Raimund Schelcher (27 March 1910 – 27 March 1972) was a German actor with

Tanzania Tanzania (; ), officially the United Republic of Tanzania ( sw, Jamhuri ya Muungano wa Tanzania), is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It borders Uganda to the north; Kenya to the northeast; Comoro Islands ...

n citizenship who appeared in over 43 films and television programs between 1939 and 1971.

Personal life

He was born in Dar es Salaam, German East Africa (now

) to a railway engineer and a violinist. When Schelcher was fourteen, his family were evacuated to

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

after

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. Between 1924 and 1928 he visited the Oberrealschule Kalk in

Cologne Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 million inhabitants in the city proper and 3.6 millio ...

. After earning a

Mittlere Reife The Mittlere Reife (, lit. ''"Middle Maturity"'') is a school-leaving certificate in Germany that is usually awarded after ten years of schooling. It is roughly comparable with the British GCSE. The official name varies between the federal stat ...

and after leaving school he entered the theatre. From 1928 to 1938 he took acting lessons at the Municipal drama school in

. He died on his 62nd birthday in

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and List of cities in Germany by population, largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European Union by population within ci ...

on 27 March 1972.

Career

In 1930 he debuted his role as Ferdinand in

Intrigue and Love ''Intrigue and Love'', sometimes ''Love and Intrigue'', ''Love and Politics'' or ''Luise Miller'' (german: Kabale und Liebe, ; literally "''Cabal and Love''") is a five-act play written by the German dramatist Friedrich Schiller. His third play, ...

at the

Theater Gießen The Theater Gießen, official name Stadttheater Gießen (Gießen Municipal Theatre), is a theatre in Gießen, Germany, a cultural center for the university city and the region. The main building was designed in Neo-classical style with influences ...

. In 1933 Schelcher joined the New Theatre in

Frankfurt am Main Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , "Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on its na ...

and in 1934-1935 he played at the

Deutsches Schauspielhaus The Deutsches Schauspielhaus is a theatre in the St. Georg quarter of the city of Hamburg, Germany. It was established in 1901 by the renowned stage actress Franziska Ellmenreich. Theatre managers Notable actors Marco Albrecht, Ingrid ...

Hamburg (male), (female) en, Hamburger(s), Hamburgian(s) , timezone1 = Central (CET) , utc_offset1 = +1 , timezone1_DST = Central (CEST) , utc_offset1_DST = +2 , postal ...

, from 1935 to 1938 in

Leipzig Leipzig ( , ; Upper Saxon: ) is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. Leipzig's population of 605,407 inhabitants (1.1 million in the larger urban zone) as of 2021 places the city as Germany's eighth most populous, as ...

and finally at the

Schiller Theater The Schiller Theater is a theatre building in Berlin, Germany. It is located in the central Charlottenburg district at Bismarckstraße 110, near Ernst-Reuter-Platz. Opened in 1907, the building served as a second venue for the Prussian State ...

. In 1939 he received his first film roles.

World War II

He was drafted shortly before

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

on 28 August 1939 by the

Gestapo The (), abbreviated Gestapo (; ), was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and in German-occupied Europe. The force was created by Hermann Göring in 1933 by combining the various political police agencies of Prussia into one orga ...

. He was drafted as a soldier and was " probation battalion assigned". In battle, he was wounded four times and he fell into Soviet captivity. After his release he resumed his career at the Stadttheater in Bremen.

Return to Acting

In 1950 he went to the eastern part of

's Deutsches Theater and performed at the

Volksbühne The Volksbühne ("People's Theatre") is a theater in Berlin. Located in Berlin's city center Mitte on Rosa-Luxemburg-Platz (Rosa Luxemburg Square) in what was the GDR's capital. It has been called Berlin's most iconic theatre. About The Vol ...

. From 1953 he worked at the

Berliner Ensemble The Berliner Ensemble () is a German theatre company established by actress Helene Weigel and her husband, playwright Bertolt Brecht, in January 1949 in East Berlin. In the time after Brecht's exile, the company first worked at Wolfgang Langho ...

. Schlecher played, among others, the fool in the ''

Twelfth Night ''Twelfth Night'', or ''What You Will'' is a romantic comedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written around 1601–1602 as a Twelfth Night's entertainment for the close of the Christmas season. The play centres on the twins Vi ...

'', Jakob in ''Gorkis'' and Simon Chachava in ''

The Caucasian Chalk Circle ''The Caucasian Chalk Circle'' (german: Der kaukasische Kreidekreis) is a play by the German modernist playwright Bertolt Brecht. An example of Brecht's epic theatre, the play is a parable about a peasant girl who rescues a baby and becomes a ...

''. Schelcher worked in the 1950s as a

DEFA DEFA (''Deutsche Film-Aktiengesellschaft'') was the state-owned film studio of the German Democratic Republic (East Germany) throughout the country's existence. Since 2019, DEFA's film heritage has been made accessible and licensable on the PRO ...

actor. He was helped by his clear-cut features. He appeared in films featuring ideal class-conscious proletarians as in two of Thalmann's'' ''movies or as the understanding people's commissar in ''

Berlin, Schoenhauser Corner ''Berlin, Schoenhauser Corner'' (german: Berlin – Ecke Schönhauser…) is an East German crime film directed by Gerhard Klein. It was released in 1957. Plot summary Dieter, Angela, Kohle and Karl-Heinz are part of a group of delinquent youth ...

''.

Selected filmography

* ''

The Immortal Heart ''The Immortal Heart'' (german: Das Unsterbliche Herz) is a 1939 German drama film directed by Veit Harlan and starring Heinrich George. It was based on Walter Harlan's play ''The Nuremberg Egg'' and depicts the inventor of the watch, Peter Hen ...

'' (1939) * ''

'' (1957)

Recognition

* Medal of Merit of the

National People's Army The National People's Army (german: Nationale Volksarmee, ; NVA ) were the armed forces of the German Democratic Republic (GDR) from 1956 to 1990. The NVA was organized into four branches: the (Ground Forces), the (Navy), the (Air Force) a ...

in silver step by step * National Prize of East Germany for his role as Fritzweiler in piece woman Flinz

External links

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Schelcher, Raimund 1910 births 1972 deaths People from Dar es Salaam Colonial people of German East Africa Tanzanian people of German descent German male film actors German male television actors Tanzanian emigrants to Germany German male stage actors 20th-century German male actors German Army personnel of World War II Recipients of the National Prize of East Germany German prisoners of war in World War II held by the Soviet Union