Max Ehrlich

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Max Michaelis Ehrlich was an actor and director on the German comedy and cabaret scene of the 1930s. He was born on 7 December 1892 in Berlin and murdered in The Holocaust at Auschwitz concentration camp in October 1944.

1 Biography
2 Filmography
- 2.1 Silent Films
- 2.2 Sound Films
3 External links
- 3.1 Multimedia

[edit] Biography

In the autumn of 1932, Max Ehrlich was at the high point of his career, one of Germany’s most beloved comics, masters of ceremony and cabaret stars. His creative accomplishments already included leading roles in Max Reinhardt productions, the Haller-Revue, and other important cabaret as well as stage groups. Also to his credit: forty-two movies, ten of which he directed personally; eight records, including chansons, operetta, comedy sketches and character imitations; not forgetting numerous publications, amongst which his best selling book "From Adelbert to Zilzer," a humorous collection of stories and anecdotes about sixty-two of his best known show business friends and colleagues.

Then, in 1933, the National Socialists brought this artistic momentum to a grinding halt. Max Ehrlich - like his other Jewish colleagues - could no longer work in Germany. As a result, he left for Vienna Austria to appear with the Rudolf Nelson Revue. However, there too, Austrian anti-Semites interrupted the show with cries of "Jews get out of Vienna". Consequently, the troupe left for Holland, stopping en route for stage appearances in Switzerland.

In 1935, homesick for his native land, Max Ehrlich returned to Nazi Germany. Besides, Jewish entertainers once again were permitted to perform there, even if only within the framework of the Jüdischer Kulturbund (Jewish Cultural Union) and exclusively in front of Jewish audiences. Max Ehrlich was named director of the Kulturbund’s light theatre department. However, following the 1938 pogrom "Kristallnacht", he decided to leave Germany for good. Both of his farewell performances immediately sold out, so that a third presentation on 2 April 1939 was added. Here, in front of a full house of fans, calling out their affection and encouragement, Max Ehrlich made his final appearance in Germany.

Subsequently he returned to Holland once again, and joined Willy Rosen's "Theater der Prominenten" (Theatre of Celebrities), until in 1943 –like so many of his colleagues– Max Ehrlich was imprisoned in the Westerbork concentration camp. Amazingly, there behind the walls and barbed wire, he created and became director of, the "Camp Westerbork Theatre Group", a cabaret troupe that during its eighteen month existence staged six major theatre productions, all within the concentration camp’s confines.

A majority of the actors were famous Jewish show business personalities, prominent artists from Berlin and Vienna, such as Willy Rosen, Erich Ziegler, Camila Spira, and Kurt Geron; or well-known Dutch performers, like Esther Philipse, Jetty Cantor and Jonny & Jones. At its high point, the group counted fifty-one members, including a full team of musicians, dancers, choreographers, artists, tailors, make-up, lighting and other technicians, as well as stage hands. Contemporary observers unconditionally exclaimed that the "best cabaret in Europe" now is in Camp Westerbork.^[who?]

Most of the shows combined elements of revue and cabaret –songs and sketches– but, on one occasion, the program included a revue-operetta, Ludmilla, or Corpses Everywhere—a production whose theme sadly was a pre-sentiment of the actors’ and other prisoners’ fate. While some scenes were implicitly critical, of course, the Theatre Group at no time produced openly political cabaret or directly attacked the Nazi regime. To do so would have violated the most fundamental condition for the troupe’s and its members' survival, as life in Westerbork was dominated by the persistent threat of deportation on the next transport to an unknown but deeply feared fate in the East. So, standing helplessly and unaided before the fascists’ executioners and their lackeys, the Theatre Group, of necessity, limited itself to entertaining its audiences and to momentarily distracting them from the surrounding horrors. But in so doing, it also gave their captive audiences renewed hope and the courage to face an otherwise unbearable existence.

Doubtlessly, this artistic activity provided the means for everyone concerned, audiences and actors alike, to retain a small measure of humanity, free their minds –if only momentarily– from the tragedy of daily life and nourish the illusion of survival.

During the summer of 1944, increasing numbers of transports carried Westerbork’s prisoners to the extermination camps in the East. Of 104,000 camp inmates, less than 5,000 survived. In the last transport to leave Westerbork, on 4 September 1944, Max Ehrlich was number 151 on the list of victims. Eyewitnesses recount that, after reaching Auschwitz, he still suffered the misfortune of being recognized by a Hauptsturmführer. As a result, Max Ehrlich was subjected to an additional martyrdom: brought before a group of SS brutes holding their loaded guns aimed at him, he was ordered to tell jokes.

But, in the end, comedy did not prevail: like almost all of his colleagues from this theatre of despair, in October 1944, Max Ehrlich's Nazi captors murdered him in the Auschwitz gas chambers.

At last, on 12 April 1945, British troops liberated Westerbork. By then, only 876 prisoners were left: 464 men, 309 women and 229 children; only two were Theatre Group members.

[edit] Filmography

(Cast member unless otherwise indicated)

[edit] Silent Films

In der Heimat, da gibt's ein Wiedersehn! (1926)
Familientag im Hause Prellstein (1927)
Es zogen drei Burschen.../Drei Seelen und ein Gedanke (1927) - writer (scene titles)
Mascottchen (1928/29) - Zwischentitel
Liebfraumilch (1928)
In Werder blühen die Bäume (1928) - writer (scene titles)
Ihr dunkler Punkt (1928)
Fräulein Chauffeur (1928) - writer (scene titles)
Flitterwochen (1928) - writer (script), cast member
Ein kleiner Vorschuß auf die Seligkeit (1928/29) - writer (script)
Die tolle Komteß (1928) - writer (script and scene titles), cast member
Die blaue Maus (1928)
Die Wochenendbraut (1928) - writer (script and scene titles)
Das Haus ohne Männer (1928) - writer (script and scene titles)
Meineid. Ein Paragraph, der Menschen tötet (1929)
Der schwarze Domino (1929)

[edit] Sound Films

Wien, du Stadt der Lieder (1930) - writer (script), cast member
Susanne macht Ordnung (1930)
Hokuspokus (1930)
Die vom Rummelplatz (1930)
Die Marquise von Pompadour (1930)
Der Tanzhusar (1930/31)
Der Korvettenkapitän/Blaue Jungs von der Marine (1930)
Der Greifer (1930) - writer (script)
Um eine Nasenlänge (1931)
Kabarett-Programm Nr. 6 (short film, 1931)
Kabarett-Programm Nr. 2 (short film, 1931)
Goldblondes Mädchen, ich schenk Dir mein Herz - Ich bin ja so verliebt... (1931/32)
Die schwebende Jungfrau (1931)
Der Storch streikt. Siegfried der Matrose (1931)
Der Schlemihl (1931)
Der Hochtourist (1931)
Wer zahlt heute noch? (short film, 1932)
Wenn die Liebe Mode macht (1932)
Revierkrank (short film, 1932) - director
Mord im Kohlenkeller (short film, 1932/33) - director
Kaczmarek als Rosenkavalier (short film, 1932/33) - director
Herr Direktor engagiert (short film, 1932/33)
Die erste Instruktionsstunde (short film, 1932) - director
Der falsche Hund (short film, 1932) - director, writer (script), cast member
Hugo's Nachtarbeit (short film, 1933) - director, writer (script)