Steffie Spira (2 June 1908 – 10 May 1995) was an

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

n-born

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 ...

stage Stage, stages, or staging may refer to: Arts and media 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 Brit ...

film A film, also known as a movie or motion picture, is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, emotions, or atmosphere through the use of moving images that are generally, sinc ...

and

television actress An actor (masculine/gender-neutral), or actress (feminine), is a person who portrays a character in a production. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. ...

. Spira was the daughter of actors

Fritz Fritz is a common German language, German male name. The name originated as a German diminutive of Friedrich (given name), Friedrich or Frederick (given name), Frederick (''Der Alte Fritz'', and ''Stary Fryc'' were common nicknames for King Fred ...

and

Lotte Spira Lotte Spira (; 24 April 1883 – 17 December 1943) was a German stage and film actress. She appeared in supporting roles in around seventy films. She was married to the Austrian actor Fritz Spira in 1905. In 1934 she divorced her Jewish husband ...

. Her sister was actress

Camilla Spira Camilla Spira (1 March 1906 – 25 August 1997) was a German film actor. 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 t ...

. Her father was of

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

descent, and died in a concentration camp during the

Holocaust The Holocaust (), known in Hebrew language, Hebrew as the (), was the genocide of History of the Jews in Europe, European Jews during World War II. From 1941 to 1945, Nazi Germany and Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy ...

. Spira became a theatre actress during the

Weimar Republic The Weimar Republic, officially known as the German Reich, was the German Reich, German state from 1918 to 1933, during which it was a constitutional republic for the first time in history; hence it is also referred to, and unofficially proclai ...

, and joined the

German Communist Party The German Communist Party (, ) is a communist party in Germany. The DKP supports far-left positions and was an observer member of the European Left before leaving in February 2016. History The DKP considered itself a reconstitution of the C ...

in 1929. Following the

Nazi Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...

takeover of power, she fled into exile. After being

interned Internment is the imprisonment of people, commonly in large groups, without Criminal charge, charges or Indictment, intent to file charges. The term is especially used for the confinement "of enemy citizens in wartime or of terrorism suspects ...

by the French government at the Camp de Rieucros, she escaped to

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

. Spira returned to Europe in 1947 and settled in

East Germany East Germany, officially known as the German Democratic Republic (GDR), was a country in Central Europe from Foundation of East Germany, its formation on 7 October 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with West Germany (FRG) on ...

. She became a leading stage actor at the

Volksbühne The Volksbühne ("People's Theatre") is a theater in Berlin. Located in Berlin's city center Mitte on Rosa-Luxemburg-Platz (Rosa Luxemburg Square) in what was the GDR's capital. It has been called Berlin's most iconic theatre. About The V ...

and appeared frequently in East German film and television productions. In 1989, Spira was a speaker at the large

Alexanderplatz demonstration The Alexanderplatz demonstration () was a demonstration for political reforms and against the government of the German Democratic Republic on Alexanderplatz in East Berlin on Saturday 4 November 1989. With between half a million and a million p ...

calling for the current East German government to step down.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JPgviMTBx48 Video in

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

minute 4:08–4:50

Selected filmography

* '' The Great Mandarin'' (1949) * ''

Bürgermeister Anna ''Bürgermeister Anna'' is an East German comedy film directed by Hans Müller. It was released in 1950. Cast * Eva Rimski as Anna Drews * Reinhard Kolldehoff as Jupp Ucker * Catja Görna as Ursel Ucker * as Hans Rapp * Arno Paulsen as Baue ...

'' (1950) * ''

Ernst Thälmann Ernst Johannes Fritz Thälmann (; 16 April 1886 – 18 August 1944) was a German communist politician and leader of the Communist Party of Germany (KPD) from 1925 to 1933. A committed communist, Thälmann sought to overthrow the liberal democr ...

'' (1954–1955) * '' Heimliche Ehen'' (1956) * ''

Thomas Müntzer Thomas Müntzer ( – 27 May 1525) was a German preacher and theologian of the early Reformation whose opposition to both Martin Luther and the Catholic Church led to his open defiance of late-feudal authority in central Germany. Müntzer was f ...

'' (1956) * ''

Apple Trees An apple is a round, edible fruit produced by an apple tree (''Malus'' spp.). Fruit trees of the orchard or domestic apple (''Malus domestica''), the most widely grown in the genus, are agriculture, cultivated worldwide. The tree originated ...

'' (1992)

References

Bibliography

External links

* 1908 births 1995 deaths Austrian people of Jewish descent Austrian stage actresses Austrian film actresses Austrian silent film actresses Austrian communists Jewish emigrants from Nazi Germany German stage actresses German film actresses German silent film actresses German communists Actresses from Vienna 20th-century German actresses 20th-century Austrian actresses Austrian emigrants to East Germany {{Austria-actor-stub