the promising up-and-coming actors of Germany. Comparisons were drawn
with James Dean, much less due to
similarities in visual nature but due to an aura of "lostness" and
lonesomeness which both actors surrounded.
Giering felt quite overstrained to live up this expectation. He
described himself as extremely shy and uncertain, full of feelings of
inferiority and melancholia. Only in front of the camera he felt really
free and secure. Aside of the camera he suffered from fear of loss and
anxiety about the future, which also led to the break of several
relationships. Actually he said once that he couldn't believe in being
loved by someone. Due to the fact that he never had faith in the skills
he owned but only in those he lacked.
His alcohol consumption - to compensate his uncertainties and the
emptiness between the films - raised more and more a problem. In 2001
he decided for a half-yearly rehab. In the following he always stood by
his struggle against alcoholism (and his very own demons) in a quite
public way, also to give impulses and courage for people in the same
situation, something he sadly missed in his own setting.
Giering attended twice at the film festival Berlinale (Berlin,
Germany), 2002 starring Andreas Baader in
Baader (2002), 2004 with the Jon Fosse
adaption
Die Nacht singt ihre Lieder (2004).
Both films were failed by the bigger part of the press and leads to
controversial discussions.
Especially the production of "Die Nacht singt ihre Lieder" (about the
shattering of a love affair and the cruelty of silence in occasions
something rather should have been said) was a matter close to his heart
due to some parallels in his own vita. After this negative experience
Giering mainly gave up the cinema business and focused on television
productions. In his opinion he was much less attackable on the smaller
screen.
From 2006 until his death in June 2010 Giering played - next to
Christian Berkel - the role of
"Kommissar Henry Weber" in the TV series
Der Kriminalist (2006). After
his sudden death during the current production, the figure of Henry
Weber died, too. For paying deep respect and sympathy the production
company decided not to impute a fictional ending. For that reason
episode 7.3 "Tod eines Begleiters" opened with the funeral of Henry
Weber.
In many obituaries was read - due to the quantity and deficient
diligence by selecting his roles - Giering undersold himself and burned
out by less important featured parts. Indeed he seemed not to care
about what he was acting as long as he was acting and able to forget
his fears and lonesomeness for just that moment.
Just as many times it was mentioned that scarcely anybody else in
Germany was able to act with such an intensity and depth. Due to the
fact that he never ever played (simulate) emotions but lived it in the
moment of acting he offered much more of himself than usual and allowed
the audience to get adamantly close to him. That and the fact that
hardly anyone else ever radiated such a sadness and lonesomeness might
be the reason that he was able to deeply move even in his least roles.
Frank Giering died on 23th of June 2010. The official cause of dead is
given by multiple organ failure due to an acute bilious colic. On 9th
of July 2010 he was buried at the "Neustädter Friedhof" in Magdeburg
(Germany). - The son of an accountant, Paul Hubschmid was born, raised and schooled
in Schoenenwerd, Switzerland. He trained for an acting career at the
Max Reinhardt Seminar of Dramatic
Art in Vienna and first appeared on stage at the Vienna Volkstheater in
1937. His motion picture debut took place the following year. He was
cast as the titular hero in the patriotic Swiss production
Füsilier Wipf (1938), which was
directed by that nation's pre-eminent film maker of the time,
Leopold Lindtberg. The role opened the
doors for the tall (1.92 m), wavy-haired and handsome actor and he soon
moved on to a more lucrative career in Germany. After a stint with the
Deutsches Theater in Berlin, he slipped effortlessly into a succession
of romantic leads opposite established stars such as
Luise Ullrich
(Der Fall Rainer (1942)) and
Hilde Krahl
(Meine Freundin Josefine (1942)).
His presence in German films during the Nazi period (though mostly in
light entertainments without significant political content) did not
prove detrimental to his spell in Hollywood, which began with a
seven-year contract in 1948. Having almost no perceptible trace of an
accent, he fitted right into the role of 'Paul Christian', the stage
name which was assigned to him for the handful of films he made in
tinseltown. Some were outright stinkers, like
No Time for Flowers (1952),
which veered uneasily between silly comedy and fruity melodrama. Best
of the bunch was the cult sci-fi
The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms (1953),
which started the cycle of giant monster films in the
1950's and featured the work of renowned special effects expert Ray Harryhausen.
The film cost a mere $200,000 to make and grossed in excess of $ 5
million. With the audience attention firmly fixed on the dinosaur, the
cast seemed at times redundant. Paul, in the leading role of scientist
Tom Nesbitt, did the best he could with the clichéd script. Since no
better parts were forthcoming, Paul dissolved his contract after just
four years and returned home.
Back in Germany, he was considerably better served in the role of
composer Franz Liszt in the Franco-German
co-production
Ungarische Rhapsodie (1954);
and in a trilogy of hugely popular escapist adventure films, exotically
set in India:
The Tiger of Eschnapur (1959),
The Indian Tomb (1959)
and
Journey to the Lost City (1960).
Paul had aged remarkably well and was able to carry off his romantic
leading man image into the 1960's. From the beginning of the decade, he
also moved into character acting, playing Professor Higgins in "My Fair
Lady" more than 2000 times on stage, most frequently at Berlin's
Theater des Westens. On screen, he now appeared more frequently as bon
vivants, reprobates or villains, most memorable as double agent Johnny
Vulkan in
Funeral in Berlin (1966), the
second of Len Deighton's Harry Palmer
trilogy. In 1980, he was awarded the German Filmband in Gold. During
the 1980's he scaled down his workload, confining himself to guesting
in made-for-television movies and series. He retired from acting in
1992 and died nine years later in Berlin at the age of 84 of a
pulmonary embolism. - Birol Ünel was born on 18 August 1961 in Silifke, Mersin, Turkey. He was an actor, known for Head-On (2004), Enemy at the Gates (2001) and Soul Kitchen (2009). He died on 3 September 2020 in Berlin, Germany.
- Actor
- Director
- Writer
Sander spent his childhood and youth in Hanover and Kassel. He also went to school there and graduated from high school in 1962. After his military service in the navy, he studied theater studies, German, literature, art history and philosophy until 1967. Sander made his theater debut in 1965 at the Düsseldorf Kammerspiele. He then played roles at the Heidelberg Theater and the Freie Volksbühne Berlin. From 1970 Sander was engaged at the Schaubühne am Hallerschen Ufer in Berlin; He not only performed there, but was also involved in productions. At the same time as his theater work, Otto Sander also started his career in film. In 1965 he played the farmer's son and quarry worker in Roland Klick's "Ludwig" and thus celebrated his screen debut. Sander attended drama school and also appeared on the stage of the Munich Rational Theater. There he showed the best cabaret and received good reviews for his funny, spontaneous and eloquent performances.
In 1971 he married the actress Monika Hansen; he became stepfather to Ben and Meret Becker. In the 1970s, Sander became known nationwide as a film and television actor. He appeared in plays and films such as Heinrich von Kleist's "Prinz Friedrich von Homburg" (1972), the "Optimistic Comedy" (1973) and "The Bakchen" (1974). In 1974 Sander had the role of a war returnee in "Lehmann's Tales" and played the strict Junker in "The Marquise of O." (1975), the musician Meyn in Volker Schlöndorff's "The Tin Drum" (1979) and the Knight's Cross bearer in Wolfgang Petersen's war epic "Das Boot". Sander received the Ernst Lubitsch Prize in 1982 for his leading role in Hartmut Schmiege and Christian Rateuke's "The Man in the Pajamas". He didn't just concentrate on acting, but was also actively involved with his friend and colleague Bruno Ganz in the realization of the actor's portrait "The Memory" about Curt Bois.
He consistently continued his work in the 1980s and 1990s and was repeatedly seen in films, for example in "The Sky over Berlin" (1986) and "In the Far Away So Close" (1993) - both with Bruno Ganz. Sander also worked as a presenter, dubbing and radio speaker and appeared at readings. He also often appeared in front of the camera together with his foster children Ben Becker and Meret Becker - including in the films "Marlene" (2000) and "Sass" (2001). In 2005 he appeared in "Little Spoon" directed by Régine Provvedi. In 2007 he played on the stage of the Renaissance Theater in Berlin in "The Last Band" by Samuel Beckett and in Bochum in the play "The Ignorant and the Madman" by Thomas Bernhard. As a narrator, he designed the cinema productions "Perfume" and "Krabat" in 2006 and 2008. In 2012 he shone again in the comedy film "Until the horizon, then to the left!" by Bernd Böhlich. "Soko Wien" and "Polizeiruf 110" (2013) were his last TV productions.
Otto Sander died on September 12, 2013 in Berlin.- Tilo Prückner was born on 26 October 1940 in Augsburg, Bavaria, Germany. He was an actor, known for The NeverEnding Story (1984), Iron Sky (2012) and Der Willi-Busch-Report (1979). He was married to Ute Paffendorf and Brigitte. He died on 2 July 2020 in Berlin, Germany.
- Joachim Hansen was the
'poster boy' for German movie officers in films
of the 1950's and 60's. Masculine and of commanding presence, he
portrayed such historical figures as Luftwaffe ace Hans Joachim Marseille
in
Der Stern von Afrika (1957)
and Generaloberst Alfred Jodl in
The Winds of War (1983) and
War and Remembrance (1988).
His many international credits as men in uniform include Captain
Baumann in
The Bridge at Remagen (1969),
a British lieutenant caught up in a sectarian uprising in India in
Kali Yug, la dea della vendetta (1963)
and a senior SS officer in
The Eagle Has Landed (1976).
A teacher's son, Hansen began his working career as an English and
French translator. He studied acting at the
Max Reinhardt Academy in Berlin
and was spotted there by the director
Alfred Weidenmann who starred him in
his 1956 film debut. Thereafter, he rarely found himself out of
uniform, but remained firmly in command just the same, as police
inspectors
(Das Geheimnis der schwarzen Koffer (1962)),
men of impeccable integrity
(Via Mala (1961)) or outdoorsy heroes in
romantic melodramas
(Duel with Death (1959)).
Hansen segued into character roles on the small screen during the
1970's and 80's. He emigrated to Canada in 1986, but returned to
Germany for occasional theatrical appearances. He died in Berlin after
suffering a stroke in September 2007, aged 77. - Actress
- Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
- Additional Crew
Irm Hermann was born on 4 October 1942 in Munich, Bavaria, Germany. She was an actress and assistant director, known for Five Last Days (1982), The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant (1972) and The Merchant of Four Seasons (1972). She was married to Dietmar Roberg. She died on 26 May 2020 in Berlin, Germany.- Actor
- Composer
- Music Department
The unwanted son of a prostitute, Bruno S. was beaten so severely by
his mother at age 3 that he became temporarily deaf. This led to his
placement in a mental institution; he spent the next 23 years in
various institutions, often running afoul of the law. Despite this
past, he a self-taught painter and musician; while these were his
favorite occupations, he was also forced to take jobs in factories such
as driving a fork lift. Director
Werner Herzog saw him in the documentary
Bruno the Black - One Day a Hunter Blew His Horn (1970)
and vowed to work with him, which led to his major roles in
The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser (1974)
and Stroszek (1977). He was very
difficult to work with, though, sometimes needing several hours of
screaming before he could do a scene.- Actress
- Additional Crew
Inge Landgut was born on 23 November 1922 in Berlin, Germany. She was an actress, known for M (1931), Emil and the Detectives (1931) and Hilfe, ich bin unsichtbar (1951). She was married to Werner Oelschlaeger. She died on 29 May 1986 in West Berlin, West Germany.- Writer
- Director
Thea von Harbou was born on 27 December 1888 in Tauperlitz, Döhlau, Bavaria, Germany. She was a writer and director, known for Metropolis (1927), M (1931) and Woman in the Moon (1929). She was married to Fritz Lang and Rudolf Klein-Rogge. She died on 1 July 1954 in Berlin, Germany.- Actor
- Writer
- Producer
Burkhard Driest was born on 28 April 1939 in Stettin, Pomerania, Germany [now Szczecin, Zachodniopomorskie, Poland]. He was an actor and writer, known for Querelle (1982), Annas Mutter (1984) and Cross of Iron (1977). He was married to Bettina and ???. He died on 27 February 2020 in Berlin, Germany.- Actor
- Director
- Additional Crew
This elegant actor of the golden age of German cinema appeared in
several masterpieces, before the cameras of such inspired geniuses as
Lang, Lubitsch and Murnau. Vocation had come rather late in his life,
though. Abel was indeed already 33 when he made his first film.
Beforehand, he had been a forester, a gardener and a shopkeeper. But
one day, while watching a film with Asta Nielsen, he was struck by
revelation. He decided at once to become an actor and with the help of
Nielsen in person he started a fruitful screen career. He also wrote
and directed a few films. He died too soon aged only 57, but having
honored the German screen with his noble, dignified figure in more than
a hundred pictures.- Actor
- Camera and Electrical Department
- Soundtrack
Günther Kaufmann was born on 16 June 1947 in Munich, Bavaria, Germany. He was an actor, known for Wickie und die starken Männer (2009), Querelle (1982) and Ludwig - Requiem for a Virgin King (1972). He was married to Patrizia, Alexandra von Herrendorf and Gabriele. He died on 10 May 2012 in Berlin, Germany.- Casting Director
- Casting Department
- Actress
Simone Bär was born in 1965 in Königs Wusterhausen, Brandenburg, Germany. She was a casting director and actress, known for Inglourious Basterds (2009), Babylon Berlin (2017) and Good Bye Lenin! (2003). She died on 16 January 2023 in Berlin, Germany.- Actor
- Director
- Writer
Curt had one of the longest careers in film history appearing in films at the age of 8, In 1933 he fled Germany to seek artistic freedom in New York where he quickly captivated audiences in his many stage appearances. After a few years Hollywood beckoned with the mot productive period of his career taking place in the late 30's and early 40's with such films as The Great Waltz, Hold Back the Dawn and Cover Girl, After WWII he felt it was time to return to Germany where he not only continued to make films but started directing and producing but it was his cabaret performances that earned him a solid reputation as a fine performer. He died in late 1991- Rudolf Walter Richard Hess was a German politician and a leading member of the Nazi Party in Nazi Germany. Appointed Deputy Führer to Adolf Hitler in 1933, Hess held that position until 1941, when he flew solo to Scotland in an attempt to negotiate peace with the United Kingdom during World War II. He was taken prisoner and eventually convicted of crimes against peace. He was still serving his life sentence at the time of his suicide in 1987.
- Son of Austrian parents, born into an atmosphere of theater. His father
was Max Reinhardt's associate. Came with a "Kindertransport" to England,
later went to Ireland to study art. His first experience was with a
Belfast repertory company. During the war, he served with the Irish
Fusiliers, after his London West End debut in "The Perfect Woman"
(1948), there followed dramatic and revue credits and twenty film
roles. Moved in 1957 to the States, had a lot of Broadway and
off-Broadway appearances in New York, won 1959 Clarence Derwent - and
1964 Obi Award. He has been visiting professor at Yale, Boston
University and Carnegie Mellon. Long time resident of California,
television audiences have seen him in a variety of dramatic and comic
roles, film credits include featured and co-starring roles. Hurst returned to Germany in the early 1990s to collaborate with director and play writer George Tabori. He lived in Vienna, Austria and his city of birth, Berlin and retired in 2000. He died after suffering a stroke and pneumonia. - Actress
- Writer
Greta Schröder was a German actress. She is best known for the role of Thomas Hutter's wife in the 1922 silent film Nosferatu. In the fictionalized 2000 film, Shadow of the Vampire, she is portrayed as having been a famous actress during the making of Nosferatu, but in fact she was little known.
The peak of her career was during the 1920s, and she continued to act well into the 1950s, but by the 1930s her roles had diminished to only occasional appearances.
Greta Schröder died on 8 June 1980 at the age of 87.- Actress
- Soundtrack
Ilse Steppat was born on 30 November 1917 in Barmen, Germany. She was an actress, known for On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969), Marriage in the Shadows (1947) and The Blue Swords (1949). She was married to Max Nosseck. She died on 21 December 1969 in West Berlin, West Germany.- Actress
- Soundtrack
Rosel Zech was born on 7 July 1940 in Berlin, Germany. She was an actress, known for Veronika Voss (1982), Salmonberries (1991) and The Assault of the Present on the Rest of Time (1985). She died on 31 August 2011 in Berlin, Germany.- Actor
- Director
- Writer
Paul Wegener was born in Arnoldsdorf, West Prussia, part of the German Empire. His birthplace is currently part of Poland, under the name "Jarantowice". Wegener's family included a number of scientists, the most notable being his cousin Alfred Wegener (1880-1930). Alfred is remembered as the originator of the theory of continental drift.
Paul has no known relation to another Paul Wegener (1908-1993), who served as a Nazi Party official and an officer of the Schutzstaffel (SS).
Paul Wegener initially followed legal studies in college, but dropped out in order to become a theatrical actor. By 1906, he was part of an acting troupe led by Max Reinhardt (1873-1943). Reinhardt went on to become a film director. By 1912, Wegener himself had become interested in the film medium, and sought roles as a film actor.
In 1913, Wegener heard of an old Jewish legend, concerning the Golem. He wanted to adapt the legend into film, and started co-writing a script with Henrik Galeen (1881-1949). Their script was adapted into the film "The Golem" (1915), with Wegener and Galeen serving as the two co-directors. The film was a success and established Wegener as a celebrated figure in German cinema. Wegener returned to adapting the Golem legend into film, by directing a parody film in 1917 and the more serious "The Golem: How He Came into the World" (1920). The 1920 film remains one of the classics of German cinema. Wegener's other films often reflected his personal interests, such as trick photography, the supernatural, and mysticism.
He continued his film career into the 1930s, and made the transition from silent films to sound films. Under the Nazi regime (1933-1945), several actors and directors faced persecution or exile. Wegener instead found himself favored by the regime and appeared regularly in Nazi propaganda films of the 1940s. Wegener personally disliked the regime (which had persecuted a number of his friends and associates) and reputedly financed a number of German resistance groups.
In 1945, with World War II over and Berlin in ruins, Wegener took initiative as president of an organization intended to improve the living standards for surviving citizens of Berlin. He continued to appear in theatrical productions from 1945 to 1948, although he was suffering from an increasingly poor health.
In July 1948, Wegener collapsed on stage during a theatrical performance. The curtain was brought down and the rest of the performance was canceled. It was his last acting role, as he retired in an attempt to recuperate. He died in his sleep in September 1948. He was survived by his last wife Lyda Salmonova (1889-1968).- Actor
- Director
- Writer
Gustav von Wangenheim was a German actor, film director, and screenwriter from Wiesbaden. He is mostly remembered for playing the character Hutter in the classic horror film "Nosferatu" (1921). His character was based on the character of Jonathan Harker in the novel "Dracula" (1897) by Bram Stoker.
In 1895, Wangenheim was born in Wiesbaden. His father was the prolific actor Eduard von Winterstein (1871-1961, real name: Eduard Clemens Franz Anna Freiherr von Wangenheim), while his mother was theatrical actress Minna Mengers. His paternal ancestors were members of German nobility, the Freiherrs (Barons) of Wangenheim.
Wangenheim made his film debut in 1914, and went on to star in several silent films. Besides "Nosferatu", his best known film was "Woman in the Moon" (1929) by y Fritz Lang. It was among the earliest depictions of space travel in film, and is still considered one of the first "serious" science fiction films.
In 1921, Wangenheim joined the Communist Party of Germany (KPD, 1918-1956). At the time, the KPD was one of the major political parties of the Weimar Republic. During the 1920s, the party became Stalinist in ideology. In 1931, Wangenheim established "Die Truppe '31", a theatrical company consisting exclusively of communists. Wangenheim both wrote and produced three plays for this theatre company between 1931 and 1933.
In 1933, the then-new Nazi regime shut down Wangenheim's theatrical company. His ideology made Wangenheim a target for Nazi persecution, so he soon fled Germany. He settled in the Soviet Union, becoming a long-term resident of the "Hotel Lux" in Moscow. During the 1930s, this hotel housed exiles from about 50 different countries.
In 1933, Wangenheim became the new leader of Left Column, a Soviet theatrical company which consisted primarily of German exiles. He eventually secured enough funding to direct the film "Der Kampf" (1936), a film protesting against the oppressive policies of Nazi Germany.
In 1936, Wangenheim was implicated in the then-ongoing trials of the Great Purge, a repressive political purge within the Soviet Union. He reportedly denounced the actress Carola Neher (1900-1942) and her husband as Trotskyites. According to a testimony from Wangenheim's son, following a lengthy interrogation, his father was forced to sign papers which implicated Neher in an anti-Soviet conspiracy. The charges against her had been prepared, and the authorities needed to convince Wangenheim to serve as a false witness.
In 1943, Wangenheim became a founding member of the "National Committee for a Free Germany". It was an anti-Nazi and pro-Soviet organization formed within the Soviet Union, with most of its members being German exiles or German war prisoners that tried to gain support from the Soviet government.
Following the end of World War II, Wangenheim settled in East Germany. He joined the state-owned film studio DEFA (1946-1992), serving as one of its film directors and screenwriters for several years. In 1954, he had his long-term marriage to the writer and photographer Inge von Wangenheim (1912-1993) annulled.
In 1975, Wangenheim died in East Berlin, at the age of 80. He was buried in the Friedrichsfelde cemetery in Berlin. He remains among the best remembered actors of the German silent film period, in part due to collaborations with well-regarded film directors.- Actress
- Soundtrack
Brigitte Mira was born on 20 April 1910 in Hamburg, Germany. She was an actress, known for Ali: Fear Eats the Soul (1974), Mother Kusters Goes to Heaven (1975) and Chinese Roulette (1976). She was married to Frank Guerente, Paul Cornelius, Peter Schütte, Horst Fabian and Reinhold Tabatt. She died on 8 March 2005 in Berlin, Germany.- Actor
- Additional Crew
- Soundtrack
Hans-Michael Rehberg was born on 2 April 1938 in Fürstenwalde, Brandenburg, Germany. He was an actor, known for Schindler's List (1993), Geography of the Heart (2016) and Georg Elser - Einer aus Deutschland (1989). He was married to Barbara Sukowa. He died on 7 November 2017 in Berlin, Germany.- Ernst Deutsch was born on 16 September 1890 in Prague, Bohemia, Austria-Hungary [now Czech Republic]. He was an actor, known for The Third Man (1949), Der Prozeß (1948) and Isle of the Dead (1945). He was married to Anuschka Fuchs. He died on 22 March 1969 in West Berlin, West Germany.
- Director
- Producer
- Actor
E.W. Swackhamer was born on 17 January 1927 in Middletown, New Jersey, USA. He was a director and producer, known for The Dain Curse (1978), Family (1976) and McCloud (1970). He was married to Bridget Hanley and Margaret Woodward (Gretchen) Shane. He died on 5 December 1994 in Berlin, Germany.- Actor
- Director
- Producer
Vadim Glowna was born on 26 September 1941 in Eutin, Germany. He was an actor and director, known for Cross of Iron (1977), Desperado City (1981) and Dies rigorose Leben (1983). He was married to Vera Tschechowa. He died on 24 January 2012 in Berlin, Germany.- Camera and Electrical Department
- Cinematographer
Eva Braun was the longtime companion of Adolf Hitler and, for less than 40 hours, his wife. Braun met Hitler in Munich when she was a 17-year-old assistant and model for his personal photographer Heinrich Hoffmann. She began seeing Hitler often about two years later. She attempted suicide twice during their early relationship. By 1936, she was a part of his household at the Berghof near Berchtesgaden and lived a sheltered life throughout World War II. Braun was a photographer, and she took many of the surviving color photographs and films of Hitler. She was a key figure within Hitler's inner social circle, but did not attend public events with him until mid-1944.
As Nazi Germany was collapsing towards the end of the war, Eva Braun swore loyalty to Hitler and went to Berlin to be by his side in the heavily reinforced Führerbunker beneath the Reich Chancellery. As Red Army troops fought their way into the neighborhood on 29 April 1945, she married Hitler during a brief civil ceremony; she was 33 and he was 56. Less than 40 hours later, they committed suicide together in a sitting room of the bunker, she by biting into a capsule of cyanide, and he by a gunshot to the head. The German public was unaware of Braun's relationship with Hitler until after their deaths.- Klausjürgen Wussow was born on 30 April 1929 in Cammin, Pomerania, Germany [now Kamien Pomorski, Zachodniopomorskie, Poland]. He was an actor, known for The Black Forest Hospital (1985), Der grüne Bogenschütze (1961) and Sergeant Berry (1974). He was married to Sabine Scholz, Yvonne Wussow, Ida Krottendorf and Jolande Frantz. He died on 19 June 2007 in Rüdersdorf bei Berlin, Brandenburg, Germany.
- Actor
- Additional Crew
Reinhard Kolldehoff was born on 29 April 1914 in Berlin, Germany. He was an actor, known for Soldier of Orange (1977), The Winds of War (1983) and The Damned (1969). He was married to Helma. He died on 18 November 1995 in Berlin, Germany.- Ernst Ziegler was born on 16 April 1894 in Weilerbach, Palatinate, Bavaria [now Rhineland-Palatinate], Germany. He was an actor, known for Something for Everyone (1970), The Naked Countess (1971) and Josefine M. (1970). He died on 11 April 1974 in Berlin, Germany.
- Actress
- Soundtrack
Maja Maranow was born on 20 March 1961 in Nienburg/Weser, Lower Saxony, Germany. She was an actress, known for Tatort (1970), Ein starkes Team (1994) and Rivalen der Rennbahn (1989). She was married to Zacharias Preen and Florian Martens. She died on 4 January 2016 in Berlin, Germany.- Actress
- Writer
- Soundtrack
Johanna von Koczian was born on 30 October 1933 in Berlin, Germany. She was an actress and writer, known for Victor and Victoria (1957), Heldinnen (1960) and Café Wernicke (1980). She was married to Wolfgang Kabitzky and Dietrich Haugk. She died on 10 February 2024 in Berlin, Germany.- Sabine Bethmann almost became an international star. She was slated by Kirk Douglas to co-star as Varinia in his epic blockbuster Spartacus (1960). However, when director Anthony Mann was unceremoniously replaced with Stanley Kubrick, it was Jean Simmons who was preferred for the part. Sabine's career never quite recovered from this setback.
Bethmann was born and spent her childhood in Tilsit, East Prussia. After schooling, she qualified as a physiotherapist and earned extra money on the side as a photographic model. At age 24, the attractive blonde was discovered for the screen and made her debut as star of the romantic drama Waldwinter (1956), directed by Wolfgang Liebeneiner. Her girl-next-door appeal gained her almost instant popularity. As a result, Bethmann was given leads or second leads in a string of major cinematic releases: the U-Boat drama Haie und kleine Fische (1957) (as a commodore's wife), Fritz Lang's lavish remakes of The Tiger of Eschnapur (1959) and The Indian Tomb (1959) (an architect's wife) and the medical drama Frauenarzt Dr. Sibelius (1962) (as an obstetric nurse). Bethmann typically played altruistic wives or lovers whose self-sacrifice would be rewarded at the end of the day.
By the mid 60s, the more unambitious roles which had hitherto been her bread and butter (namely the rustic Heimatfilm romances and the 'Pauker' school farces) had greatly diminished in popularity. With fewer movie offers forthcoming, Bethmann turned to television. Her final starring fling was as secretary to a private eye in Cliff Dexter (1966), a popular but short-lived James Bond pastiche. By the 1970s, her screen appearances became more and more sporadic. By the time she was in her sixtieth year, Sabine Bethmann had retired from acting. She lived the rest of her life in Berlin in relative obscurity until her death in November 2021. - Actor
- Soundtrack
He was a dashing romantic heartthrob of the 1960s, the scion of illustrious show business parents. Thomas was born in Dresden, the son of pre-war Ufa Film matinee idol Willy Fritsch and the actress and dancer Dinah Grace. He studied drama, ballet and singing in Hamburg and made his theatrical debut in 1963 at the Stadttheater Heidelberg. Success in films soon followed. Opposite screen icons like Lilli Palmer (Adorable Julia (1962), Das große Liebesspiel (1963)), Daliah Lavi (Das schwarz-weiß-rote Himmelbett (1962)) and Senta Berger (Full Hearts and Empty Pockets (1964)), Thomas became one of the most popular juvenile leads of the decade. As early as 1962, he won the prestigious Bambi Award as Best Young Actor. He gained further cinematic exposure through co-starring in European westerns (The Last Ride to Santa Cruz (1964), Legend of a Gunfighter (1964) ) and international co-productions (Uncle Tom's Cabin (1965) ). After he was conscripted to military service in 1966, his fortunes began to wane. By the time he was able to return to acting, public tastes had changed and his type of screen personae was no longer in demand. A projected career in Hollywood also ended in disappointment.
Following several years in the wilderness, Thomas made a comeback on stage as the star of light satirical comedies. By the mid-70s, he had also reinvented himself as a TV character player, often alternating sympathetically roguish with comical roles. His popularity with audiences was ultimately re-established with recurring roles in shows like Drei sind einer zuviel (1977), Rivalen der Rennbahn (1989), and Our Charly (1995). Moreover, Thomas frequently popped up as assorted suspects in the ever popular crime series Derrick (1974) and The Old Fox (1977). He also enjoyed a lengthy tenure as the narrator of children's radio plays and animated films. As a voice-over actor, he became familiar to millions, dubbing (among many others) for major stars like Tim Curry, Jeremy Irons, William Hurt, Russell Crowe (as Maximus in Gladiator (2000)), Alan Rickman, Alec Baldwin, Jeff Bridges and Ian McShane.
In private life, Thomas avidly supported animal welfare. He maintained residences on the island of Mykonos and in Munich where he died on April 21 2021 at the age of 77, having been diagnosed with dementia two years prior.- Thomas Petruo was born on 10 October 1956 in Berlin, Germany. He was an actor, known for Enemy at the Gates (2001), Die Tigerin (1992) and The NeverEnding Story III (1994). He died on 13 April 2018 in Berlin, Germany.
- Actress
- Soundtrack
Highly popular German star Renate Muller was the toast of late 20s
Berlin along with the legendary Marlene Dietrich. Unlike Dietrich, however, she
suffered at the hands of the Nazis and died under mysterious
circumstances.
Renate was born in Munich on April 26, 1906, the
daughter of a newspaper editor-in-chief and a painter. As a child she
lived a privileged, well-to-do life in pre-Nazi Germany. An early
interest in acting and poetry led her to the Harzer Bergtheater under
the tutelage of Georg Wilhelm Pabst, one of her professors at school. By the late
20s she had established herself as one of Berlin's most active and
versatile stage players.
Actor/director Reinhold Schünzel hired Renate for her
first movie and used her again many times in some of her (and his) best
films. As her American counterparts at the time were Claudette Colbert and
Nancy Carroll, Renate too became a shining star of light, sexy comedies.
Pert, stylish and wholesomely pretty, she had just enough of an edge to
make her impish sexuality all the more interesting.
The highlights of her rather brief career were The Office Girl (1931) (1931),
which made her a star, and Victor and Victoria (1933) (1933), the widely
popular romantic story of a woman who disguises herself as a man. In
the mid-30s, however, the entertainment industry was becoming acutely
affected by the rise of Hitler. While the outraged Dietrich turned her
back on her country and became a U.S. citizen, Renate stayed true and
remained in her homeland despite her intense dislike of the bleak
political situation. She became less cooperative, however, over the
years, especially when they began putting her in propaganda films, such
as Togger (1937).
Renate died tragically at age 31 on October 1, 1937, having
checked into a Berlin hospital for knee surgery (some sources say drug
addiction). She apparently fell or was pushed out of a third-story
window and died instantly. Some sources say it was suicide due to her
desperate unhappiness over the rise of Nazi Germany and her artistic
entrapment. Others insist it was a murder covered up by the fascist
regime. Those who favor this story claim that her death was the result
of her lack of cooperation, her clandestine involvement with a Jewish
man, and the regime's fear that she was going to turn traitor and leave
Germany. In any event, her death was deeply felt and she was mourned by
her many fans who weren't even allowed to attend her
funeral.- Writer
- Additional Crew
Jacob Grimm was a German folklorist, linguist, and philologist. He and his younger brother Wilhelm Grimm (1786 - 1859) co-operated in collecting, compiling, and revising German folk tales into "Grimms' Fairy Tales" (1812). By its final revised edition in 1857, the collection included 210 unique fairy tales. Grimm also published the historical treatise "Teutonic Mythology" (Deutsche Mythologie, 1835) on Germanic mythology and its impact in modern German folk culture. He spend his last years working on "The German Dictionary" (Deutsches Wörterbuch), the largest and most comprehensive dictionary of High German. It was left unfinished with his death, but was expanded and finished by other scholars. Its first complete edition was published in 1961, nearly a century after Grimm's death.
In 1785, Grimm was born in Hanau, Landgraviate of Hesse-Kassel. His father was the lawyer Philipp Grimm (d. 1796). His father died when Grimm was 11-years-old, severely reducing the Grimm family's income and social status. However, Jacob received financial help from a maternal aunt who served as a lady of the chamber to the Landgravine of Hesse.
Grimm was educated at public schools, and enrolled at the University of Marburg in 1802. He was initially only interested in studying law, but he was impressed with the lectures of the historian Friedrich Carl von Savigny (1779 -1861). Savigny awakened in Jacob a love for historical and antiquarian research, and allowed the young man to study Middle High German texts from his personal library.
In 1805, Grimm joined his mentor Savigny in his work at Paris, where he took time to study available medieval texts. In 1806, Grimm found a new job, working in the war office at Kassel. His salary was meager, but provided him with enough free time to pursue his own interests.
In 1808, Grimm was appointed superintendent of the private library of Jerome Bonaparte, King of Westphalia (1784-1860, reigned 1807-1813). He also as an auditor to the state council. His combined salary for these two positions were 4000 francs. Following Jerome's deposition, Grimm served as Secretary of Legation in Hesse-Kassel. He spend a few years trying to claim restitutions of books from Kassel that had been taken by the French Army.
In 1816, Grimm was appointed as the second librarian at the Kassel library, second-in-command for this department. He worked closely with his brother Wilhelm, who was also employed as a librarian at this library. In 1828, the chief librarian died. Both brothers were nominated for promotion, but were disappointed when the vacant seat was occupied by another candidate.
In 1829, the frustrated Jacob accepted an offer to work as both a professor and a librarian at the University of Göttingen. He lectured on legal history, historical grammar, literary history, and diplomatics. He also provided commentaries on Old German poetry and the "Germania" of Tacitus, one of the oldest surviving works on Germanic history and culture.
In 1837, Jacob and Grimm were both included in the Göttingen Seven, academics who protested against the planned abolition of the constitution of the Kingdom of Hanover by the new monarch, Ernest Augustus, King of Hanover (1771-1851, reigned 1837-1851). The academics were all fired by the king, and the Grimm Brothers were exiled. The brothers spend a few years under reduced circumstances in Kassel.
In 1840, Grimm was appointed a professor at the University of Berlin, after accepting an offer of employment Frederick William IV of Prussia (1795-1861, reigned 1840-1861). By the terms of his employment, he was not actually obligated to lecture students. He chose to only lecture on occasion, devoting much of his time to compiling more literary works.
Grimm died in September 1863, while still working in Berlin. He was 78-years-old at the time of his death. He had never married and had no known descendants. His legacy includes a large influence on several fields of scholarship, and frequent adaptations of his fairy tales over the following centuries. He is the originator of "Grimm's law" in linguistics, which is used in the study of the Proto-Indo-European language.- Actor
- Additional Crew
- Director
Wolfgang Lukschy was born on 19 October 1905 in Berlin, Germany. He was an actor and director, known for A Fistful of Dollars (1964), The Zurich Engagement (1957) and Drei, von denen man spricht (1953). He was married to Viktoria von Schack-Lukschy. He died on 10 July 1983 in West Berlin, West Germany.- Actor
- Writer
- Composer
At the age of 15, Harald Juhnke was drafted into military service in the Second World War. After the end of the war he attended drama school. At the age of 24, Juhnke appeared on stage in Berlin for the first time. Three years later he took on his first film role in the film "Three Girls Are Spinning". In 1953 Juhnke married the dancer Sybil Werden, with whom he remained together until 1962. Together they became parents to their son Peer and daughter Barbara, who died at the age of 14 months. The mime now took on numerous film roles that justified his success. In 1972, Juhnke married his second wife, his girlfriend Susanne, who gave him his third child, son Oliver. In 1979, the actor achieved his final breakthrough on German television, where he hosted the TV show "Music is Trumpf" until 1982. Juhnke's achievements were awarded the "Golden Camera" in 1981. In 1983 he took over the moderation of the popular program "How about Revue today?".
The actor and TV star's track record began to suffer from unfavorable press reports in 1984: reports about Juhnke's alcoholism and the excesses associated with it increased. Nevertheless, Juhnke continued to shine in the artistic field. In 1992, Juhnke celebrated a huge success with a leading role in the film "Schtonk", which was about Adolf Hitler's fake diaries, in the role of the journalist Pit Kummer; The crowning achievement of the numerous international awards (German Film Prize in Gold, among others) was an Oscar nomination for "Best Foreign Film". In the same year he was awarded the "German Film Prize" and the "Bambi". In the 1990s, media coverage of the artist's private and health problems almost turned into a smear campaign. As alcohol addiction worsened, missteps in public also increased, with Juhnke becoming violent towards a reporter in Berlin around 1996.
In the same year he also received the "TeleStar" and the "Golden Camera" for his artistic achievements. Also in 1996, Juhnke shone in the TV film "The Captain of Köpenick". His appearance there is now one of the actor's most successful roles. In January 1997, Juhnke made the headlines because he skipped his appearance on a talk show due to excessive drinking. A month later, thoughtless racist comments in public resulted in his dismissal from Norddeutscher Rundfunk (NDR). Critical voices also called for a general ban on television appearances for the entertainer, who had become "unsustainable". After further alcohol escapades, Juhnke managed to temporarily overcome his addiction by staying in a clinic between 1997 and 2000. However, after the turn of the millennium, the actor succumbed to alcohol again.
In the years 2000 to 2001, several hospital and spa stays followed, which revealed Juhnke's poor health. Finally, on December 11, 2001, the actor's manager, Peter Wolf, announced that Juhnke would never appear in public again. In 2003, his wife Susanne Juhnke, with the support of the journalist Beate Wedekind, published her shocking and impressive memories of their life together with Harald Juhnke: "In good days and in bad days". In December 2004 it was announced that the actor, who suffered from dementia, had been admitted to hospital due to health problems.
Harald Juhnke died on April 1, 2005 as a result of his illness in Berlin.
The funeral service in the Berlin Memorial Church was attended by many fans and celebrities. Harald Juhnke was buried in an honorary grave in the forest cemetery in Dahlem.