Göring-Sonnemann, Emmy

ACTOR (GERMANY)
BORN 24 Mar 1893, Hamburg - DIED 8 Jun 1973, München, Bayern
BIRTH NAME Sonnemann, Emma Johanna Henny
GRAVE LOCATION München, Bayern: Waldfriedhof (459-I-322)

Emma Sonneman was the daughter of a salesman from Hamburg who owned a chocolate factory. She debuted as an actress in 1910 at the Staatstheater in Hamburg. In 1916 she married the actor Karl Köstlin. She was successful at the Nationaltheater in Weimar and in 1934 she appeared with Gustaf Gründgens at the Kammerspiele in München. She became Prussian Actress of State during that year.

She divorced her husband in 1926 and married the prominent nazi Hermann Göring in 1935. They married at the Berlin Cathedral and Adolf Hitler was best man. After this marriage she ended her acting career. In 1938 she and Göring had a daughter, Edda, who wasn't named after Mussolini's daughter Edda but after a friend of Emmy.

Although she hadn't been involved in politics, after the war she was sentended to one year of imprisonment because she was considered to be a nazi. After she was released she wasn't allowed to act for five years. For the rest of her life she lived with Edda in a small appartment in Munich. She wrote an autobiography, "An der Seite meines Mannes" (1967), translated as "My Life with Goering" (1972).

Related persons
• cooperated with Gründgens, Gustaf

Images

The grave of Emmy Göring at the Waldfriedhof, München.
Picture by Androom (30 Aug 2005)

 

Sources
• Scheibmayr, Erich, Wer? Wann? Wo?, Persönlichkeiten in Münchner Friedhöfen, Verlag Erich Scheibmayr, München, 1989
Emmy Göring - Wikipedia


Görsch, Eva

Published: 03 Aug 2008
Last update: 04 Jul 2022