Gustaf Gründgens (; 22 December 1899 – 7 October 1963), born Gustav Heinrich Arnold Gründgens, was one of Germany's most famous and influential actors of the 20th century, and artistic director of theatres in Berlin,
Düsseldorf
Düsseldorf is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second-largest city in the state after Cologne and the List of cities in Germany with more than 100,000 inhabitants, seventh-largest city ...
, and
Hamburg
Hamburg (, ; ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg,. is the List of cities in Germany by population, second-largest city in Germany after Berlin and List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, 7th-lar ...
. His career continued unimpeded through the years of the
Nazi
Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...
regime; the extent to which this can be considered as deliberate collaboration with the Nazis is hotly disputed.
His best-known roles were that of
Mephistopheles
Mephistopheles ( , ), also known as Mephostophilis or Mephisto, is a demon featured in German folklore, originating as the chief devil in the Faust legend. He has since become a stock character appearing in Mephistopheles in the arts and popular ...
in
Goethe
Johann Wolfgang (von) Goethe (28 August 1749 – 22 March 1832) was a German polymath who is widely regarded as the most influential writer in the German language. His work has had a wide-ranging influence on Western literature, literary, Polit ...
's ''
Faust
Faust ( , ) is the protagonist of a classic German folklore, German legend based on the historical Johann Georg Faust (). The erudite Faust is highly successful yet dissatisfied with his life, which leads him to make a deal with the Devil at a ...
'' in 1960, and as "Der Schränker" (The Safecracker) who is the chief judge of the
kangaroo court
Kangaroo court is an informal pejorative term for a court that ignores recognized standards of law or justice, carries little or no official standing in the territory within which it resides, and is typically convened ad hoc. A kangaroo court ma ...
presiding over Hans Beckert (
Peter Lorre
Peter Lorre (; born László Löwenstein, ; June 26, 1904 – March 23, 1964) was a Hungarian and American actor, active first in Europe and later in the United States. Known for his timidly devious characters, his appearance, and accented vo ...
) in
Fritz Lang
Friedrich Christian Anton Lang (; December 5, 1890 – August 2, 1976), better known as Fritz Lang (), was an Austrian-born film director, screenwriter, and producer who worked in Germany and later the United States.Obituary ''Variety Obituari ...
's ''
M''.
Early life
Born in
Düsseldorf
Düsseldorf is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second-largest city in the state after Cologne and the List of cities in Germany with more than 100,000 inhabitants, seventh-largest city ...
, Gründgens attended the drama school of the
Düsseldorfer Schauspielhaus after
World War I
World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
and started his career at smaller theaters in
Halberstadt
Halberstadt (; Eastphalian dialect, Eastphalian: ''Halverstidde'') is a town in the state of Saxony-Anhalt in central Germany, the capital of Harz (district), Harz district. Located north of the Harz mountain range, it is known for its old town ...
,
Kiel
Kiel ( ; ) is the capital and most populous city in the northern Germany, German state of Schleswig-Holstein. With a population of around 250,000, it is Germany's largest city on the Baltic Sea. It is located on the Kieler Förde inlet of the Ba ...
, and Berlin.
Career
In 1923, he joined the ''Kammerspiele'' in
Hamburg
Hamburg (, ; ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg,. is the List of cities in Germany by population, second-largest city in Germany after Berlin and List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, 7th-lar ...
, where he changed his first name to Gustaf and appeared as a director for the first time. In 1925, Gründgens wrote to
Klaus Mann to propose a Hamburg production of Mann’s play ''Anja and Esther''. Mann agreed, and ''Anja and Esther'' was performed in Hamburg with Gründgens directing and playing the role of Jakob. Mann played the role of Kaspar, while his sister
Erika and his fiancée Pamela Wedekind played the lead roles of Anja and Esther.
The play marked the beginning of Gründgens’ collaborations with the Mann siblings and Wedekind, as well as the beginning of his romantic relationship with Klaus Mann.
In 1928, he moved back to Berlin to join the renowned ensemble of the
Deutsches Theater under the director
Max Reinhardt
Max Reinhardt (; born Maximilian Goldmann; 9 September 1873 – 30 October 1943) was an Austrian-born Theatre director, theatre and film director, theater manager, intendant, and theatrical producer. With his radically innovative and avant-gard ...
. Apart from spoken theatre, Gründgens also worked with
Otto Klemperer at the
Kroll Opera, as a
cabaret
Cabaret is a form of theatrical entertainment featuring music song, dance, recitation, or drama. The performance venue might be a pub, casino, hotel, restaurant, or nightclub with a stage for performances. The audience, often dining or drinking, ...
artist and as a screen actor, most notably in
Fritz Lang
Friedrich Christian Anton Lang (; December 5, 1890 – August 2, 1976), better known as Fritz Lang (), was an Austrian-born film director, screenwriter, and producer who worked in Germany and later the United States.Obituary ''Variety Obituari ...
's 1931 film
''M'', which significantly increased his popularity. From 1932 he was a member of the
Prussian State Theatre ensemble, in which he first stood out in the role of
Mephistopheles
Mephistopheles ( , ), also known as Mephostophilis or Mephisto, is a demon featured in German folklore, originating as the chief devil in the Faust legend. He has since become a stock character appearing in Mephistopheles in the arts and popular ...
.
Gründgens' career continued after the Nazi party
came to power. In October 1934, he became the ''Intendant'', or artistic director, of the Prussian State Theatre and, on 6 May 1936, Prussian
Minister President Hermann Göring
Hermann Wilhelm Göring (or Goering; ; 12 January 1893 – 15 October 1946) was a German Nazism, Nazi politician, aviator, military leader, and convicted war criminal. He was one of the most powerful figures in the Nazi Party, which gov ...
appointed him to the recently reconstituted
Prussian State Council
The Prussian State Council ( German: ''Preußischer Staatsrat'') was the second chamber of the bicameral legislature of the Free State of Prussia between 1921 and 1933; the first chamber was the Prussian Landtag (). The members of the State Cou ...
. He also became a member of the Presidential Council of the ''Reichstheaterkammer'' (Theatre Chamber of the Reich), which was an institution of the ''
Reichskulturkammer
The Reich Chamber of Culture (''Reichskulturkammer'', abbreviated as RKK) was a government agency in Nazi Germany. It was established by law on 22 September 1933 in the course of the '' Gleichschaltung'' process at the instigation of Reich Minist ...
'' (Reich Chamber of Culture). In 1941, Gründgens starred (against his will and unpaid) in the propaganda film ''
Ohm Krüger
''Ohm Krüger'' (English: ''Uncle Krüger'') is a 1941 German biographical film directed by Hans Steinhoff and starring Emil Jannings, Lucie Höflich, and Werner Hinz. It was one of a series of major propaganda films produced in Nazi Germany ...
''; he also played the title role in the fictional biographical film ''
Friedemann Bach'', which he also produced.
After Goebbels's
total war speech on 18 February 1943, Gründgens volunteered for the
Wehrmacht
The ''Wehrmacht'' (, ) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the German Army (1935–1945), ''Heer'' (army), the ''Kriegsmarine'' (navy) and the ''Luftwaffe'' (air force). The designation "''Wehrmac ...
but was again recalled by Göring, who had his name added to the
Gottbegnadeten list
The ''Gottbegnadeten-Liste'' ("God-gifted list" or "Important Artist Exempt List") was a 36-page list of artists considered crucial to National Socialist culture. The list was assembled in September 1944 by Joseph Goebbels, the head of the Mi ...
(Important Artist Exempt List).
Post-war life
Imprisoned by the Soviet
NKVD
The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs (, ), abbreviated as NKVD (; ), was the interior ministry and secret police of the Soviet Union from 1934 to 1946. The agency was formed to succeed the Joint State Political Directorate (OGPU) se ...
for 9 months in 1945 – 1946, Gründgens was released due to the intercession of the
Communist
Communism () is a sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology within the socialist movement, whose goal is the creation of a communist society, a socioeconomic order centered on common ownership of the means of production, di ...
actor
Ernst Busch, whom Gründgens himself had saved from execution by the Nazis in 1943. During the
denazification
Denazification () was an Allied initiative to rid German and Austrian society, culture, press, economy, judiciary, and politics of the Nazi ideology following the Second World War. It was carried out by removing those who had been Nazi Par ...
process, his statements helped to exonerate acting colleagues, including Göring’s widow,
Emmy
The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the year, each with their own set of rules and award catego ...
, and
Veit Harlan
Veit Harlan (22 September 1899 – 13 April 1964) was a German film director and actor. Harlan reached the high point of his career as a director in the Nazi era; most notably his antisemitic film '' Jud Süß'' (1940) makes him controversial. W ...
, director of the film ''
Jud Süß''.
Gründgens returned to the Deutsches Theater, later became ''Intendant'' of the Düsseldorfer Schauspielhaus, and from 1955 directed the
Deutsches Schauspielhaus
The Deutsches Schauspielhaus, sometimes referred to as the Hamburg Schauspielhaus or Hamburg Theatre, is a theatre in the St. Georg, Hamburg, St. Georg quarter of the city of Hamburg, Germany
History
The Deutsches Schauspielhaus was co-foun ...
in Hamburg. He again performed as Mephistopheles; the 1960 film ''
Faust
Faust ( , ) is the protagonist of a classic German folklore, German legend based on the historical Johann Georg Faust (). The erudite Faust is highly successful yet dissatisfied with his life, which leads him to make a deal with the Devil at a ...
'' by
Peter Gorski was made with the Deutsches Schauspielhaus ensemble.
Personal life
Gründgens became romantically involved with
Klaus Mann while the two of them were performing in the Hamburg production of Mann’s play ''Anja and Esther''. In 1926, while in a relationship with Klaus, Gründgens married
Erika Mann
Erika Julia Hedwig Mann (9 November 1905 – 27 August 1969) was a German actress and writer, daughter of the novelist Thomas Mann.
Erika lived a bohemian lifestyle in Berlin and became a critic of National Socialism. After Hitler came to power ...
, who was herself in a relationship with Klaus’s fiancée Pamela Wedekind.
By 1927, Erika and Gründgens were separated. They officially divorced in 1929, around the time that Gründgens’s relationship with Klaus ended. Gründgens eventually became the basis of several characters in Klaus Mann’s fiction, including the character of Gregor Gregori in ''Treffpunkt im Unendlichen'' and the character of Hendrik Höfgen in the infamous novel ''
Mephisto''.
From 1936 to 1946, Gründgens was married to the famous German actress
Marianne Hoppe. He had a son with her, Benedikt Johann Percy Gründgens, born in 1946. Despite these
lavender marriages
A lavender marriage is a male–female mixed-orientation marriage, undertaken as a marriage of convenience to conceal the socially stigmatized sexual orientation of one or both partners. The term dates from the early 20th century and is used al ...
, Gründgens was widely known as homosexual. While other homosexuals were persecuted and sent to concentration camps during the Third Reich, Gründgens was tolerated by the Nazi elites because of his high reputation as an actor.
Death
On 7 October 1963, while traveling around the world, Gründgens died in
Manila
Manila, officially the City of Manila, is the Capital of the Philippines, capital and second-most populous city of the Philippines after Quezon City, with a population of 1,846,513 people in 2020. Located on the eastern shore of Manila Bay on ...
of an
internal hemorrhage. It has never been ascertained whether or not he committed suicide by an overdose of
sleeping pills
A hypnotic (from Greek ''Hypnos'', sleep), also known as a somnifacient or soporific, and commonly known as sleeping pills, are a class of psychoactive drugs whose primary function is to induce sleep and to treat insomnia (sleeplessness).
Th ...
. His last words, written on an envelope, were, "I believe that I took too many sleeping pills. I feel a little strange. Let me sleep long." He is buried at the
Ohlsdorf Cemetery
Ohlsdorf Cemetery ( or (former) ) in the Ohlsdorf, Hamburg, Ohlsdorf quarter of the city of Hamburg, Germany, is the biggest rural cemetery in the world and the fourth-largest cemetery in the world. Most of the people buried at the cemetery are c ...
in Hamburg.
''Mephisto'' judgment
Posthumously, Gründgens was involved in one of the more famous literary cases in 20th-century Germany as the subject of the novel ''
Mephisto'' by his former lover Klaus Mann, who had died in 1949. The novel, a thinly veiled account of Gründgens's life, portrayed its main character Hendrik Höfgen as having shady connections with the Nazi regime. Gründgens' adopted son and heir Peter Gorski, who had directed ''Faust'', successfully sued the publisher on his late father's behalf in 1966. The judgment was upheld by the
Federal Court of Justice
The Federal Court of Justice ( , ) is the highest court of Private law, civil and Criminal law, criminal jurisdiction in Germany. Its primary responsibility is the final appellate review of decisions by lower courts for errors of law. While, le ...
in 1968.
In the time-consuming lawsuit, the controversy over
libel
Defamation is a communication that injures a third party's reputation and causes a legally redressable injury. The precise legal definition of defamation varies from country to country. It is not necessarily restricted to making assertions ...
and the freedom of fiction from censorship was finally decided by the
Federal Constitutional Court
The Federal Constitutional Court ( ; abbreviated: ) is the supreme constitutional court for the Federal Republic of Germany, established by the constitution or Basic Law () of Germany. Since its inception with the beginning of the post-W ...
in 1971. It ruled that Gründgens' post-mortem
personality rights
Personality rights, sometimes referred to as the right of publicity, are rights for an individual to control the commercial use of their identity, such as name, image, likeness, or other unequivocal identifiers. They are generally considered as p ...
prevailed and upheld the prohibition imposed on the publisher.
''Protection of the Honour of Deceased Persons – A Comparison Between the German and the Australian Legal Situations''
: pp 112–115, ''Bond Law Review'', Volume 13, Issue 1, Article 5, 2001 by Götz Böttner- Retrieved 17 July 2016 However, the novel met with no further protests when it was published again in 1981 by Rowohlt.
In 1981, the novel was made into the film '' Mephisto'', directed by István Szabó
István Szabó (; born 18 February 1938) is a Hungarian film director, screenwriter, and opera director.
Szabó is one of the most notable Hungary, Hungarian filmmakers and one who has been best known outside the Hungarian language, Hungarian- ...
, with Klaus Maria Brandauer in the role of Hendrik Höfgen. The film was a huge commercial and critical success, and won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film
The Academy Award for Best International Feature Film (known as Best Foreign Language Film prior to 2020) is one of the Academy Awards handed out annually by the U.S.-based Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS). It is given to a ...
in 1981.
Filmography
Director
* '' A City Upside Down'' (also actor, 1933)
* '' The Grand Duke's Finances'' (1934)
* ''Kapriolen'' (also actor, 1937)
* '' The False Step'' (1939)
* ''Zwei Welten'' (1939)
* '' Friedemann Bach'' (also actor, 1940)
* ''Faust
Faust ( , ) is the protagonist of a classic German folklore, German legend based on the historical Johann Georg Faust (). The erudite Faust is highly successful yet dissatisfied with his life, which leads him to make a deal with the Devil at a ...
'' (also actor, 1960, co-director Peter Gorski)
Actor
* '' Never Trust a Woman'' (1930) .... Jean
* '' Hocuspocus'' (1930) .... Public Prosecutor Dr. Wilke
* ''Va Banque'' (1930) .... Private detective John James Brown
* '' Fire in the Opera House'' (1930) .... Otto van Lingen
* '' Danton'' (1930) .... Robespierre
Maximilien François Marie Isidore de Robespierre (; ; 6 May 1758 – 28 July 1794) was a French lawyer and statesman, widely recognised as one of the most influential and controversial figures of the French Revolution. Robespierre fer ...
* '' M'' (1931) .... Der Schränker (The Safecracker)
* ''The Theft of the Mona Lisa
''The Theft of the Mona Lisa'' () is a 1931 German drama film directed by Géza von Bolváry and starring Trude von Molo, Willi Forst, and Gustaf Gründgens. It is based on Mona Lisa#Refuge, theft, and vandalism, a true story. It was shot at the ...
'' (1931) .... Unbekannter
* '' Louise, Queen of Prussia'' (1931) .... King Frederick William III
* ''Yorck
''Yorck'' is a 1931 German war film directed by Gustav Ucicky and starring Werner Krauss, Grete Mosheim and Rudolf Forster.Noack p.59 It portrays the life of the Prussian General Ludwig Yorck von Wartenburg, particularly his refusal to ser ...
'' (1931) .... Hardenberg
Hardenberg (; or '' 'n Arnbarg'') is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of Overijssel, Eastern Netherlands. The municipality of ...
* '' The Countess of Monte Cristo'' (1932) .... "The Baron", con artist
* ''Teilnehmer antwortet nicht'' (1932) .... Nikolai
* '' Liebelei'' (1933) .... Baron von Eggersdorff
* '' A Love Story'' (1933) .... Baron von Eggersdorf
* '' Happy Days in Aranjuez'' (1933) .... Alexander
* '' The Tunnel'' (1933) .... Woolf
* '' The Tunnel'' (1933, French version) .... Woolf
* ''Schwarzer Jäger Johanna'' (1934) .... Dr. Frost
* '' So Ended a Great Love'' (1934) .... Metternich
Klemens Wenzel Nepomuk Lothar, Prince of Metternich-Winneburg zu Beilstein ( ; 15 May 1773 – 11 June 1859), known as Klemens von Metternich () or Prince Metternich, was a Germans, German statesman and diplomat in the service of the Austrian ...
* '' The Legacy of Pretoria'' (1934) .... Eugen Schliebach
* ' (1935) .... Fouché
* ''Joan of Arc
Joan of Arc ( ; ; – 30 May 1431) is a patron saint of France, honored as a defender of the French nation for her role in the siege of Orléans and her insistence on the Coronation of the French monarch, coronation of Charles VII o ...
'' (1935) .... King Charles VII
* '' Pygmalion'' (1935) .... Professor Higgins
* ''A Woman of No Importance
''A Woman of No Importance'' by Oscar Wilde is "a new and original play of modern life", in four acts, first given on 19 April 1893 at the Haymarket Theatre, London. Like Wilde's other society plays, it satirises English upper-class society. It ...
'' (1936) .... Lord Illingworth
* '' Capers'' (1937) .... Jack Warren
* '' Dance on the Volcano'' (1938) .... Jean-Gaspard Deburau
Jean-Gaspard Deburau (; born Jan Kašpar Dvořák; 31 July 1796 – 17 June 1846), sometimes erroneously called Debureau, was a Czech-French mime. He performed from 1816 to the year of his death at the Théâtre des Funambules, which was immor ...
* ''Ohm Krüger
''Ohm Krüger'' (English: ''Uncle Krüger'') is a 1941 German biographical film directed by Hans Steinhoff and starring Emil Jannings, Lucie Höflich, and Werner Hinz. It was one of a series of major propaganda films produced in Nazi Germany ...
'' (1941) .... Joseph Chamberlain
Joseph Chamberlain (8 July 1836 – 2 July 1914) was a British statesman who was first a radical Liberal Party (UK), Liberal, then a Liberal Unionist after opposing home rule for Ireland, and eventually was a leading New Imperialism, imperial ...
* '' Friedemann Bach'' (1941) .... Wilhelm Friedemann Bach
Wilhelm Friedemann Bach (22 November 17101 July 1784) was a German composer, organist and harpsichordist. He was the second child and eldest son of Johann Sebastian Bach and Maria Barbara Bach. Despite his acknowledged genius as an improviser ...
* '' Das Glas Wasser'' (1960) .... Sir Henry St John
* ''Faust
Faust ( , ) is the protagonist of a classic German folklore, German legend based on the historical Johann Georg Faust (). The erudite Faust is highly successful yet dissatisfied with his life, which leads him to make a deal with the Devil at a ...
'' (1960) .... Mephistopheles
Mephistopheles ( , ), also known as Mephostophilis or Mephisto, is a demon featured in German folklore, originating as the chief devil in the Faust legend. He has since become a stock character appearing in Mephistopheles in the arts and popular ...
(final film role)
Further reading
* Ambesser, Gwendolyn von: ''Die Ratten betreten das sinkende Schiff: Das absurde Leben des Leo Reuss''. Verlag Edition AV, Lich/Hessen 2005, .
*
* Berger, Renate: ''Tanz auf dem Vulkan. Gustaf Gründgens und Klaus Mann.'' Lambert Schneider, Darmstadt 2016, .
*
* Goertz, Heinrich: ''Gustaf Gründgens. Mit Selbstzeugnissen und Bilddokumenten''. Rowohlt, Reinbek 1982, 7. Auflage 2006, .
* Carola Stern: ''Auf den Wassern des Lebens. Gustaf Gründgens und Marianne Hoppe''. Kiepenheuer & Witsch, Köln 2005, (Biografie).
* Carl Zuckmayer
Carl Zuckmayer (27 December 1896 – 18 January 1977) was a German writer and playwright. His older brother was the pedagogue, composer, conductor, and pianist Eduard Zuckmayer.
His first two dramas were failures. In 1929, he wrote the script ...
: ''Geheimreport.'' Dossiers über deutsche Künstler, Journalisten und Verleger im „Dritten Reich“. Hrsg. von Gunther Nickel und Johanna Schrön. Wallstein, Göttingen 2002, S.153 f.
See also
* Dohm–Mann family tree
References
External links
*
* A biographical article http://www.wsws.org/articles/1999/dec1999/gust-d29.shtml
Photographs of Gustaf Gründgens
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Grundgens, Gustaf
1899 births
1963 deaths
20th-century German LGBTQ people
20th-century German male actors
Bisexual male actors
Burials at the Ohlsdorf Cemetery
Drug-related deaths in the Philippines
Film directors from North Rhine-Westphalia
Film people from Düsseldorf
German bisexual actors
German bisexual men
German male stage actors
German people imprisoned abroad
Knights Commander of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany
Male actors from Düsseldorf
Members of the Prussian State Council (Nazi Germany)
German Nazi propagandists