Werner Krauss

Werner Krauss
Werner Johannes Krauss (Krauß in German; 23 June 1884 – 20 October 1959) was a German stage and film actor. Krauss dominated the German stage of the early 20th century. However, his participation in the antisemitic propaganda film Jud Süß and his collaboration with the Nazis made him a controversial figure.
Early life
Krauss was born at the parsonage of Gestungshausen bei Sonnefeld in Upper Franconia, where his grandfather was a Protestant pastor. He spent his childhood in Breslau and from 1901 attended the teacher's college at Kreuzburg. After it became known that he worked as an extra at the Breslau Lobe-Theater, he was suspended from classes and decided to join a travelling theatre company.
Acting career
In 1903 he debuted at the Guben municipal theatre. Although never trained as an actor, he continued to play in Magdeburg, in Bromberg at the Theater Aachen, in Nuremberg and in Munich.
By the agency of Alexander Moissi, in 1913 he met the theatre director Max Reinhardt, who took Krauss to his Deutsches Theater in Berlin. However, Krauss initially only gained minor and secondary roles like King Claudius in Shakespeare's Hamlet or Mephistopheles in Goethe's Faust, wherefore after his military discharge as a midshipman of the Imperial German Navy in 1916 he also pursued a career as a film actor.
Krauss' first film role was in Richard Oswald's 1916 Tales of Hoffmann. Committed to playing sinister characters, he became a worldwide sensation for his demonic portrayal of the titular character in Robert Wiene's film The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920), considered a milestone of German Expressionism. Krauss played the title role of Shakespeare's Othello in a 1920 adaption, and played Iago in a 1922 film adaptation. In 1922, Krauss also played the noble Jewish hero in Nathan the Wise, based on the play by Lessing. He was prominently featured in Paul Leni's Waxworks (1924), F.W. Murnau's Tartuffe, and The Student of Prague (1926).
In 1924 Krauss continued his theatre career by joining the ensemble of the Prussian State Theatre in Berlin. He again appeared on stage of the Deutsches Theater from 1926, as in Strindberg's A Dream Play filling five roles or as Wilhelm Voigt in the 1931 premiere of Carl Zuckmayer's The Captain of Köpenick. He also performed at the Vienna Burgtheater, and guest performances even brought him to London and on Broadway in New York City, where Max Reinhardt staged Karl Vollmöller's The Miracle in 1924.
Krauss' consummate skills in characterization earned him the title of "the man with a thousand faces". His fellow actress Elisabeth Bergner called him "the greatest actor of all time" and a "demonic genius" in her memoirs. Oskar Werner, born Oskar Josef Bschließmayer, chose his stage name in Krauss' honour.
Nazi Germany
Krauss was an unapologetic antisemite who supported the Nazi Party and its ideology. While the Nazis seized power in Berlin in January 1933, Krauss joined the Vienna Burgtheater ensemble to perform as Napoleon in 100 Tage (Campo di maggio), a drama written by Giovacchino Forzano together with Benito Mussolini, whereafter he was received by the Italian dictator and also made the acquaintance of Nazi Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels. In the course of the totalitarian Gleichschaltung process, Krauss was appointed Vice President of the Reichskulturkammer theatre department and served in that capacity from 1933 to 1935. In 1934, Krauss was designated as a Staatsschauspieler ('State Actor', i.e. an actor of national importance). Upon the death of Reich President Paul von Hindenburg in August, he signed the Aufruf der Kulturschaffenden to merge of the offices of President and Chancellor in the person of Adolf Hitler. Goebbels and Hitler rated Krauss as a cultural ambassador of Nazi Germany.
Krauss and Max Reinhardt worked together for the last time at the 1937 Salzburg Festival, staging Goethe's Faust (with Krauss as Mephistopheles) in the Felsenreitschule theatre, shortly before Reinhardt emigrated to the United States. In 1940, Krauss simultaneously played the roles of six stereotypical Jewish characters – among them Rabbi Loew and Sekretar Levy – in Veit Harlan's antisemitic propaganda film Jud Süß, implementing Harlan's concept of a common Jewish root. When asked by Wolfgang Liebeneiner about the devastating effects of his performance, he replied: "that's no concern of mine – I'm an actor!" Krauss also played Shylock in Lothar Müthel's defamatory production of The Merchant of Venice staged at the Burgtheater in 1943. In 1944, Krauss was added to the "Gottbegnadeten list" of indispensable German artists, which exempted him from military service in the Wehrmacht forces, including service on the home front.
Postwar
After the war, Krauss had to leave his home in Mondsee near Salzburg and was expelled from Austria. He also was banned from performing on stage and in films in Germany. His films were proscribed and he was ordered to undergo a denazification program from 1947 to 1948, whereafter he could return to Austria to become a naturalized citizen. In 1950, he again performed as King Lear at the Ruhr Festival in Recklinghausen. However, in December his performance with the Burgtheater ensemble at the Kurfürstendamm Theatre in Berlin met with protest.
In 1951 Krauss again received German citizenship. Ultimately, he was rehabilitated to the extent of being invited to German film festivals. In 1954, he received the Iffland-Ring, though not determined by the previous holder Albert Bassermann but by a committee of German-speaking actors. In the same year, Krauss was awarded the Order of the Federal Republic of Germany; in 1955, he received the High Decoration of the Republic of Austria. In 1958, Krauss published his autobiography titled Das Schauspiel meines Lebens (The Play of my Life).
Krauss died in relative obscurity in Vienna at the age of 75. He was cremated and buried in an Ehrengrab in the Vienna Zentralfriedhof.
Filmography
Die geheimnisvolle Villa (1914)
Tales of Hoffmann (1916) as Conte Dapertutto
Zirkusblut (1916) as Thomas the tramp
Die vertauschte Braut (1916, Short)
Die Rache der Toten (1916, Short) as Mayor Paul Horvath
The Uncanny House (1916, 3 parts) as Albert von Sievers / Franz Mollheim / Professor Cardallhan
Die Bettlerin von St. Marien (1916) as Buckeljörg
Unheilbar (1917)
Der Erbe von 'Het Steen''' (1917)
A Night of Horror (1917): as the artist's husband
Das Bacchanal des Todes (1917) as Jan Lars
Die Kaukasierin (1917)
Die Fremde (1917) as Pan Hoang Amitaba
Die Pagode (1917) as Dr. Remus
Gesühnte Schuld (1917, Short) as Professor Marquardt
Die Tochter der Gräfin Stachowska (1917) as Adam Kolinski
The Sea Battle (1917)
Die schöne Prinzessin von China (1917, Short) as Kaiser
Wenn Frauen lieben und hassen (1917, Short)
Der Friedensreiter (1917) as Reiter
Die schleichende Gefahr (1918) as Musiker
Let There Be Light (1918) as Waldemar Gorsky
Der Bettler von Savern (1918)
Das verwunschene Schloß (1918) as Bauer Grödner
Der Prozeß Hauers (1918)
Diary of a Lost Woman (1918) as Meinert
Madame d'Ora (1918) as Gelehrter Edmund Hall
Colomba (1918) as Gonzales
The Story of Dida Ibsen (1918) as Philipp Galen
Fräulein Pfiffikus (1918)
Seiner Hoheit Brautfahrt (1918)
Seelen in Ketten (1918) as the prince
E, der scharlachrote Buchstabe (1918)
Das Gift der Medici (1918)
Der Friedensreiter (1918)
Opium (1919) as Nung-Tschang
Prostitution (1919) as Mann
Mazeppa, der Held der Ukraine (1919) as Mazeppa
Die Insel der Glücklichen (1919) as Senator Dr. Wenningx
Rose Bernd (1919) as Bernd
Das ewige Rätsel (1919) as Faun
The Dance of Death (1919) as The Cripple
Phantome des Lebens (1919)
Die Heimat (1919)
The Woman with Orchids (1919)
The Girl and the Men (1919)
Opfer (1920)
The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920) as Dr. Caligari
Spiritismus (1920)
Eternal River (1920) as a ferryman
Johannes Goth (1920) as Verleger Assmann
The Woman Without a Soul (1920) as Stephan Wulkowitz
Death the Victor (1920) as Dr. Olaf Karsten
Die Frau im Himmel (1920) as Aufseher
Der Staatsanwalt (1920) as Ziegelpeter
The Brothers Karamazov (1920) as Serdjakoff
The Kwannon of Okadera (1920) as Harlander
Die Beichte einer Toten (1920)
Das lachende Grauen (1920)
The Medium (1921)
The House in Dragon Street (1921) as Walter
Christian Wahnschaffe (1921, part 2) as Niels Heinrich
Danton (1921, dir. Dimitri Buchowetzki) as Robespierre
Shattered (1921, dir. Lupu Pick) as the track checker
The Story of Christine von Herre (1921) as Count Von Herre
The Dance of Love and Happiness (1921) as Director Mac Sullivan
Lady Hamilton (1921) as Lord William Hamilton
Circus of Life (1921) as Philipp Hogger
Sturmflut des Lebens (1921)
Fledermäuse (1921)
Die Beute der Erinnyen (1922) as Wells
Fridericus Rex (1922-1923, part 1, 3) as Count Kaunitz
Othello (1922, dir. Dimitri Buchowetzki) as Iago
The Burning Soil (1922) as Old Rog
Luise Millerin (1922) as Secretary Wurm
The Earl of Essex (1922)
Nathan the Wise (1922) as Nathan
Marquise von Pompadour (1922)
Josef und seine Brüder (1922)
Die Nacht der Medici (1922)
The Treasure (1923, dir. G. W. Pabst) as Svetelenz
Old Heidelberg (1923) as Dr. Jüttner
The Misanthrope (1923)
Adam and Eve (1923)
Between Evening and Morning (1923)
Fräulein Raffke (1923) as Emil Raffke
The Merchant of Venice (1923) as Shylock
The Ancient Law (1923) as Professor Nathan
The Doll Maker of Kiang-Ning (1923)
I.N.R.I. (1923) as Pontius Pilatus
The Unknown Tomorrow (1923) as Marc Muradock
Decameron Nights (1924) as Soldan
Waxworks (1924, dir. Paul Leni) as Jack the Ripper / Spring-Heeled Jack
Une femme dans la nuit (1924)
Wood Love (1925) as Bottom
Reveille: The Great Awakening (1925)
Joyless Street (1925, dir. G. W. Pabst) as Geiringer the butcher
Jealousy (1925) as Mann/Georges Ménard
The Morals of the Alley (1925) as a wholesaler
The Dealer from Amsterdam (1925) as Arent Bergh
Variety (1925)
Tartuffe (1925, dir. Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau) as Orgon
The Woman from Berlin (1925) as Anton Zöllner
The House of Lies (1926) as Hjalmar Ekdal
Secrets of a Soul (1926, dir. G. W. Pabst) as Martin Fellman
Nana (1926, dir. Jean Renoir) as Count Muffat
The Woman's Crusade (1926) as The Idiot
Maria, die Geschichte eines Herzens / Das graue Haus (1926) as Vater
The Student of Prague (1926, dir. Henrik Galeen) as Scapinelli
Superfluous People (1926) as Constable Suka
One Does Not Play with Love (1926) as Prince Colalto
Excluded from the Public (1927) as Ibrahim Hulam
The Vice of Humanity (1927) as Willibald Cooks
The Trousers (1927) as Theobald Maske
Da hält die Welt den Atem an / Maquillage (1927) as Morris Broock
Radio Magic (1927) as Theophil Schimmelpfenning
Die Hölle der Jungfrauen (1928) as Mystkowski
Looping the Loop (1928) as Botto the clown
The Merry Farmer (1929) as Bauer Mathäus Reuther
Thou Shalt Not Kill (1929) as Prof. Marquardt
Napoleon at Saint Helena (1929) as Napoleon
Yorck (1931) as General Yorck von Wartenberg
Man Without a Name (1932) as Heinrich Martin
(1935) as Napoleon
Court Theatre (1936, dir. Willi Forst) as Friedrich Mitterer
Robert Koch (1939, dir. Hans Steinhoff) as Rudolf Virchow
Der letzte Appell (1939)
Jud Süß (1940, dir. Veit Harlan) as Rabbi Loew / Secretary Levy / Isaak / Old Jewish Man
Annelie (1941) as Katasteramtsrat Reinhold Dörensen
Between Heaven and Earth (1942) as Justus Rottwinkel
Die Entlassung (1942) as Privy Councillor von Holstein
Paracelsus (1943, dir. G. W. Pabst) as Paracelsus
Bonus on Death (1943) as Dr. Schmidt
The Falling Star (1950) as Lenura / Lenoir
Son Without a Home (1955) as Wilhelm Hartmann
Das verräterische Herz'' (1958, TV Short) as the old man (final film role)
References
External links
Various pictures of Werner Krauss
1884 births
1959 deaths
20th-century German male actors
Commanders Crosses of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany
German male silent film actors
German male stage actors
Iffland-Ring
Academic staff of Leipzig University
People from Coburg (district)
Imperial German Navy personnel of World War I