Maertens, Willy

ACTOR (GERMANY)
BORN 30 Oct 1893, Braunschweig, Niedersachsen - DIED 28 Nov 1967, Hamburg
BIRTH NAME Maertens, Wilhelm Hermann August
GRAVE LOCATION Hamburg: Friedhof Ohlsdorf, Fühlsbüttler Strasse 756 (AB13 (87-88), tombstone in Garten der Frauen)

Willy Maertens started his acting career before the First World War in Berlin. Engagementt followed at the Intimes Theater in Nürnberg and at the Sommertheater Salzgitter. During the war he joined the army, but he never left Germany. After the war many other theatre engagement followed before he came to the Thalia Theater in Hamburg.

For twelve years he worked as an actor at the Thalia Theater and from 1939 onwards also as a director. After the theatre was bombed in 1945 he became it's director and within a year provisional performances were possible again.

After the war he also started a movie career. Among his movies were "Nora" (1948) and "Nur eine Nacht" (1950). He also worked for television. In 1960 the Thalia theatre was reopened in a completely renovated building. In 1964 Kurt Raeck succeeded Maertens.

His wife was the actress Charlotte Kramm, who worked for the Thalia Theatre from 1932 until Maertens' death in 1971. Nowadays their tombstone can be found at the Garten der Frauen at the Ohldorfer Friedhof in Hamburg. Since this is an area consisting mostly of tombstones from graves that have disappeared it is probable that their original grave is no longer there.

Family
• Wife: Kramm, Charlotte

Images

The tombstone of Willy Maertens and Charlotte Maertens-Kramm in the 'Garten der Frauen' at the Ohlsdorfer Friedhof in Hamburg.
Picture by Androom (26 Jan 2006)

 

Sources
Find-A-Grave
Willy Maertens - Wikipedia (DE)


Maffei, Clara

Published: 24 Mar 2008
Last update: 18 Jan 2022