Julie Helene Bider

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Julie Helene Bider. Image 1916

Julie Helene Bider , also Leny Bider (born November 8, 1894 in Langenbruck , † July 7, 1919 in Zurich ), was a Swiss silent film actress.

Life

Childhood and youth

Julie Helene Bider was born on November 8, 1894 in the health resort of Langenbruck am Oberen Hauenstein in the canton of Basel-Landschaft into a medium-sized family of cloth merchants, gerants and politicians. In 1890 and 1891, her two brothers, Georges Alphons (“Schorsch”; 1890–1946) and Oskar Marcus (“Oski”; 1891–1919), who later became aviation pioneer and chief flight instructor, were born in Dübendorf . Georges became a doctor. He suffered from lung problems throughout his life.

After the early death of her mother Frieda Marie, b. Glur (1869–1907), father Jakob (1855–1911) moved to Basel with his three children in autumn 1908 . There Leny - who was still in elementary school - entered the secondary school for girls, the Basel girls' grammar school. She also began to be interested in the Basel theater and concert world. As she was clearly pubescent, the usual crushes for actors and musicians played an important role. Among them was the actor Robert Peter. Leny was enthusiastic about Peter's portrayal of Hamlet , which he played in all "dark" facets (covered in black with a skull on his hand ...). From 1910 to 1912 she recorded many of her experiences in a diary. Weekly, sometimes daily, she thought deeply about herself. She often seems full of longings, self-doubts and reproaches. On the other hand, she beat a lot of "brat straw"; just as it was the case with girls her age back then.

After the sudden death of her father as a result of pneumonia, her once tightly knit family of five fell apart completely. As an orphan, Bider was temporarily brought to live with her guardian and uncle, Max Albert Glur-Forster (1881–1948) and wife Martha (1889–1982) in the canton capital of Liestal in the Basel region . For a few weeks she attended the girls' secondary school there, where her guardian was the principal. In his spare time he was engaged in watercolor painting . He was also very taken with the Greek classics , the old comedies and dramas. Bider was delighted with her uncle's special inclination. From then on, dramas were an essential part of her "daydreaming" and interest in Greek classical music. In April 1911 she was then confirmed - belonging to the Protestant denomination - in Liestal.

In May 1911, by order of her father, Bider was sent to the girls' boarding school "Clos du Matin" in Lausanne . It was under the direction of Mme. A. Piguet-Truan at 42 rue du Valentin. For the rather rebellious girl, everyday school life was like it had been in Basel: the sometimes somewhat chaotic lessons were followed by long-awaited visits to the city. As before, she raved about drama and classical concerts. Again she was enthusiastic about young representatives of the Lausanne art scene, because she wanted to become an artist. In April 1912, by order of her guardian, Oskar took her home prematurely from the Lausanne boarding school. They feared difficulties for Bider in the girls' boarding school because of improper, pubescent behavior. The head of the boarding house no longer had it reliably under control, as the records in the diary mentioned above show.

In the boarding class, Leny immediately made friends with classmates Gisela Hamburger (1895–1941) from Würzburg and Jeanne Lecoultre (1895–1987) from Le Sentier VD. Through the correspondence of the classmates, some details from Leny's later life can be documented. Hamburg's parents ran a men's clothing store in Würzburg. Gisela Hamburger moved to Munich in 1928 and was deported to Lithuania in November 1941 , where she was shot together with over 2,900 other deportees on the day of her arrival, on November 25, 1941, in the Kovno concentration camp (i.e. the Kaunas extermination camp).

Two written documents from the two friends have survived: A postcard from Bider from the “National Air Donation Day” in Basel, sent on March 9, 1913 to Würzburg. On that day, Bider flew for the first time as a passenger on a Blériot with her brother Oskar. Hamburger sent a last time dated July 12, 1919 a closely written card to the newly wed Leny Jucker (née Bider) in Zurich. In it, she reprimands their concise marriage announcement, which does not contain anything personal.

According to the diary texts, the two girls exchanged information about everyday things, group dynamics in the boarding school, but also about classic topics in Lausanne. That included the Greek tragedy. Hamburger wrote a three-part Greek marriage drama on this subject for her friend. This ended in a fatal tragedy - the disappointed Greek took her own life. The text - according to Bider's classic inclinations - was then attached to her diary. Only a few days after leaving the Lausanne boarding school, Bider was sent to the strictly managed housekeeping school in Ralligen Castle on Lake Thun . Bider's relatives - the three Glur uncle families - wished to turn the impulsive youth into a reliable wife and mother.

In May 1913, the young woman traveled to England alone . The brother Oskar, who was planned by her relatives as a companion, was busy with a weekend flight donation in Sion in the canton of Valais and was therefore unable to accompany his 19-year-old sister to London . In England, Bider was employed in households with children. For the time being she looked after three school-age children at the Oatlands Chase in Weybridge / Surrey with the family of Justice of the Peace William Alfred Bilney (JP; Justice of Peace). She then moved on to Lincolnshire to the family of the farmer GA Riggall in Ulceby Grange near Alford , where she had to look after a 14-year-old girl. Most recently, Bider visited the glamorous health resort Woodhall Spa , also in Lincolnshire. Members of the royal family stayed there from time to time. In July 1914, Bider returned to Switzerland via London, but this time accompanied by her cousin Paul Robert Cardinaux-Gerster (1876–1957) from Bern. Most likely she lived with this cousin's family in Bern until April 1915 .

Life in Zurich

Bider reached the zenith of her short life from 1915 in Zurich . For now, she attended an art college and then a silent film - drama school . For a few months, from November 1916 to spring 1917, she ran a small fashion studio on Bahnhofstrasse 33 in the attic. Multi-colored large-scale reproductions of 16 of her women's hat designs at the time in watercolor - and some as ink sketches - can be viewed in the permanent exhibition at the Hotel Erica in Langenbruck since April 2015. These originals were accidentally rediscovered in 2014 in distant relatives of Bider. Some of her ink hat sketches are clearly based on Dadaism, which was just sprouting up in Zurich at the time (“ Cabaret Voltaire ” - opening on February 5, 1916). Bider also left artistic traces for the «Mascotte» in the Palais CORSO on Zurich's Bellevueplatz (opening on January 13, 1916) - she did this in a draft advertisement «Collage with head and hat».

In the spring of 1917, Bider took her first film role under her full name. As one of two ringleaders in a girls' boarding school - she had experience in this area from her time in Lausanne. It was about the army-critical cinematic sway "Spring Maneuver". This lost 15-minute silent film impressed the Zurich and Basel cinema audiences enormously. The army leadership around General Ulrich Wille, however, was not amused. This is borne out by contemporary film reviews in the daily press and in the Zürcher Kinofilm-Journal “Kinema”. Officer's uniforms were used in the film. At the time, this was a gross violation of army regulations.

In the summer of 1917, Bider, now under the pseudonym "Leny Harold", was given the lead role in the popular mountain drama "Der Bergführer". In the 65-minute film she also played a supporting role and a short extra role; most likely for reasons of tight finances in that film company (Express Film M. Lips, Basel). In it, Bider staged her expressive body play due to the silent film very skillfully. She presented a self-determined, stubborn personal role presentation - up to and including a scandalous kiss scene at the time.

The cinema audience was very impressed by many of her scenes, such as her moving facial expression of a mourning woman. In those painful scenes, Bider staged a woman dissolved in self-reproach and feelings of guilt (cf. her earlier emotional trains of thought in the diary from 1910–1912 including text from Gisela Hamburger's Greek drama). Only this much about the Basel film première: "Only a small proportion of the visitors left the Basel cinema 'Cardinal' without wiping a tear from their eyes".

Siblings Julie Helene and Oskar Bider . Image circa 1915

After this high point in Bider's short life as an artist in 1917/1918, all that remained was the prospect of a basically hated, restrictive married life. Many of her former friends and colleagues were apparently married, as was necessary for decent daughters at the time. Not so for the Bider who yearn for unbridled freedom. In early 1919 she got engaged to the Zurich academic Ernst Jucker (1889–1921), who was a pharmacist in town on his own. However, because of the war and the general crises, his business suffered from severe financial problems (economic downturn in the war years, social unrest in Zurich). Beyond that, however, Jucker was a recognized, ambitious cavalry officer and aerial observer for the Army's aviation division. He happened to be trained for this by Bider's brother Oskar. Since the beginning of the war in 1914, he had been chief flight instructor of the aviation department of the Swiss Army, most recently in the rank of first lieutenant. Leny Bider once again imagined she was facing a hated "guardianship", such as the one she had written down in her diary years ago. This time, however, that of a marriage.

Leny, Julie Helene Bider (1894–1919) Grave in Langenbruck
Grave in Langenbruck

death

Early in the morning on July 7, 1919, Leny Bider's brother Oskar fell fatally. After leaving the Army Aviation Department shortly before, he was about to make important decisions about becoming self-employed. Oskar Bider saw social and professional problems coming. As a former nationally revered and admired aviation pioneer and chief flight instructor in the officer rank, he was suddenly faced with the headwind of civilian working life and an intended, sustainable family start.

Leny Bider was close to her brother Oskar, but according to a letter from her uncle in Liestal she did not get along with Georges at all. On the day of Oskar Bider's death, she put an end to her life in her rented room in the “Bellevue au Lac” hotel with a shot in the head that fits in with one of her diary stories about a “Greek marriage tragedy”. A farewell letter from Ernst Jucker to his recently deceased bride Leny, dated July 7, 1919 (version from the NZZ printer, Zurich), which he distributed to his relatives and friends, provides information about this occurrence.

Special about «Lou» Schneider from Falkensee / near Spandau

From April 1919, two women from the family of the Swiss aircraft manufacturer engineer Franz Schneider-Speyer (1871–1941), who had been naturalized in Germany in 1914, stayed in Zurich from Falkensee / Spandau. It was about the engineer wife Lucie Schneider (1877-1944; née Speyer), and her daughter Louise Wilhelmine (1900-1945) - called "Lou". At the beginning of April 1919, both moved into a room in the former “Bellevue au Lac” hotel on Zurich's Bellevueplatz. Bider also lived in the same property.

The reason for the two ladies' stay in Zurich is unknown. However, both were passengers on April 5, 1919 on a biplane of the Swiss aviation department in Dübendorf near Zurich. The Haefeli double-decker (DH-3) was piloted on these two private flights by First Lieutenant and chief flight instructor Oskar Bider. Such flights were officially permitted and customary at the time to promote the reputation of aviation. The flights with the two tailors are evidenced by two photos dated and signed by Oskar Bider. Shortly after these two flights in April 1919, Lucie Schneider-Speyer initially returned to Falkensee / Spandau. Her daughter "Lou", however, stayed in Zurich.

A personal letter that "Lou" sent to Lieutenant Bider from the "Bellevue au Lac" on June 12, 1919, has also survived. The stationery used was printed with the former hotel. In the letter, "Lou" informed Oblt. Bider that she had no intention of being more than a good friend to him.

A few weeks later, “Lou” became a direct witness of the tragic events on July 7th, 1919 about the death of both Bider in Zurich's “Bellevue au Lac” and her brother Oskar. It goes without saying that “Lou” was dismayed about this, and this is also evidenced by her mother Lucie's arrival on July 23, 1919 from the distant Falkensee. On the way there and back she was accompanied by her only 15-year-old son, Georg Franz (1904–1979).

Luise Wilhelmine Schneider married a few years later - presumably. 1923 - with the Berlin building contractor Otto Röling (1901–1975). The couple had a son, Franz Wilhelm Egon (1924–1980). In her family, however, «Lou» did not leave any further memories of her stay in Zurich from April to July 1919, either verbally or in writing. The only thing known to the Röling family was that “Lou” had a personal relationship with the first lieutenant in the Swiss Army Aviation Department, Oskar Bider. The extent of this remained uncertain in "Lou" 's family - unaware of the aforementioned letter from June 1919 from "Bellevue au Lac" -.

Georg Franz Schneider - "Lou" 's brother - left on June 1, 1945 with his wife Helene Rosa Margarete, b. Schulz (1904–1995), and son Frank Axel Michael (* 1937), the temporary apartment in Berlin / Hellersdorf (Quedlinburger Strasse). The family reached Neuchâtel in Switzerland via Brussels on a refugee trek. At the end of 1945, the Schneiders moved into an apartment in Lucerne, that of Switzerland. Confederation belonged (so-called «federal apartment» - for its employees). Ing.Georg Franz Schneider got a job as a 1st class technician at the aircraft works of the Swiss Confederation in Emmen near Lucerne. This position lasted until his regular retirement in 1969.

Georg later left neither written nor verbal memories of the joint trip in those weeks in July 1919 with his mother Lucie from Falkensee to Zurich and back. So, as far as he is concerned, there is also nothing more detailed about the feelings of his sister "Lou" in Zurich at the time; this after her extraordinary experience in the first few days in July 1919 at “Bellevue au Lac”.

The couple of engineers Schneider-Speyer in Falkensee, the parents of "Lou" and Georg Franz, emigrated in December 1936 on a steamship via Cape Town to Tokyo. The couple stayed in Japan until the end of their lives. Ing.Franz Schneider's urn rests in the Yokohama cemetery. That of his wife Lucie was brought to the Röling family grave - in the cemetery in Charlottenburg - after the bombing on Nagasaki.

literature

  • Johannes Dettwiler-Riesen: Biography of Julie Helene "Leny" Bider (1894-1919) [including additions about Leny's brother, aviation pioneer Oskar Marcus "Oski" Bider, 1891-1919]. 2nd Edition. Self-published by Johannes Dettwiler-Riesen, Thun 2019.
  • Johannes Dettwiler-Riesen: An early Langenbruck film actress, reflections on the biography of Julie Helene ‹Leny› Bider 1894–1919 . In 2 parts: Baselbieter Heimatblätter - BHbl., No. 3 (Sept. 2009), as well as No. 1 (April 2010). Harmonized version of the entire biography about Leny Bider - merged and expanded from the two BHbl. Articles from 2009/2010 - s. Website “oskar-bider-archiv.ch”, there under “Family: Die Sister Leny Bider (1894-1919)”. This electronic version (approx. 260 pages) reflects the latest status of the content processing.
  • Women's Association Langenbruck: Leny Bider in the shadow of the aviation pioneer . (2011).
  • Margrit Schriber: The second best luck . Nagel & Kimche, 2011. ISBN 978-3-312-00481-2 .

Web links

Commons : Julie Helene Bider  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Family tree of the Bider families from Langenbruck
  2. ↑ cf. contemporary, "morbid" photo on postcard of actor Robert Peter (copy in Leny biography '2017)
  3. ↑ Original diary in the "Julie Helene Bider private archive" of the State Archives Canton Basel-Landschaft in Liestal BL; Registration number. PA 6005 (StA BL; Switzerland)
  4. ↑ See BDJU, Biographical Database Jüdisches Unterfranken, IdNr. 23941 - Gisela Hamburger
  5. ↑ City event brochure «KAUNAS - in your pocket», s. Article: «Ninth Fort Monument», p. 32, May 2018.
  6. ↑ Dettwiler-Riesen, Joh., 2017: “Biography about Julie Helene - Leny - Bider (1894–1919)”, approx. 260 pages; on the website oskar-bider-archiv.ch/Familie: The sister Leny Bider (1894–1919)
  7. ↑ according to email from the district archives of Surrey (Dyncan Myrilees) and Lincolnshire (Paul Morgan) - June / July 2014
  8. ↑ Van Reekum H., Dettwiler-Riesen Joh. (2015): cf. P. 6 in the “Exhibition catalog MODESKIZZEN 1916/1917 by Julie Helene Bider (1894–1919)”, 16 p., Permanent exhibition at Hotel Erica, Langenbruck BL (Switzerland)
  9. ↑ cf. KINEMA, legally recognized organ of the "Association of those interested in the cinematographic trade in Switzerland", E. Schäfer & Cie, A.-G Zurich on the contemporary cinema scene in Switzerland, issues on the subject of "Leny Bider / Harold" in both years 1917/1918 (Zurich, Switzerland)
  10. ^ Neue Zürcher Zeitung (NZZ), 138th year, No. 1618, edition September 2, 1917
  11. ↑ Roll of film stored in the Swiss film archive in Penthaz (VD; Switzerland)
  12. ↑ cf. KINEMA, 7th year, No. 43, p. 7, November 3, 1917, Zurich
  13. ↑ cf. KINEMA, 7th year, No. 51, pp. 3–11, December 29, 1917, Zurich
  14. ↑ Article "Drag.-Obeleutnant Ernst Jucker, Zurich", in: Der Schweizer Kavallerist, 11th year, no. 12, June 25, 1921; Printed by Fluck & Cie, Zurich
  15. ↑ cf. official death certificate dated July 8, 1919 from the civil registry district of Zurich
  16. ↑ Schulz M., 2015: "Falkenseer Wirtschaftsgeschichte (8) - Die Franz Schneider Flugmaschinenwerke mbH Seegefeld"; in: Heimatjahrbuch 2015 for Falkensee and the surrounding area, pp. 68–79 (Falkensee). Note: Schneider retained his Swiss citizenship; he was therefore a dual citizen (see Federal Archives / BAR, Bern / Switzerland: Dossier "E2001D # 1968_154 # 784_Einzelfall-Dossiers_ Betr._Plunderungsschäden_in_Deutschland, _1937–1945")
  17. ↑ Notification. from the registration office of the city of Zurich
  18. ^ Copies in the library of the Swiss Museum of Transport in Lucerne
  19. ^ Estate of Georges Alphons "Schorsch" Bider (1890–1946), Langenbruck BL
  20. ↑ Dettwiler-Riesen, Joh., 2017: “Biography about Julie Helene - Leny - Bider (1894–1919)”, approx. 260 pages; Website: "oskar-bider-archiv.ch/Familie: Die Sister Leny Bider (1894–1919)"; see. App. 1, pp. 192-197
  21. ↑ oral Message. from 09.09.2011 from the registration office of the city of Zurich
  22. ↑ oral Message. dated April 17th, 2017 by «Lou» 's grandson, Michael Röling-Jäger (* 1958, in Berlin)
  23. ↑ cf. Letter from January 4th, 2012 from the Landesarchiv Berlin as well as oral. Message. from May 20, 2017 by Frank Schneider-Schmid (* 1937)
  24. ↑ Federal Archives / BAR, Bern / Switzerland: Dossier "E2001D # 1968_154 # 784_Einzelfall-Dossiers_ Betr._Plünderungsschäden_in_Deutschland, _1937–1945"
  25. ↑ oral Message. from 07.04.2017 from Frank Schneider-Schmid (* 1937), resident in Courcoury (France) - son of Ing.Georg Schneider-Schulz (1904-1979); Address provided by F. u. M. Minder, Lucerne
  26. ↑ oral Message. from May 20, 2017 by Frank Schneider-Schmid (* 1937)
  27. ↑ oral Message. dated April 17, 2017 from grandson Michael Röling-Jäger (* 1958, in Berlin)
personal data
SURNAME Bider, Julie Helene
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Bider, Leny
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Swiss silent film actress
DATE OF BIRTH November 8, 1894
PLACE OF BIRTH Langenbruck
DATE OF DEATH July 7, 1919
Place of death Zurich