Viktor de Kowa

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Viktor de Kowa, 1971

Viktor de Kowa (also Victor de Kowa , actually Victor Paul Karl Kowarzik ) (born March 8, 1904 in Hohkirch near Görlitz , today Przesieczany; † April 8, 1973 in West Berlin ) was a German theater and film actor, chanson singer, director , Storyteller and comedy poet.

Life

The son of a farmer and engineer grew up in Dresden and from 1908 to 1913 in the villa "1900 am Walde" in Seifersdorf near Dippoldiswalde, where he also started school. He later lived with his family in Chemnitz . After the cadet school he attended the art academy in Dresden and initially became a poster artist. Then de Kowa took acting lessons from Erich Ponto , who gave him his first engagement at the Dresden State Theater in 1922 . In 1926 de Kowa belonged to the ensemble of the Waldbühne Sohland . After working in Lübeck , Frankfurt am Main and Hamburg , de Kowa went to Berlin, where he played with Gustaf Gründgens at the Volksbühne , the Deutsches Theater and the State Theater .

He played his first small film role in the silent movie era in Der Herzensdieb (1927). During the UFA era (1930s and 1940s) de Kowa was one of the most important figures in film comedy. With his role in Little Man - Very Big , he achieved his national breakthrough as an actor. He raised his head during the Nazi propaganda film , Johannes! Director. In this Nazi youth film, the independent, freedom-loving boy Johannes is converted to discipline and obedience in a Nazi youth organization, a Napola school . This topic made de Kowa euphoric: "The task of creating an image of the life of this young generation, this future leadership of Greater Germany - that is a job that one can be enthusiastic about honestly and without reservation." Although Joseph Goebbels the topic of the Films approved, he was disappointed with de Kowa's directorial performance. Nevertheless, in August 1944, Goebbels added de Kowa to the list of indispensable film actors who had been gifted by God , which saved him from being deployed in the war, including on the “ home front ”.

For the last film made on behalf of the Nazi regime, Life Goes on from 1945, a propaganda and "perseverance" film that was never shown and that was lost after the war, de Kowa was hired as the highest paid actor. Ten years after the end of the war, de Kowa spread the legend that he had suffered a meniscus tear a month before filming started and instead of filming he hobbled through Berlin as a resistance man and painted over the Nazi slogans to hold out. The lie was exposed much later.

De Kowa's apparent support and sympathy for the Nazi regime did not affect his career after the Second World War . From 1945 to 1950 he was director of the Berlin tribune and from 1956 to 1962 a member of the Vienna Burgtheater . He was also active in organizations of the peace movement and was chairman of the art union from 1962 to 1966 and member of the board of the German trade union federation .

Viktor de Kowa and Willy Brandt , 1971

In the post-war period, de Kowa shone in the films Peter Voss, the Thief of the Million (1946) as Peter Voss, Des Teufels General (1955) as SS-Gruppenführer Schmidt-Lausitz, Es muss nicht als Kaviar (1961) as Loos (also in the follow-up film This time it has to be caviar ), the Edgar Wallace film The Forger of London (1961) as Dr. Wells or in The Montevideo House (1963) as a lawyer. De Kowa had his last film role in the Karl May film Winnetou and his friend Old Firehand as the quirky Englishman Ravenhurst.

Honorary grave of Viktor de Kowa in the Heerstraße cemetery in Berlin-Westend

On television, de Kowa starred in the television play The great scene (1962) (alongside Antje Weisgerber ) and also in the series Slim Callaghan intervenes (ZDF, 1964). As a voice actor he was also the German voice of James Stewart in the comedy Mein Freund Harvey ( Harvey , 1950) and in Die Reise ins Ungewisse ( No Highway in the Sky , 1951).

As a writer, the actor wrote stage comedies ( Either way , Tonight at 6 am , Unfaithful , Florian is not a bad guy , Der Klappsch etc.) and translated plays from French .

De Kowa was married from 1926 to 1941 with the actress Ursula Grabley (1908-1977) and from 1941 until his death with the Japanese singer and actress Michiko Tanaka (1909-1988), whose previous husband Julius Meinl II was best man.

On the occasion of his 50th stage anniversary, Federal Chancellor Willy Brandt presented him with the Great Federal Cross of Merit on February 20, 1972 . At this point de Kowa was already suffering from tongue cancer, a disease that visibly marked him. He also suffered a heart attack in early November 1972. Viktor de Kowa died, one month after his 69th birthday, on April 8, 1973 after long suffering in the West Berlin University Hospital.

His grave is in the state-owned cemetery Heerstraße in Berlin-Westend . The grave monument in the form of a pagoda was created by the sculptor Richard Scheibe . Behind it are two intertwined cherry trees. Both are reminiscent of the Far Eastern culture with which de Kowa came into contact through his marriage to Michiko Tanaka. The widow was buried next to her husband in 1988. By decision of the Berlin Senate , the last resting place of Viktor de Kowa (grave location: 16-G-29) has been dedicated as an honorary grave of the State of Berlin since 1980 . The dedication was extended in 2001 by the usual period of twenty years. The separate dedication as a grave of honor for Michiko de Kowa-Tanaka's final resting place, which had existed since 1990, expired in 2014.

Filmography

Radio plays

Awards

media

  • Wilhelm Busch: Max & Moritz - Fipps, the monkey . Voiced by Viktor de Kowa. BMG Wort, Cologne 2000, ISBN 3-89830-183-4 .
  • Vocal recordings on records like Eine Weisse mit 'nem Raspbeerschuss , You have to have a go at it .

Works

  • Good heavens. Picked up from the libretto of my life, written down, condensed and composed. Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt, Stuttgart 1971, ISBN 3-421-01580-5 .
  • When I was Prince of Arcadia. Glock & Lutz, Nuremberg 1955 (biography).
  • Catechism of Common Sense. Pontes, Berlin a. a. 1949.
  • Mullepux. Three in love. A very little novel. Kranich, Berlin 1941.
  • All sorts of things with brush and lead. Serious and cheerful sketches. Kranich, Berlin 1941.

literature

Web links

Commons : Viktor de Kowa  - album with pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Friedemann Beyer : The faces of the UFA. Star portraits of an epoch (= Heyne film library. Vol. 175 = Heyne books. 32). Heyne, Munich 1992, ISBN 3-453-05971-9 , p. 220.
  2. ↑ Tobis press booklet for the film; quoted from: Bogusław Drewniak: The German Film 1938–1945. A complete overview. Droste, Düsseldorf 1987, ISBN 3-7700-0731-X , p. 588.
  3. ^ Ernst Klee : The culture lexicon for the Third Reich. Who was what before and after 1945. S. Fischer, Frankfurt am Main 2007, ISBN 978-3-10-039326-5 , p. 332.
  4. ↑ Viktor de Kowa - Photo for "Life goes on: Nazi film in a hail of bombs" , Spiegel Online from April 16, 2015, accessed on May 3, 2015.
  5. ↑ Michaela Bruckberger: Coffee and tea, vinegar and mustard , Die Presse , January 25, 2008
  6. ↑ "Entertainment is good, attitude is better". On the death of the actor Victor de Kowa . In: Hamburger Abendblatt . Monday April 9, 1973. p. 9. Accessed November 16, 2019.
  7. ↑ Victor de Kowa suffered a heart attack . In: Hamburger Abendblatt . Monday November 6, 1972. Retrieved November 16, 2019.
  8. ↑ DIED: Victor de Kowa . In: Der Spiegel . tape 16 16 April 1973 ( spiegel.de [accessed on January 6, 2019]). Victor de Kowa died . In: Hamburger Abendblatt . Monday April 9, 1973. p. 1. Retrieved November 16, 2019.
  9. ^ Hans-Jürgen Mende : Lexicon of Berlin burial places . Pharus-Plan, Berlin 2018, ISBN 978-3-86514-206-1 . P. 489. Birgit Jochens, Herbert May: The cemeteries in Berlin-Charlottenburg. History of the cemetery facilities and their tomb culture . Stapp, Berlin 1994, ISBN 3-87776-056-2 . P. 228.
  10. ↑ Senate Department for Environment, Transport and Climate Protection: Honorary Graves of the State of Berlin (Status: November 2018) (PDF, 413 kB), p. 46. Accessed on November 16, 2019. Submission - for information - on the recognition and further preservation of graves Well-known and deserving personalities as honorary graves in Berlin (PDF, 158 kB). Berlin House of Representatives, printed matter 14/1607 of November 1, 2001, p. 4. Retrieved November 16, 2019.
personal data
SURNAME Kowa, Viktor de
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Kowarzik, Victor Paul Karl (real name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German theater and film actor, director, storyteller and comedy poet
DATE OF BIRTH March 8, 1904
PLACE OF BIRTH Hohkirch near Görlitz
DATE OF DEATH April 8, 1973
Place of death Berlin