Adolf Trotz (September 6, 1895 – after 1937) was a

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

film director A film director or filmmaker is a person who controls a film's artistic and dramatic aspects and visualizes the screenplay (or script) while guiding the film crew and actors in the fulfillment of that Goal, vision. The director has a key role ...

. He was known for his films in the '' Mittelfilme'' (mid-budget) genre.

Early life

Trotz was born in Janow in what is now Poland in

Silesia Silesia (see names #Etymology, below) is a historical region of Central Europe that lies mostly within Poland, with small parts in the Czech Silesia, Czech Republic and Germany. Its area is approximately , and the population is estimated at 8, ...

. He originally studied pharmacy and philosophy, but began a career in film after the first World War.

Career

Trotz's 1932 film ''

Rasputin, Demon with Women ''Rasputin, Demon with Women'' (German: ''Rasputin, Dämon der Frauen'') is a 1932 German drama film directed by Adolf Trotz and starring Conrad Veidt, Paul Otto and Hermine Sterler. It was shot at the Halensee Studios and Terra Studios in Berl ...

'' was certified as "artistically valuable"; however, in 1933,

Joseph Goebbels Paul Joseph Goebbels (; 29 October 1897 – 1 May 1945) was a German Nazism, Nazi politician and philologist who was the ''Gauleiter'' (district leader) of Berlin, chief Propaganda in Nazi Germany, propagandist for the Nazi Party, and ...

banned the film throughout Germany and ordered all prints and advertising materials to be destroyed. Trotz smuggled both the original pictorial and soundtrack negatives to a farmhouse in Austria. At one point in 1933, he was part of the wave of German émigrés who fled to Paris. In 1936, Goebbels banned his 1933 film ''Ways to a Good Marriage'', which depicted the path to happiness as advice based on the sexology research done by

Magnus Hirschfeld Magnus Hirschfeld (14 May 1868 – 14 May 1935) was a German physician, Sexology, sexologist and LGBTQ advocate, whose German citizenship was later revoked by the Nazi government.David A. Gerstner, ''Routledge International Encyclopedia of Queer ...

, and Trotz fled to Spain in 1936. He continued producing films there until the outbreak of the

Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil War () was a military conflict fought from 1936 to 1939 between the Republican faction (Spanish Civil War), Republicans and the Nationalist faction (Spanish Civil War), Nationalists. Republicans were loyal to the Left-wing p ...

. After Spain, Trotz moved to Italy in November 1936. He died in Italy shortly before the outbreak of World War II.

Personal life

In 1926, Trotz married screenwriter and editor Ruth Schweriner. They remained married until his death.

Selected filmography

* '' Gold and Luck'' (1923) * '' The Curse of Vererbung'' (1927) * '' Sixteen Daughters and No Father'' (1928) * '' The Woman in the Advocate's Gown'' (1929) * '' Tragedy of Youth'' (1929) * '' Somnambul'' (1929) * '' The Right of the Unborn'' (1929) * '' Karriere'' (1930) * '' It Happens Every Day'' (1930) * '' A Storm Over Zakopane'' (1931) * '' Shooting Festival in Schilda'' (1931) * '' Elisabeth of Austria'' (1931) * ''

'' (1932) * '' Tatras Zauber'' (1933) * '' Ways to a Good Marriage'' (1933)

References

External links

* 1895 births Year of death unknown German film directors People from Nysa County {{Germany-film-director-stub