Vera Hartegg

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Vera Hartegg , born Vera Elvira Weiß , married and since 1955 widowed Vera Hierl, (born May 28, 1902 in Strasbourg ; † October 1, 1981 in Baden-Baden ) was a German writer and actress with stage and film.

Life

Vera Hartegg was born out of wedlock as the child of the writer, diplomat, secret councilor and impostor Ernst "of" Hesse-Wartegg (1851–1918) and his mistress, who, like her daughter, had the maiden name Elvira Weiss and called herself Ella Kobold as an actress. The mother traumatized her daughter by lifelong rejection of her affection and need for closeness. On the other hand, she managed to write a remarkable book on discrimination against illegitimate children in society.

The registered alleged father named White from Venezuela had actually not been alive for years at the time of Elvira's birth. The actual father, Hesse-Wartegg, who appeared as an uncle, had forged the birth certificate as a Venezuelan consul. Later, by alleging that her father was eaten by a jaguar in the jungles of Venezuela, he prevented the daughter's intention to visit her "father" s grave in Venezuela. Through further forgery of documents, Hesse-Wartegg also made it possible for his mistress, Vera's mother, to marry the well-known psychiatrist Wilhelm Weygandt . Vera Hartegg grew up with two midwives in Strasbourg and later went to a strictly Catholic boarding school for girls, where she was traumatized again by the bigoted piety of the nuns who pay attention to the strictest chastity. Among other things, all girls had to keep their hands visibly over the bedspread while sleeping, and wear special clothing when washing even more intimate body parts. In 1921 she married Michael Regensburger, with whom she had two daughters. She later decided to pursue an acting career. After her training at the Max Reinhardt Seminar , Hartegg began to play theater in the last years of the Weimar Republic . In the 1930s she belonged to the Lobe Theater in Breslau , the Wiesbaden State Theater and the Thalia Theater (Hamburg) before moving to Berlin. There she was last seen as a stage interpreter in the 1937/38 season at the Rose Theater .

Vera Hartegg began a five-year film career in Berlin in 1935. Mostly she impersonated employees in supporting roles such as chambermaids, maids, housekeepers and receptionists. Its directors were among others Josef von Baky , Victor Tourjansky , Eduard von Borsody and Luis Trenker . From the mid-1930s, however, she encountered considerable difficulties due to her lack of proof of Aryan descent and therefore had to end her film career despite the efforts of two lawyers. At times she found herself in dire financial straits and was lucky several times that the Gestapo did not find the pension she had moved to. On the recommendation of her mother, who once claimed to her that she was related to Konstantin Hierl , the head of the National Socialist Reich Labor Service, who was 27 years her senior , she finally asked him for help. The recently widowed Hierl vigorously denied the family relationship, but after a meeting that was initially cool, he suggested that she marry him, because: "That helped both of us ...". So it happened, and by virtue of her husband's position, Vera was protected from further summons from the Race Office. A partnership developed between Hierl and her that went far beyond the marriage of convenience. She remained married to Hierl until his death in 1955. In her volume of poetry "Kleine Formen", published in 1974, she dedicated the poem "Your Last Dream" to him.

Because of her difficulties working as an actress, she had written three novels between 1938 and 1941. In 1961 and 1964 she published her humorous novel autobiography in two parts: "Three fathers and me poor child" and "Most noble house in the square. Lulu's Memoirs ”, both of which became bestsellers and had numerous editions until her death in 1981, without the real names of their parents being recognized in the text. With “A wheel of fortune spins in Paris” she also wrote a work for the stage. She was friends with the painter Karl Schmidt-Rottluff and his wife. She supported the painter by buying his works at a time when his pictures were hardly in demand. A part of this collection was auctioned in Munich in 2016, and the individual pictures consistently reached five-digit purchase prices.

Filmography

  • 1935: Everything gone to the dog
  • 1935: The clever women
  • 1936: soldiers - comrades
  • 1937: The Vienna Model (short film)
  • 1938: The woman at the crossroads
  • 1938: By a thread
  • 1938: Susi and the black man (short film)
  • 1938: Small district court
  • 1939: border fire
  • 1939: a woman like you
  • 1939: Liberated hands
  • 1939: The fire devil
  • 1940: What does Brigitte want?
  • 1940: imperfect love
  • 1940: request concert
  • 1941: the seventh boy
  • 1955: The gallery of the great detectives (TV series, episode: Inspector Bucket solves the Tulkinghorn murder)

Works

  • It's not a lie. An actress' novel. Berlin 1938.
  • Why. Berlin: Universitas 1940.
  • Oriane. Berlin: Universitas 1941.
  • A wheel of fortune spins in Paris. Comedy in three acts, 1953. As a TV film in 1958.
  • Three fathers and me poor child. Munich: Paul List 1961.
  • The finest house in the area. Lulu's memoir. Munich: Paul List 1964.
  • Small forms (poems). Berlin (bibliophile private print, by Karl Schmidt-Rottluff ) 1974.

literature

  • Johann Caspar Glenzdorf: Glenzdorf's international film lexicon. Biographical manual for the entire film industry. Volume 1: A-Heck. Prominent-Filmverlag, Bad Münder 1960, DNB 451560736 , p. 606.
  • Andreas Dutz and Elisabeth Dutz: Ernst von Hesse-Wartegg (1851-1918). Travel writer, scientist, bon vivant. , Böhlau-Verlag, Vienna, 2017 (biography of Vera Hartegg as part of the biography of her father Ernst von Hesse-Wartegg).

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Hans Michael Hensel: Who was Ernst von Hesse-Wartegg? Online here: http://www.hmhensel.com/wer-war-ernst-von-hesse-wartegg/
  2. ↑ Ella Kobold-Weygandt: Those who bear their mother's name. Hamburg: Christians 1929.
  3. ↑ http://www.hmhensel.com/wer-war-ernst-von-hesse-wartegg/ (with picture by Vera Hartegg)
  4. ↑ https://www.kettererkunst.de/kunst/kd/details.php?obnr=116001428&anummer=439&detail=1

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Hartegg, Vera
ALTERNATIVE NAMES White, Vera Elvira (maiden name); Regensburger, Vera (married name); Hierl, Vera (married name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German actress and author
DATE OF BIRTH May 28, 1902
PLACE OF BIRTH Strasbourg , Alsace , Germany
DATE OF DEATH October 1, 1981
Place of death Baden-Baden , Baden-Wuerttemberg , Germany