Alexander Grau (film manager)

Alexander August Eduard Grau (born January 1, 1878 in Friederikenthal , Prussian Eylau district , † January 25, 1938 in Berlin ) was a German professional officer, film company manager and long-time UFA board member.

Life and work

Grau served as an officer until shortly before the end of the First World War . During the war he held the rank of captain and worked as press officer in the war ministry. With the rank of major , Grau was finally appointed head of the Image and Film Office (BuFa). When the BuFa was to be transformed by Erich Ludendorff into a national large film company with a strong German-national and patriotic orientation, Major Grau, once the personal advisor to the First Quartermaster General for press and propaganda questions, seemed the ideal mediator of contact between the military (Ludendorff) and big finance ( Deutsche Bank director Emil Georg von Stauß ). On July 4, 1917, Ludendorff sent a letter written by Grau and Lieutenant Colonel von Haeften to the War Ministry, which can be regarded as the founding document of the UFA:

“The war showed the overwhelming power of the image and the film as a means of education and influencing. Unfortunately, our enemies have so thoroughly taken advantage of their head start in this area that we have suffered severe damage. The film will not lose its tremendous importance as a political and military means of influencing the future of the war either. Precisely for this reason it is absolutely essential for a happy end to the war that the film has the greatest effect wherever German influence is still possible. "

- Quoted from Hans-Michael Bock / Michael Töteberg 1992

The UFA was finally founded on December 17, 1917, a win-win situation for everyone involved: “We could use each other. It was a sympathetic exchange: Gray gave influence, relationships and Ludendorff's ear. In return, Stauß delivered: The prospect of a lucrative position on the board of directors. ” Thereupon, on August 1, 1918, Major Grau joined the board of what would become the most powerful German production company. “From that day until his death, the West Prussian New Year's child romped about ... on the navigating bridge of the constantly lurching ship Ufa. There, Grau survived all storms and survived every change in the ship's command. Because he had chosen the quietest corner of the Ufa command bridge: the theater department. He managed it with discipline, without being prejudiced by industry specialist knowledge, ” as it smugly said in a Spiegel article from September 1950.

Since the 1920s, he has been particularly concerned with promoting the production of cultural films. Grau was able to win Oskar Kalbus as a scientific speaker for the cultural film department . When the feature film producer and production manager Erich Pommer temporarily left UFA in the 20s and went to the USA, Grau also took over his work on the UFA board. At the time of his death, Grau was the last remaining company manager from the early days of UFA.

He died in Berlin in 1938 just a few weeks after his 60th birthday and was buried in the Dahlem forest cemetery. The grave has not been preserved.

Alexander Grau was married to Erna Preuss, the daughter of a schnapps manufacturer.

literature

• Kurt Mühsam, Egon Jacobsohn: Lexicon of the film. Lichtbildbühne publishing house, Berlin 1926. p. 67
• Hans-Michael Bock / Michael Töteberg (eds.), The Ufa book. Art and crises. Stars and Directors. The international history of Germany's largest film company, Frankfurt / Main 1992

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Hans-Michael Bock / Michael Töteberg (ed.), The Ufa book. Art and crises. Stars and Directors. The international history of Germany's largest film company, Frankfurt / Main 1992, p. 34
2. ↑ CINEMA - THE BIG DREAM BUSINESS . In: Der Spiegel . No. 37 , 1950 ( online - 13 September 1950 ).
3. ↑ like 2
4. ^ Hans-Jürgen Mende: Lexicon of Berlin burial places . Pharus-Plan, Berlin 2018, ISBN 978-3-86514-206-1 , p. 581.