Lotte Spira (; 24 April 1883 – 17 December 1943) was a German
stage
Stage or stages may refer to:
Acting
* Stage (theatre), a space for the performance of theatrical productions
* Theatre, a branch of the performing arts, often referred to as "the stage"
* ''The Stage'', a weekly British theatre newspaper
* Sta ...
and
film actress
An actor or actress is a person who portrays a character in a performance. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. The analogous Greek term is (), li ...
. She appeared in
supporting role
A supporting character is a character in a narrative that is not the focus of the primary storyline, but is important to the plot/protagonist, and appears or is mentioned in the story enough to be more than just a minor character or a cameo ap ...
s in around seventy films.
She was married to the Austrian actor
Fritz Spira in 1905. In 1934 she divorced her
Jewish
Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...
husband under duress from the
Nazi
Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...
authorities. During the
Second World War
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...
she signed a statement swearing Spira was not the real father of her daughter
Camilla Spira
Camilla Spira (1 March 1906 – 25 August 1997) was a German film actress. She appeared in 68 films between 1924 and 1986. She was born in Hamburg, Germany, of Jewish ancestry on her father's side, and died in Berlin, Germany. Her father was ...
, who was being held at
Westerbork transit camp
Camp Westerbork ( nl, Kamp Westerbork, german: Durchgangslager Westerbork, Drents: ''Börker Kamp; Kamp Westerbörk'' ), also known as Westerbork transit camp, was a Nazi transit camp in the province of Drenthe in the Northeastern Netherlands, d ...
in the
Netherlands
)
, anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau")
, image_map =
, map_caption =
, subdivision_type = Sovereign state
, subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands
, established_title = Before independence
, established_date = Spanish Netherl ...
.
[Baer p. 118]
Shortly after Lotte Spira received news of her ex-husband's death in a concentration camp in
Yugoslavia
Yugoslavia (; sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Jugoslavija, Југославија ; sl, Jugoslavija ; mk, Југославија ;; rup, Iugoslavia; hu, Jugoszlávia; rue, label=Pannonian Rusyn, Югославия, translit=Juhoslavija ...
, she died of natural causes, aged 60. Her other daughter
Steffie Spira, also an actress, managed to escape into exile.
Selected filmography
* ''
Hallig Hooge'' (1923)
* ''
The False Prince'' (1927)
* ''
Waltz of Love'' (1930)
* ''
Love's Carnival'' (1930)
* ''
Ash Wednesday'' (1931)
* ''
Impossible Love'' (1932)
* ''
Scandal in Budapest'' (1933)
* ''
Hermine and the Seven Upright Men'' (1935)
* ''
Lady Windermere's Fan
''Lady Windermere's Fan, A Play About a Good Woman'' is a four-act comedy by Oscar Wilde, first performed on Saturday, 20 February 1892, at the St James's Theatre in London.
The story concerns Lady Windermere, who suspects that her husband is ...
'' (1935)
* ' (1936)
* ''
Victoria in Dover'' (1936)
*''
The Unknown'' (1936)
* ''
Dangerous Game'' (1937)
* ''
The Irresistible Man'' (1937)
* ''
The Mystery of Betty Bonn'' (1938)
* ''
The Mountain Calls'' (1938)
*''
The Secret Lie'' (1938)
* ''
Congo Express'' (1939)
* ''
The Governor'' (1939)
* ''
The Right to Love'' (1939)
* ''
The Scoundrel'' (1939)
* ''
Woman at the Wheel'' (1939)
* ''
The Journey to Tilsit
''The Journey to Tilsit'' (German: ''Die Reise nach Tilsit'') is a 1939 German drama film directed by Veit Harlan and starring Kristina Söderbaum, Philip Dorn and Anna Dammann.
Synopsis
Elske faithfully loves her husband Endrik as he is seduc ...
'' (1939)
* ''
Maria Ilona'' (1939)
* ''
Bel Ami
''Bel-Ami'' (, "Dear Friend") is the second novel by French author Guy de Maupassant, published in 1885; an English translation titled ''Bel Ami, or, The History of a Scoundrel: A Novel'' first appeared in 1903.
The story chronicles journalist ...
'' (1939)
* ''
Left of the Isar, Right of the Spree'' (1940)
* ''
The Unfaithful Eckehart'' (1940)
* ''
Eine kleine Nachtmusik'' (1940)
* ''
Kora Terry'' (1940)
* ''
Zirkus Renz'' (1943)
* ''
The Woman of My Dreams'' (1944)
References
Bibliography
* Baer, Hester. ''Dismantling the Dream Factory: Gender, German Cinema, and the Postwar Quest for a New Film Language''. Berghahn Books, 2012.
External links
*
1883 births
1943 deaths
German stage actresses
German film actresses
German silent film actresses
Actresses from Berlin
20th-century German actresses
{{Germany-film-actor-stub