Barbara Ossenkopp

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Barbara Ossenkopp (* 1943 in Lüneburg ; † May 28, 2021 in Jakarta , Indonesia ) was a German night club dancer, actress and animal rights activist. As "Chinese Babs" she became known locally in the Hamburg entertainment district of St. Pauli in the 1960s . She later worked in an orangutan sanctuary in Indonesia .

biography

Ossenkopp grew up in a middle-class family in the Lower Saxon city ​​of Lüneburg. In 1961 she moved to Hamburg to work as a decorator .

St. Pauli

Salambo nightclub in the Große Freiheit (left, 1968)

Ossenkopp got to know the bar and club scene in St. Pauli through the roommate of her shared apartment in the early 1960s. After working as a barmaid for a short time, she became a striptease dancer at René Durand's Salambo nightclub on the Great Freedom . During her appearances, she often had made-up eyes and wore a dark wig, which, together with her high cheekbones, created an Asian appearance. This resulted in the name "Chinese Babs", under which she soon became known beyond the borders of St. Pauli. The photographer Günter Zint , a long-time companion, described Ossenkopp as a vamp and femme fatale ; Her role model was Anita Berber , a dancer from Berlin in the 1920s.

Movie and TV

After a while, Ossenkopp was also noticed by the media. She received assignments from, among others, the Norddeutscher Rundfunk , for which she interviewed stars such as Paul Newman and Sean Connery .

In the early 1970s, Ossenkopp had contact with the Hamburg scene , which included Udo Lindenberg . As Lindenberg 1974 in ZDF telecast Disco his song Alright on the Andrea Doria presented, Ossenkopp was involved as an extra on the show. At this time she also received her first roles as an actress in German feature and television films. After her debut in an episode of the crime series Dem Täter on the Track , she initially played mainly supporting roles in erotic comedies. In at least one of these productions she was explicitly announced as "Chinese Babs". On the other hand, she had roles in films by Herbert Achternbusch , Christel Buschmann and Klaus Lemke . With her appearance in the " Hamburg film " Gibbi Westgermany , she set herself apart from the erotic genre in 1979. Ossenkopp had her last role in 1987 in the second episode of the television series Mozart and Meisel by Peter Hajek , with whom she was in a relationship for six years in the 1980s.

Animal rights activist in Indonesia

After the relationship with Hajek broke up, Ossenkopp moved to Indonesia. She initially lived in Bali , where she made her living as an artist, among other things. In 2002 she met Ulrike Freifrau von Mengden in Jakarta, who had been looking after orphaned orangutan monkeys in the Indonesian capital's zoo for decades. Ossenkopp became von Mengden's assistant and worked with her for 18 years.

death

After von Mengden died in January 2020, Ossenkopp became impoverished. In the past few years she has had Parkinson's and leukemia . Financial support from friends from Hamburg, including Günter Zint and Udo Lindenberg, made it possible to conduct a therapy in Jakarta in spring 2021, which seemed to promise success. Before she could start the planned return trip to Hamburg, Ossenkopp was infected with COVID-19 and died on May 28, 2021, at the age of 78, from the consequences of this disease in a hospital in Jakarta and was buried in a cemetery in the Indonesian capital. She left a daughter.

Filmography

Feature films

Television films

Barbara Ossenkopp in literature

In his novel Große Freiheit , published in 2019, the author Rocko Schamoni describes “Chinesen-Babs” as a bar operator.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Till Fähnders: Hamburg local fame: Barbara Ossenkopp died in Indonesia. faz.net, May 30, 2021, accessed May 30, 2021 .
  2. ↑ a b Olaf Wunder: From the nude dancer to the animal rights activist: The mother of the orangutans calls for help. www.mopo.de, May 3, 2021, accessed on May 29, 2021 .
  3. ↑ a b Till Fähnders: Concern for the sick Barbara Ossenkopp: She danced with Udo Lindenberg. faz.net, May 27, 2021, accessed May 29, 2021 .
  4. ↑ Long Life for Orangutans: An Obituary. orangutan.de, January 28, 2020, accessed May 30, 2021.
  5. ↑ Stefan Schneider: Chinese Babs buried on Indonesian corpses field. In: image. May 31, 2021, accessed June 1, 2021 .
personal data
SURNAME Ossenkopp, Barbara
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German night club dancer, actress and animal rights activist
DATE OF BIRTH 1943
PLACE OF BIRTH Luneburg
DATE OF DEATH May 28, 2021
PLACE OF DEATH Jakarta , Indonesia