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Kurt Gerron

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Full Name
  
Kurt Gerron

Role
  
Occupation
  
Spouse
  
Olga Gerron (m. ?–1944)

Years active
  
1920–1944

Date killed
  
October 28, 1944

Name
  
Kurt Gerron


Kurt Gerron image1findagravecomphotos250photos201012289

Born
  
11 May 1897 (
1897-05-11
)

Died
  
October 28, 1944, Auschwitz concentration camp

Albums
  
Dreigroschenoper (The Threepenny Opera)

Movies
  
The Blue Angel, Theresienstadt, Diary of a Lost Girl, White Hell of Pitz Palu, Jealousy

Similar People
  
Josef von Sternberg, Rudolf Nelson, Lotte Lenya, Theo Mackeben, Kurt Weill

Kurt gerron herr doktor herr doktor quick by rudolf nelson 1930


Kurt Gerron (11 May 1897 – 28 October 1944) was a German Jewish actor and film director.

Contents

Kurt Gerron Macky Messer Kurt Gerron sings Mack the Knife from Derby

Grossstadtinfanterie kurt gerron


Life

Kurt Gerron Berlin 1930 mit Marlene Dietrich und Kurt Gerron Part 02

Born Kurt Gerson into a well-off merchant family in Berlin, he studied medicine before being called up for military service in World War I. After being seriously wounded he was qualified as a military doctor in the German Army (despite having been only in his second year at university). After the war Gerron turned to a stage career, becoming a theatre actor under director Max Reinhardt in 1920. He appeared in secondary roles in several silent films and began directing film shorts in 1926.

Kurt Gerron Gerron Webcolumn Leo Frijda Crescas

Gerron's popular cinema breakthrough came with The Blue Angel (Der Blaue Engel, 1930) opposite Marlene Dietrich. Two years before, Gerron originated the role of "Tiger" Brown in the 1928 premiere production of The Threepenny Opera (Die Dreigroschenoper) at the Berlin Theater am Schiffbauerdamm, in which he also performed "Mack the Knife". With the show's international success, Gerron's name and recorded voice became well known across Europe.

Kurt Gerron Amazoncom Prisoner of Paradise Ian Holm Robert Lantz

After the 1933 seizure of power by the Nazis (known today as the Machtergreifung), Gerron left Nazi Germany with his wife and parents, traveling first to Paris and later to Amsterdam. He continued work there as an actor at the Stadsschouwburg and directed several movies. Several times he was offered employment in Hollywood through the agency of Peter Lorre and Josef von Sternberg, but refused to leave Europe.

After the Wehrmacht occupied the Netherlands, Gerron was first interned in the transit camp at Westerbork before being sent to the Theresienstadt concentration camp. There he was forced by the SS to stage the cabaret review, Karussell, in which he reprised Mack the Knife, as well as compositions by Martin Roman and other imprisoned musicians and artists.

In 1944, Gerron was coerced into directing a Nazi propaganda film intended to be viewed in "neutral" nations (in Switzerland, Sweden, and Ireland, for example) showing how "humane" conditions were at Theresienstadt. Once filming was finished, Gerron and members of the Jazz pianist Martin Roman's Ghetto Swingers were deported on the camp's final train transport to Auschwitz. Gerron and his wife were gassed immediately upon arrival, along with the film's entire performing entourage (except for Roman and guitarist Coco Schumann).The next day, Reichsführer SS Heinrich Himmler ordered the closure of the gas chambers.

All known complete prints of Gerron's final film, which was to have been called Theresienstadt. Ein Dokumentarfilm aus dem jüdischen Siedlungsgebiet (Terezin: A Documentary Film of the Jewish Resettlement), and which is also referred to as Der Führer schenkt den Juden eine Stadt (The Führer Gives the Jews a City), were destroyed in 1945. Twenty minutes of footage were discovered in Czechoslovakia in the mid-1960s, and today the film exists only in fragmentary form.

Documentaries about Gerron

Gerron is the subject of three documentary films, Prisoner of Paradise (PBS), Kurt Gerrons Karussell, and Tracks to Terezín, which features Holocaust survivor Herbert Thomas Mandl talking about Kurt Gerron as the director of the film Theresienstadt. Ein Dokumentarfilm aus dem jüdischen Siedlungsgebiet. The narrator in Kurt Gerrons Karussell, which stars Ute Lemper, is Roy Kift, who has also written a play on Gerron's time in Theresienstadt entitled Camp Comedy. The play is published in The Theatre of the Holocaust, edited by Professor Robert Skloot and published by the University of Wisconsin Press.

Filmography

Actor
1944
Theresienstadt (Short) as
Regisseur - Schauspieler
1937
I tre desideri as
Il coreografo
1937
De drie wensen
1932
Vater geht auf Reisen as
Kommissar
1932
Zwei in einem Auto as
Agent Niedlich
1931
Man braucht kein Geld as
Bank President Binder
1931
Eine Nacht im Grandhotel as
Achaz
1931
Bombs Over Monte Carlo as
Kasinodirektor / Casino Manager
1931
Trapeze as
Grimby
1931
Road to Rio as
Director for Casino
1931
Her Majesty Love as
Hornberg
1931
Die Marquise von Pompadour as
Ludwig XV., König von Frankreich
1930
Murder for Sale as
1. Polizeikommisar
1930
Dolly macht Karriere as
Silbermann
1930
Three from the Filling Station as
Rechtsanwalt Dr. Kalmus
1930
Die vom Rummelplatz as
Schaubudenbesitzer
1930
Der blaue Engel as
Kiepert, Zauberkünstler
1930
The Comeback as
Maxs Box-Manager
1929
The White Hell of Pitz Palu as
Mann im Salon (guest at night club)
1929
Diary of a Lost Girl as
Dr. Vitalis
1929
Die Flucht vor der Liebe as
Max Ruppke
1929
Wir halten fest und treu zusammen as
Steak
1929
Aufruhr im Junggesellenheim as
Steak
1929
Die Regimentstochter as
Quippo - Guard
1929
Nachtgestalten
1928
Überfall (Short)(uncredited)
1928
Unmoral as
Matrosenemil
1928
Berlin After Dark as
Jernmax
1928
Die Yacht der sieben Sünden as
Der Mann mit der Narbe
1928
Vom Täter fehlt jede Spur as
Maxe
1928
Casanovas Erbe
1928
Manege as
Bela Garay
1928
Heut tanzt Mariett as
Der Besitzer der Bar, Brigon
1928
Liebe und Diebe as
Hüsgens, Fabrikant
1928
Die Pflicht zu schweigen as
Iwan Daniloff
1927
Benno Stehkragen
1927
Gefährdete Mädchen
1927
Wer wirft den ersten Stein?
1927
Dr. Bessels Verwandlung as
der Grieche Georgakopoulos
1927
The Strange Case of Captain Ramper as
Jim Chocolat
1927
Die weiße Spinne
1927
Die Dame mit dem Tigerfell as
Meyers
1927
Dancing Vienna as
Ein Feuerwehrmann
1927
Girls for Sale! as
Kastilio
1927
Üb' immer Treu' und Redlichkeit as
Yvettes Mann
1927
Feme
1927
Gehetzte Frauen as
Wladimir, Besitzer des 'Maison Mouche'
1927
Ein Tag der Rosen im August... as
Boxer
1927
Ein schwerer Fall as
Schwerer Junge
1927
Der große Unbekannte as
Bankier Tupperwill
1927
Die schönsten Beine von Berlin
1927
Survival as
Niccinger
1927
Sein größter Bluff as
Rajah
1927
Einbruch as
Willi, ein noch schwererer Junge
1927
Der Soldat der Marie as
Wachmeister Knöppke
1927
Die Tragödie eines Verlorenen
1927
A Crazy Night as
Wachtmeister Lehmkuhl
1927
Mädchenhandel - Eine internationale Gefahr as
Direktor des Purpur-Paradieses
1926
Der Liebe Lust und Leid
1926
Die Kleine und ihr Kavalier as
Photograph
1926
Wien - Berlin as
Ein Amerikaner
1926
Im weißen Rößl
1926
Annemarie und ihr Ulan as
Wachtmeister
1926
Die drei Mannequins
1926
The Golden Butterfly as
Ein Stammgast
1925
Vorderhaus und Hinterhaus
1925
Halbseide as
Willi Krach, ein Ringer
1925
Variety as
Hafenarbeiter
1925
O alte Burschenherrlichkeit
1924
Die Schmiede
1923
Scheine des Todes
1922
Wege des Lasters
1922
Frau Sünde
1921
Der Held des Tages
1921
Die Apotheke des Teufels as
Apotheker
1920
Die Präriediva
1920
Spuk auf Schloß Kitay as
Diener Flipp
1914
Fräulein Puppe - Meine Frau (Short)
Director
1944
Theresienstadt (Short)
1937
I tre desideri
1937
De drie wensen
1936
Merijntje Gijzen's Jeugd
1935
Het mysterie van de Mondscheinsonate
1935
Bretter, die die Welt bedeuten
1934
Incognito
1933
Paris Music-Hall numéro 1 (Short)
1933
Paris Music-Hall numéro 2 (Short)
1933
Paris Music-Hall numéro 3 (Short)
1933
Paris Music-Hall numéro 4 (Short)
1933
Paris Music-Hall numéro 5 (Short)
1933
Paris Music-Hall numéro 6 (Short)
1933
Une femme au volant
1933
Child, I'm Happy on Your Coming
1933
Heut' kommt's drauf an
1932
Stupéfiants
1932
Dope
1932
Ein toller Einfall
1932
Things Are Getting Better Already
1931
Kabarett-Programm Nr. 6 (Short)
1931
Kabarett-Programm Nr. 2 (Short)
1931
My Wife, the Adventuress
1931
Kabarett-Programm Nr. 3 (Short)
1931
Kabarett-Programm Nr. 4 (Short)
1931
Kabarett-Programm Nr. 1 (Short)
1931
Kabarett-Programm Nr. 5 (Short)
1931
Der Stumme von Portici
1926
Der Liebe Lust und Leid
1921
Im Strudel der Großstadt
Writer
1944
Theresienstadt (Short)
1933
Child, I'm Happy on Your Coming (uncredited)
Soundtrack
1930
The Comeback (performer: "Das Herz eines Boxers")
Self
2000
They Fought Back! (Documentary) as
Self
1930
People on Sunday as
Self (uncredited)
Archive Footage
2019
La case du siècle (TV Series documentary) as
Self
- Les enfants de Terezin et le monstre à moustache (2019) - Self
2002
Prisoner of Paradise (Documentary) as
Self
1999
Kurt Gerrons Karussell (Documentary) as
Self
1992
Historiska teaterpremiärer (TV Mini Series documentary) as
Tiger Brown
- Bertolt Brecht's "Threepenny Opera" at the Theater am Schifferbauerdamm in 1928. (1992) - Tiger Brown
1988
Kurt Gerron - Seine Gage war der Tod (TV Movie documentary)
1940
Der ewige Jude (Documentary)

References

Kurt Gerron Wikipedia


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