Gustav von Wangenheim (born Ingo Clemens Gustav Adolf Freiherr von Wangenheim; 18 February 1895 – 5 August 1975) was a German

nobleman Nobility is a social class found in many societies that have an aristocracy. It is normally ranked immediately below royalty. Nobility has often been an estate of the realm with many exclusive functions and characteristics. The characteris ...

actor An actor or actress is a person who portrays a character in a performance. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. The analogous Greek term is (), lit ...

screenwriter A screenplay writer (also called screenwriter, scriptwriter, scribe or scenarist) is a writer who practices the craft of screenwriting, writing screenplays on which mass media, such as films, television programs and video games, are based. ...

and director.

Life

Wangenheim was born Ingo Clemens Gustav Adolf Freiherr von Wangenheim in

Wiesbaden Wiesbaden () is a city in central western Germany and the capital of the state of Hesse. , it had 290,955 inhabitants, plus approximately 21,000 United States citizens (mostly associated with the United States Army). The Wiesbaden urban area ...

Hesse Hesse (, , ) or Hessia (, ; german: Hessen ), officially the State of Hessen (german: links=no, Land Hessen), is a state in Germany. Its capital city is Wiesbaden, and the largest urban area is Frankfurt. Two other major historic cities are ...

, to parents Eduard Clemens Freiherr von Wangenheim and Minna Mengers. Both of his parents were performers; his father, who used the

stage name A stage name is a pseudonym used by performers and entertainers—such as actors, comedians, singers, and musicians. Such professional aliases are adopted for a wide variety of reasons and they may be similar, or nearly identical, to an individu ...

Eduard von Winterstein Eduard Clemens Franz Anna Freiherr von Wangenheim (1 August 1871 – 22 July 1961), known as Eduard von Winterstein, was an Austrian-German film actor who appeared in over one hundred fifty German films during the silent and sound eras. He was ...

, appeared in over 200 films between 1910 and 1960. He briefly served in the

Imperial German Army The Imperial German Army (1871–1919), officially referred to as the German Army (german: Deutsches Heer), was the unified ground and air force of the German Empire. It was established in 1871 with the political unification of Germany under the l ...

during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

but was discharged in 1915 because of an eye injury. Wangenheim made his screen debut in 1914 in ''Passionels Tagebuch'' and went on to star in many silent features. Among his works were

Fritz Lang Friedrich Christian Anton Lang (; December 5, 1890 – August 2, 1976), known as Fritz Lang, was an Austrian film director, screenwriter, and producer who worked in Germany and later the United States.Obituary '' Variety'', August 4, 1976, p. ...

's early

science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel uni ...

film, ''

Frau im Mond ''Honorifics'' are words that connote esteem or respect when used in addressing or referring to a person. In the German language, honorifics distinguish people by age, sex, profession, academic achievement, and rank. In the past, a distinction wa ...

'' (as "Windegger"), and Karl Heinz Martin's ''Das Haus zum Mond''. In 1921, Wangenheim was cast in what would prove to be his most enduring role, that of Thomas Hutter (

Jonathan Harker Jonathan Harker is a fictional character and one of the main protagonists of Bram Stoker's 1897 Gothic horror novel ''Dracula''. His journey to Transylvania and encounter with the vampire Count Dracula and his Brides at Castle Dracula constitu ...

) in

F. W. Murnau Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau (born Friedrich Wilhelm Plumpe; December 28, 1888March 11, 1931) was a German film director, producer and screenwriter. He was greatly influenced by Schopenhauer, Nietzsche, Shakespeare and Ibsen plays he had seen at th ...

's ''

Nosferatu ''Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror'' (German: ''Nosferatu – Eine Symphonie des Grauens'') is a 1922 silent German Expressionist horror film directed by F. W. Murnau and starring Max Schreck as Count Orlok, a vampire who preys on the wife ...

''. A member of the

Communist Party of Germany The Communist Party of Germany (german: Kommunistische Partei Deutschlands, , KPD ) was a major political party in the Weimar Republic between 1918 and 1933, an underground resistance movement in Nazi Germany, and a minor party in West German ...

since 1921, Wangenheim founded the Communist theatre company Die Truppe '31 in 1931. Die Truppe '31 produced three plays, authored and directed by Wangenheim, before it was shut down by order of the

Nazi Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...

regime in 1933. Wangenheim fled

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...

in the 1930s and found refuge in the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...

. While living in exile at Moscow's

Hotel Lux The former Hotel Lux in Moscow Hotel Lux (Люксъ) was a hotel in Moscow during the Soviet Union, housing many leading exiled and visiting Communists. During the Nazi era, exiles from all over Europe went there, particularly from Germany. A n ...

, he continued writing and producing films, such as ''Der Kampf'' (1936), an anti-Nazi protest film, and was the head of the German language Cabaret " Kolonne Links". In 1936, during the

Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Ioseb Besarionis dze Jughashvili; – 5 March 1953) was a Georgian revolutionary and Soviet political leader who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until his death in 1953. He held power as General Secretar ...

ist purges, he denounced his colleagues Carola Neher and Anatol Becker as

Trotskyites Trotskyism is the political ideology and branch of Marxism developed by Ukrainian-Russian revolutionary Leon Trotsky and some other members of the Left Opposition and Fourth International. Trotsky self-identified as an orthodox Marxist, a ...

. Becker was executed and Neher died in the

Gulag The Gulag, an acronym for , , "chief administration of the camps". The original name given to the system of camps controlled by the State Political Directorate, GPU was the Main Administration of Corrective Labor Camps (, )., name=, group= ...

system after five years in prison. Von Wangenheim's son later stated the accusations that his father denounced Neher and Becker were one-sided and inaccurate. Gustav von Wangenheim's son claimed his father, after being arrested by the

NKVD The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs (russian: Наро́дный комиссариа́т вну́тренних дел, Naródnyy komissariát vnútrennikh del, ), abbreviated NKVD ( ), was the interior ministry of the Soviet Union. ...

and a lengthy interrogation, signed a statement that implicated Carola Neher as being "anti soviet" but had in fact explicitly refuted the accusation that Neher and her husband Anatol Becker had planned to murder Stalin.Vgl. Friedel von Wangenheim: Mein Vater Gustav Frhr. v. Wangenheim und der Fall der Schauspielerin Carola Neher, in: Wangenheim Nachrichten Nr. 25 vom Dezember 1998. Wangenheim was a founding member of the

National Committee for a Free Germany The National Committee for a Free Germany (german: Nationalkomitee Freies Deutschland, or NKFD) was a German anti-Nazi organization that operated in the Soviet Union during World War II.The Russians in Germany: A History of the Soviet Zone of Oc ...

. After

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 World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

, he returned to

East Germany East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until German reunification, its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In t ...

, where he worked for the

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 ...

as screenwriter and director. Fotothek df pk 0000228 005

Wangenheim was married to Inge von Wangenheim, née Franke, from 1931 to 1954, when the marriage was annulled. The couple had one son, Friedel von Wangenheim, and 2 daughters, the twins Elisabeth and Eleonora von Wangenheim. Wangenheim died in

East Berlin East Berlin was the ''de facto'' capital city of East Germany from 1949 to 1990. Formally, it was the Soviet sector of Berlin, established in 1945. The American, British, and French sectors were known as West Berlin. From 13 August 1961 u ...

on 5 August 1975 and is buried in the Friedrichsfelde cemetery in Berlin.

Filmography

*1916: ''Homunculus, 1. Teil'' *1916: ''Passionels Tagebuch'' *1916: ''

Homunculus A homunculus ( , , ; "little person") is a representation of a small human being, originally depicted as small statues made out of clay. Popularized in sixteenth-century alchemy and nineteenth-century fiction, it has historically referred to the ...

. 3. Teil: Die Liebestragödie des Homunculus'' - Heinrich *1916: ''Der Letzte eines alten Geschlechtes'' *1916: ''Das Leid der Liebe'' *1917: ''

The Coquette ''The Coquette or, The History of Eliza Wharton'' is an epistolary novel by Hannah Webster Foster. It was published anonymously in 1797, and did not appear under the author's real name until 1856, 16 years after Foster's death. It was one of the ...

'' *1918: ''

Ferdinand Lassalle Ferdinand Lassalle (; 11 April 1825 – 31 August 1864) was a Prussian-German jurist, philosopher, socialist and political activist best remembered as the initiator of the social democratic movement in Germany. "Lassalle was the first man in G ...

'' - Janko von Rakowitza *1919: ''Kitsch. Tragödie einer Intrigantin'' *1919: ''Der Tempel der Liebe'' *1919: ''Die Welteroberer'' *1920: '' Kohlhiesel's Daughters'' - Paul Seppl *1920: ''

Romeo and Juliet in the Snow ''Romeo and Juliet in the Snow'' (german: Romeo und Julia im Schnee) is a 1920 German silent comedy film directed by Ernst Lubitsch and starring Lotte Neumann, Julius Falkenstein and Gustav von Wangenheim.Thomson p. 145 Cast * Lotte Neumann as ...

'' -

Romeo Romeo Montague () is the male protagonist of William Shakespeare's tragedy ''Romeo and Juliet''. The son of Lord Montague and his wife, Lady Montague, he secretly loves and marries Juliet, a member of the rival House of Capulet, through a priest ...

*1920: '' Panic in the House of Ardon'' *1920: ''Der Tempel der Liebe'' *1921: '' The House on the Moon'' - Andreas, sein Sohn *1922: ''

'' - Hutter *1922: ''

The Fire Ship ''The Fire Ship'' (german: Das Feuerschiff) is a 1922 German silent drama film directed by Richard Löwenbein and starring Camilla von Hollay, Eduard von Winterstein, and Viggo Larsen. The film's sets were designed by the art director Ar ...

'' *1923: ''

The Pilgrimage of Love ''The Pilgrimage of Love'' (German: ''Der Liebe Pilgerfahrt'') is a 1923 German silent drama film directed by Yakov Protazanov and starring Gustav von Wangenheim, Charlotte Ander and Wilhelm Diegelmann.Grange p.138 It was shot at the Tempelh ...

'' - Dr. Egil Rostrup *1923: '' The Stone Rider'' - Jäger *1923: ''

Schatten – Eine nächtliche Halluzination ''Schatten – Eine nächtliche Halluzination'' ("Shadows - a Nocturnal Hallucination", known in English as ''Warning Shadows'') is a 1923 German silent film directed and co-written by Arthur Robison, and starring Fritz Kortner and Ruth Weyher. ...

'' - Her lover *1929: ''

Woman in the Moon ''Woman in the Moon'' (German ''Frau im Mond'') is a German science fiction silent film that premiered 15 October 1929 at the UFA-Palast am Zoo cinema in Berlin to an audience of 2,000. It is often considered to be one of the first "serious" ...

'' - Ingenieur Hans Windegger *1931: ''

Danton Georges Jacques Danton (; 26 October 1759 – 5 April 1794) was a French lawyer and a leading figure in the French Revolution. He became a deputy to the Paris Commune, presided in the Cordeliers district, and visited the Jacobin club. In August ...

'' -

Desmoulins Lucie-Simplice-Camille-Benoît Desmoulins (; 2 March 17605 April 1794) was a French journalist and politician who played an important role in the French Revolution. Desmoulins was tried and executed alongside Georges Danton when the Committee of ...

(final film role) *1936: '' Der Kampf'' (director / writer) *1948: ''

Und wieder 48 ''Und wieder 48'' is an East German East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until its dissolution on 3 ...

'' (director / writer) *1949: ''

Hoegler's Mission ''Der Auftrag Höglers'' (English-language title: ''Hoegler's Mission'') is a fantasy movie directed by Gustav von Wangenheim. It was released in 1950. Plot Högler, the former director of a steel plant now in East Germany, is a rich and ruthles ...

'' (director / writer) *1953-1954: '' Gefährliche Fracht'' (director) *1955: ''Heimliche Ehen'' (director / writer) *1955-1956: ''Lied über dem Tal'' (director)

References in popular culture

*In the 2000 film ''

Shadow of the Vampire ''Shadow of the Vampire'' is a 2000 independent meta period horror comedy film directed by E. Elias Merhige, written by Steven Katz, and starring John Malkovich and Willem Dafoe. It is a fictionalized account of the making of the classi ...

'', which depicted the production of ''Nosferatu,''

Eddie Izzard Edward John Izzard (; born 7 February 1962) is a British stand-up comedian, actor and activist. Her comedic style takes the form of what appears to the audience as rambling whimsical monologues and self-referential pantomime. Izzard's stand- ...

portrayed Wangenheim. *Footage of Wangenheim's performance as Hutter appears in the

Queen Queen or QUEEN may refer to: Monarchy * Queen regnant, a female monarch of a Kingdom ** List of queens regnant * Queen consort, the wife of a reigning king * Queen dowager, the widow of a king * Queen mother, a queen dowager who is the mother ...

video for "Under Pressure."

References

External links

*
Official Homepage of Gustav von WangenheimOfficial Homepage of his father, Eduard von Winterstein
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wangenheim, Gustav Von 1895 births 1975 deaths People from Wiesbaden People from Hesse-Nassau Barons of Germany Communist Party of Germany politicians Socialist Unity Party of Germany members German anti-fascists German male film actors Film directors from Hesse German male silent film actors 20th-century German male actors Refugees from Nazi Germany in the Soviet Union National Committee for a Free Germany members Recipients of the Patriotic Order of Merit (honor clasp) Recipients of the National Prize of East Germany