Finck, Werner |
| ACTOR, CABARET ARTIST, WRITER (GERMANY) |
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BORN 2 May 1902, Görlitz, Sachsen - DIED 31 Jul 1978, München, Bayern BIRTH NAME Finck, Werner Paul Walther GRAVE LOCATION München, Bayern: Waldfriedhof (475-UW-8) |
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Werrner Finck was the son of the apothecary Botho Finck. He left school without passing his final exams, but after that he did pass his entrance exam for art school in Dresden. He was active in various amateur theatre groups and his attempts to become a journalist failed. He was contracted by the theatres in Bunzlau (now Boleslawiec) and Darmstadt, where he played only minor parts. In 1928 he went to Berlin, where together wuth Hans Deppe he founded and managed the cabaret Die Katakombe. Erich Kästner, Theo Lingen, Rudolf Platte and Kurt Tucholsky all wrote texts for this cabaret. After the nazis came to power the spied on Die Katakombe. JosepH Goebbels ordered its permanent closure in 1935 after an offensive sketch. Finck was arrested and imprisoned in Esterwegen concentration camp. After the actress Käthe Dorsch asked help from Hermann Göring he was immediately released. He was banned form working for a year, but from 1936 to 1938 he wrote columns for the Berliner Tageblatt. In 1937 he returned to the cabaret, working for Willy Schaeffer's Kabarett der Komiker. In 1939 he avoided another arrest by volunteering for military service. He became a radio operator in France, the Soviet Union and Italy. He was decorated twice. In 1945 he was imprisoned by the Americans and he performed for other prisoners in the Mitraching camp naear Bad Aibling. From 1945 to 1949 he published the satirical magazine Das Wespennest together with Hans Bayer. After that he toured in Germany with a solo program. He played supporting roles in many movies. In 1962 he became a member of the German Academy of Performing Arts. He died in 1978 in Munich. |
| Images |
 The grave of Werner Finck at the Waldfriedhof, Munich. Picture by Androom (17 Aug 2020) |
