Gernot Bock-Stieber (born August 25, 1892 – December 7, 1943) was an Austrian film director, screenwriter and documentary filmmaker.
Early life
Born in
Bad Gleichenberg, Styria,
Austria-Hungary
Austria-Hungary, also referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Dual Monarchy or the Habsburg Monarchy, was a multi-national constitutional monarchy in Central Europe#Before World War I, Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. A military ...
, Bock-Stieber attended the conservatory in Vienna after graduating from high school and trained as an actor with
Josef Kainz. He also attended the graphics teaching and research institute. Even before the outbreak of the First World War, Bock-Stieber had completed training as a photographer and movie camera operator.
Based in Germany since 1909, he played mainly in theaters in cities in the Rhine region including Cologne, Bonn and Düsseldorf, and finally went to Berlin, where he appeared as an actor at the
Luisen Theater and was hired by the film production company
Duskes Film as an assistant director. He served in the First World War from 1915 to 1918, and was sporadically active during that period as a screenwriter and journalist.
Film directing career
In 1919 Bock-Stieber began working as a director. In March 1920 he founded
Europa-Film-Co. GmbH together with
Georg Paul Aderholdt. He later named the company
Epro-Film (abbreviation for Europe Production). His early works included several episodes of the Mac Wood series, centered around the character of Mac Wood, a smart, adventurous detective and jack of all trades. The screenplay for his productions was regularly written by
Ada van Roon, Bock-Stieber's wife since 1917. played the leading role in these films.
Work as Nazi propagandist
From the late 1920s Bock-Stieber was unable to land any more mainstream directing contracts. He then concentrated on producing screenplays and, since the advent of sound films, was almost exclusively given the opportunity to direct
Nazi propaganda films, notoriously including ''
Victims of the Past
''Victims of the Past'' (original German title: ''Opfer der Vergangenheit: Die Sünde wider Blut und Rasse'', English: ''Victims of the Past: The Sin against Blood and Race'') is a Nazi propaganda film made in 1937, directed by Gernot Bock-Stie ...
'' (1937; ), a film that propagated the
forced sterilization
Compulsory sterilization, also known as forced or coerced sterilization, refers to any government-mandated program to involuntarily sterilize a specific group of people. Sterilization removes a person's capacity to reproduce, and is usually do ...
of people with hereditary disorders.
His other films for the Nazi regime were ''
Einer von Vielen'' ("''One of Many''", 1936), ''
Tante Inges Garten'' ("''Aunt Inge's Garden''", 1937), and ''
Für jeden etwas'' ("''Something for Everyone''", 1937).
In the last years of his life, Bock-Stieber was in constant trouble with the authorities. In 1940 there were proceedings for expulsion from the film department of the
Reich Film Chamber for alleged film financing contacts with Jews. He was also insolvent and had to make a .
Gernot Bock-Stieber died on December 7, 1943, in
Berlin-Wilmersdorf, Germany, at the age of 51.
References
*
Kay Weniger
Kay Weniger (born 1956) is an Austrian writer of books on media issues. He published an eight-volume encyclopaedia on international film people.
Biography
Weniger is the son of the German stage and film actress and the Austrian stage actor ...
: ''
Das große Personenlexikon des Films. Die Schauspieler, Regisseure, Kameraleute, Produzenten, Komponisten, Drehbuchautoren, Filmarchitekten, Ausstatter, Kostümbildner, Cutter, Tontechniker, Maskenbildner und Special Effects Designer des 20. Jahrhunderts.'' Volume 1: ''A – C. Erik Aaes – Jack Carson.'' Schwarzkopf & Schwarzkopf, Berlin 2001, , p. 434.
External links
*
Gernot Bock-Stieberentry at filmportal.de
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bock-Stieber, Gernot
Austrian film directors
Austrian male screenwriters
Austrian Nazi propagandists
Propaganda film directors
1892 births
1943 deaths
People from Styria