George, Heinrich

ACTOR (GERMANY)
BORN 10 Oct 1893, Stettin, Pommern (now: Szczecin) - DIED 25 Sep 1946, Oranienburg, Brandenburg: Lager Sachsenhausen
BIRTH NAME Schulz, Georg Heinrich
CAUSE OF DEATH appendicitis
GRAVE LOCATION Berlin: Städtischer Friedhof Zehlendorf, Onkel-Tom-Straße 30 (Feld 013, Nummer 96 (Ehrengrab))

Heinrich George was the son of the marine officer August Schulz. He took acting lessons in Stettin and in 1912 he held his first theatre engagement at Kolberg (now Kolobrzeg). Engagements in Bromberg (now Bydgoszcz) and Neustrelitz followed.

As a volunteer he saw action during the First World War and he was wounded severely. After the war he held theatre engagements in Dresden and Frankfurt am Main. In 1921 Max Reinhardt engaged him for the Deutsche Theater in Berlin. Around that time he also played in several silent movies.

In 1923 he founded the Schauspieler-Theater in Berlin together with Alexander Granach and Elisabeth Bergner. From 1923 until 1934 he was a member of the Preußischen Staatstheater and here he became a leading German actor. In 1926 he appeared in Fritz Langs's movie "Metropolis" and in 1931 he was in "Berlin Alexanderplatz". In 1932 he married Bertha Drews. They had two sons and Götz George became a well known actor as well.

From 1936 to 1945 he was the manager of the Schiller-Theater and during the nazi era he appeared in propaganda movies like "Jud Süss" (1940). In June, 1945 he was arrested by the Soviets and send to Sachsenhausen, the former concentration camp near Berlin. In September 1946, he died of appendicitis in Sachsenhausen.

He was buried at the grounds of the camp. In 1994 a former prisoner indicated where George had been buried. His remains were found and reburied at the Städtischer Friedhof Zehlendorf. George Götz always defended his father´s reputation and after he died in 2016 he was buried in a grave not far from his father. Bertha Drews had died in 1987 and was buried at sea by her own request.

Related persons
• cooperated with Bergner, Elisabeth
• has a connection with Reinhardt, Max
• cooperated with Söderbaum, Kristina
• employed Uhlen, Gisela

Events
28/3/1929Performance of Frank Wedekind's "Der Marquis von Keith" in honour of the recently deceased Albert Steinrück. It took place at the Schauspielhaus at the Gendarmemarkt in Belrin. Director was Leopold Jessner and Heinrich Mann speeched. Among the participating actors were Heinrich George, Werner Krauss, Carola Neher, Tilla Durieux, Jakob Tiedtke, Conrad Veidt, Max Pallenberg, Elisabeth Bergner, Paul Wegener, Hans Albers, Käthe Dorsch and Veit Harlan. [Albers, Hans][Bergner, Elisabeth][Brausewetter, Hans][Dietrich, Marlene][Durieux, Tilla][Goetz, Curt][Harlan, Veit][Körber, Hilde][Kortner, Fritz][Krauss, Werner][Mann, Heinrich][Pallenberg, Max][Steinrück, Albert][Veidt, Conrad][Wedekind, Frank][Wedekind, Tilly][Wegener, Paul]
30/1/1945Premiere of Veit Harlan's "Kolberg" at La Rochelle. It was the most expensive movie that was made in the nazi era, starring Heinrich George and Kristina Söderbaum. The movie was about a village that refused to surrender during the Napoleontic Wars and was eventually rescued. Goebbels orderded the first copy of the movie to be delivered by parachute to the German troops in the French town La Rochelle, that had been surrounded since the invasion of 1944. La Rochelle was only captured by the allied troops after the German capitulation in May 1945. The movie was meant to encourage the German citizens, but nothing came of it because most movie theatres in Germany were closed by the time the movie was released. [Harlan, Veit][Söderbaum, Kristina]

Images

The grave of Heinrich George at the Städtischer Friedhof Zehlendorf, Berlin.
Picture by Androom (11 Aug 2016)

 

Sources
Albert Steinrück: Abschiedsvorstellung am Gendarmenmarkt
Heinrich George - Wikipedia (DE)


George, Marguerite Joséphine

Published: 23 Jul 2017
Last update: 20 Apr 2022