Julius Arnfeld

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Julius Arnfeld (born April 25, 1875 in Bad Polzin , Pomerania , German Empire ; died November 26, 1957 in Epsom , United Kingdom ) was a German actor .

Artistic activity until 1933

Arnfeld began his stage career in 1894 in the small town of Zittau. Other theater stations, only interrupted by his military service in the First World War in the Imperial Navy, were, among others, Altenburg (there between 1902 and 1904, among others, in Wilhelm Tell , as Ferdinand in Kabale und Liebe and as Romeo in Romeo and Juliet ), Hanover (where he also acted as head director) and Breslau. In the Silesian capital, Arnfeld was also appointed senior director at the Lobe Theater , where he promoted the young Heinz Rühmann . He also continued to appear as an actor, for example in 1925 as Peter Cauchon in George Bernard Shaw's Saint Joan , directed by Paul Barnays . In 1922/23 Julius Arnfeld made a silent film appearance as Master Anton in Brothers . Arnfeld was a member of the board of the Städtische Bühnen Hannover until 1931 and then moved to Berlin-Wilmersdorf.

Life in the Third Reich, persecution and old age

The Jewish artist has not been employed in the theater in the Reich capital since 1933. Instead, he found a meager livelihood as a photographer (illustrated book “Animals in Light” from 1936). Finally, Arnfeld moved to Munich, from where he was deported to the Theresienstadt ghetto on August 13, 1942 . Until August 1944 he took part in numerous artistic events in the camp. He was seen there in performances by, among others, Nathan the Wise, Faust II (title role) and Shylock . Although quite old, Arnfeld survived the stress of the camp and was able to leave Theresienstadt immediately after his 70th birthday in the spring of 1945 when the camp was liberated. He first went to Hamburg before he left to live with his daughter, whom he had brought to safe England shortly after the Reichspogromnacht . Arnfeld died here in the fall of 1957.

additional

His parents were the merchant Abraham Arnfeld and his wife Thekla née Peyser, he had five older sisters, two of whom, Ida and Alma, were deported from Theresienstadt to Treblinka in 1942 and murdered there, Emma married Levin and moved to Theresienstadt on September 23, 1942 deported and murdered there. He married Hanna Schloss, their daughter Ruth was born in 1917, his wife committed suicide in 1926. On September 10, 2013, Arnfeld was honored in Martin-Luther-Str. 84 a stumbling block was laid in Berlin-Schöneberg .

literature

  • Kay Less : Between the stage and the barracks. Lexicon of persecuted theater, film and music artists from 1933 to 1945 . With a foreword by Paul Spiegel . Metropol, Berlin 2008, ISBN 978-3-938690-10-9 , p. 380.

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Arnfeld, Julius
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German actor and director
DATE OF BIRTH April 25, 1875
PLACE OF BIRTH Bad Polzin , Pomerania , German Empire
DATE OF DEATH November 26, 1957
Place of death Epsom , UK