La Jana

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Edith Barakovich : La Jana

La Jana , born Henriette Margarethe Niederauer , also Henny Hiebel (born February 24, 1905 in Vienna , † March 13, 1940 in Berlin ), was an Austrian dancer and actress .

Life

Henriette and her older sister Anna Niederauer were born in Vienna V., Högelmüllergasse 2, as illegitimate children of Anna Niederauer (from Mauer ). Anna Niederauer was evidently the housekeeper of Heinrich Hiebel, the gold maker. The two married in Frankfurt am Main in 1909. In 1910 Heinrich Hiebel had himself entered in the baptismal registers as the father of both children.

Henriette, who was also called Henny, completed dance training at the Opera Ballet in Frankfurt am Main. She grew up in Frankfurt's old town , in the Großer Hirschgraben , very close to the Goethe House . At the age of eight she performed in the children's ballet at the Frankfurt Opera and later became a revue dancer.

Allegedly in Paris she met Géza von Cziffra , who, according to his autobiography, brought her to Berlin to study Friedrich Zelnik and film. He writes in his biography:

“And there I saw her dance for the first time: this woman had the most beautiful body I had seen in my life. The girl who was moving up and down in the headlights […] was built like a boy: slim hips, almost only a hint of breasts. [...] She was a simple, nice, approachable girl, but she was just as interested in sex as Immanuel Kant. "

This information from Géza von Cziffra is vague and very controversial. There are at least three different versions of the discovery of La Jana. According to contemporary sources, she is said to have first been discovered in Frankfurt am Main in the cabaret Weinklause by a nightclub owner from Paris before she returned to Berlin as a dancer. Another report speaks of the fact that she was hired overnight to replace Claire Bauroff , the sick star of a revue in Dresden, and thus later received engagements in Berlin.

La Jana got engaged to the actor Ulrich Bettac around 1926 . In that year she still had the real name of Henny Hiebel and moved to Berlin with her fiancé. A few years later this connection was broken.

She performed as a revue dancer in Berlin, Stockholm (1933) and London (1934/1935) and participated in the shows An und Aus by Herman Haller , Casanova by Erik Charell and Die Schöne Helena by Max Reinhardt . In the Casanova Revue, La Jana was served to the audience half-naked on a silver tray. The thanks from the audience were accordingly: La Jana was the talk of the day in Berlin. Géza von Cziffra tells even more piquant details about La Jana in his autobiography; Among other things, he had witnessed how her lover, none other than his Imperial Highness Crown Prince Wilhelm , visited her in her apartment. La Jana affairs with Joseph Goebbels and the opera singer Michael Bohnen were also said to have been. An intensive letter contact between La Jana and Michael Bohnen was confirmed by his granddaughter.

Honorary grave La Jana in Berlin

The show Streamline by Charles B. Cochran led La Jana 1934 on a tour throughout England and Scotland . She embodied a Spanish dancer in this show. After her return to Germany, she made one or more films almost every year from 1936. In addition to women like Zarah Leander , she portrayed a foreign type who did not correspond to the standard image of the “ German woman ”. Truxa made La Jana known all over Germany in one fell swoop. When she later traveled to India with Richard Eichberg , millions in the cinema admired the exotic magic of La Janas in the films made there The Tiger von Eschnapur and The Indian Tomb , in which, alongside Frits van Dongen , Theo Lingen and Gisela Schlüter in front of the Camera stood. In the films Menschen vom Varieté and Es shine the stars , she played alongside Hans Moser and Grethe Weiser, among others .

In the winter of 1939/40, La Jana undertook to perform a Wehrmacht tour in several theaters in Germany, because her fame at the time made her a sure crowd puller. In February 1940 she fell ill with pneumonia on both sides and died on March 13, 1940 at 7:05 p.m. in Landhausstrasse 33-35 in Berlin-Wilmersdorf . She never saw the world premiere of her last film Stern von Rio , which only took place on March 20, 1940 in Berlin's Ufa-Palast am Zoo .

La Jana was buried in the Dahlem forest cemetery. Since her sister Anny Bittlinski had stopped paying for the costly maintenance of the resting place after the war, the artist's grave was leveled in 1965 after the 25-year useful life had expired. On the occasion of her 80th birthday, the state of Berlin dedicated an honorary grave in the same place (field 007-319 [section 22 B 97]). Until 2014 the grave was dedicated as an honor grave . The gravestone is a cut plate with a gable-like finish, in the upper third of which a round medallion is placed, including the artist name of the dancer. The medallion presents the profile of La Jana in bas-relief. The clear, idealized portrait is entirely in keeping with contemporary aesthetics . It is not certain that this is the original from 1940. One day the stone was cleared away. He found a place in the garden of the then head of the Steglitz local history museum . He stayed here until he was returned to the grave.

Meaning of the name

The name "La Jana" is said to come from the Indian language and mean "The flower match" . This was spread in contemporary sources. It is probably more correct that La Jana is a purely imaginary name and at most has similarities with words from Sanskrit . India is a multi-ethnic state with many languages; there is no such thing as an “Indian language”. It is not known where the stage name comes from and who gave it to Henny Hiebel or how she came up with this name. Henny Hiebel performed with a partner under the name "The Charming Sisters" . Autograph cards from Sweden with the stage name "Lary Jana" are known.

Filmography

Silent films

  • 1924/25: Paths to strength and beauty (Germany)
  • 1924/26: The White Geisha (Sweden)
  • 1926/27: The Lady Without a Veil (Sweden / Germany)
  • 1927: En perfect gentleman (Sweden)
  • 1927: For his honor (Sweden)
  • 1928: You shall not commit adultery! (Germany)
  • 1928: The beaver fur (Germany)
  • 1928: Two red roses (Germany)
  • 1928: The Shop Prince (Germany)
  • 1928: Gaunerliebchen (Germany)
  • 1928: Knight of the Night (Germany)
  • 1928: The Heart Photographer (Germany)
  • 1929: Spanish interlude (Germany)
  • 1929: Perjury
  • 1929: The Merry Widower (Germany)

Sound films

Radio plays

Revues

  • 1924: on and off (Berlin)
  • 1927/28: All out of love (Vienna)
  • 1928: Helene (Berlin)
  • 1928: Casanova (Berlin)
  • 1928–1933: The Three Musketeers (Berlin)
  • 1930–1932: The beautiful Helena (Berlin)
  • 1930–1932: Hoffmann's Tales (Berlin)
  • 1933: Casanova (Stockholm)
  • 1934/35: Streamline (Berlin, London with subsequent tour through England and Scotland)
  • 1935: A Kingdom For A Cow (London)
  • 1937: Piccadilly (Berlin)

literature

monographic

other

Web links

Commons : La Jana  - collection of images
personal data
SURNAME La Jana
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Niederauer, Henriette Margarethe (maiden name); Niebel, Henny
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Austrian dancer and actress
DATE OF BIRTH February 24, 1905
PLACE OF BIRTH Vienna , Austria-Hungary
DATE OF DEATH March 13, 1940
Place of death Berlin , German Empire