Kristina Söderbaum

Kristina Söderbaum
Söderbaum in 1941
Born
Beata Margareta Kristina Söderbaum

5 September 1912
Stockholm, Sweden
Died12 February 2001(2001-02-12) (aged 88)
Hitzacker, Lower Saxony, Germany
OccupationActress
Spouse
​
​
(m. 1939; died 1964)​
Children2
FatherHenrik Gustaf Söderbaum

Beata Margareta Kristina Söderbaum (5 September 1912 – 12 February 2001) was a Swedish-German film actress, film producer, and photographer. She performed in Nazi-era films made by a German state-controlled production company, several of them directed by her husband Veit Harlan.

Early life

Söderbaum was born in Stockholm, Sweden; her father, Professor Henrik Gustaf Söderbaum (1862–1933), was the permanent secretary of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences.

Söderbaum spent her school and boarding school years in Stockholm, Paris, and Switzerland. After both her parents died shortly after one another, Söderbaum moved to Berlin and enrolled in a theatre school.

Career

Nazi era

Beginning in 1935, Söderbaum starred in a number of films with director Veit Harlan, whom she married in 1939.[1] Harlan and Söderbaum made ten films together for the then state-controlled film production company UFA until 1945.[2]

According to film historian Antje Ascheid, Söderbaum is frequently identified as "most singularly representative of the Nazi ideal, as the quintessential Nazi star".[2] As a beautiful Swedish blonde, Söderbaum had the baby-doll looks that epitomized the model Aryan woman. In fact, she had already played the role of the innocent Aryan in a number of feature films and was well known to German audiences.[1][3] Her youth and beauty made her a symbol of health and purity and thus an exemplary specimen of the Nazi ideal of womanhood.[4]

In a number of her films, she had been imperiled by the threat of rassenschande ("racial pollution").[5] Two such roles were Dorothea Sturm, the doomed heroine of the antisemitic historical melodrama Jud Süß, who commits suicide by drowning after being raped by the villain,[6] and Anna in Die goldene Stadt, a Sudeten German whose desire for the city (in defiance of blood and soil) and whose seduction by a Czech result in her drowning suicide.[5] As a result of her watery fate in these two films, as well as a similar end in her debut in Harlan's 1938 film Jugend, she was given the mock honorary title Reichswasserleiche ("Drowned Corpse of the Reich").[7][8]

Other roles included Elske in The Journey to Tilsit, the wholesome German wife whose husband betrays her with a Polish woman, but finally returns, repentant;[9] Elisabeth in Immensee, who marries a rich landowner to forget her unrequited love, and in the end decides to remain faithful even after she is widowed and her lover returns;[10] Aels in Opfergang, a woman who dies after her love affair;[10] Luise Treskow in The Great King, a miller's daughter who encourages Frederick the Great;[11] and Maria in Kolberg, a peasant girl who loyally supports the resistance to Napoleon and is the only survivor of her family.[10]

Postwar

In the first few years after the war, Söderbaum was often heckled off the stage and even had rotten vegetables thrown at her.[12] In subsequent years, she frequently expressed regret for her roles in anti-Semitic films.

After her husband was again permitted to direct films, Söderbaum played leading roles in a number of his films. These included Blue Hour (1952), The Prisoner of the Maharaja (1953), Betrayal of Germany (1954), and I Will Carry You on My Hands (1958). Their last joint project was a 1963 theater production of August Strindberg's A Dream Play in Aachen.

After Harlan's death in 1964, Söderbaum became a noted fashion photographer. In 1974, she took a role in Hans-Jürgen Syberberg's film Karl May. In 1983, she published her memoirs under the title Nichts bleibt immer so ("Nothing Stays That Way Forever"). In her later years, Söderbaum faded into obscurity but still took roles in three movies and the television series The Bergdoktor. Her last film was with Hugh Grant in the thriller Night Train to Venice in 1994. She died in 2001 in a nursing home in Hitzacker, Lower Saxony, Germany.

Filmography

Film

Year Title Role Notes Ref.
1933 How do you treat a dog? Short film [13]
1934 The Song to Her Guest at Rondo admiring the dancer [14]
1936 Uncle Bräsig Minning [15]
1938 Youth Ännchen [16][17]
Covered Tracks Séraphine Lawrence [18][19]
1939 The Immortal Heart Ev Henlein [20]
The Journey to Tilsit Elske Settegast [21]
1940 Jud Süß Tochter Dorothea Sturm [22]
1942 The Great King Luise Treskow [23]
The Golden City Anna "Anuschka" Jobst [24]
1943 Immensee Elisabeth Uhl [25]
1944 Opfergang Aels Flodéen [26]
1945 Kolberg Maria Werner [27]
1951 Immortal Beloved Katharina von Hollstein [28]
Hanna Amon Hanna Amon [29]
1953 The Blue Hour Angelika [30]
Stars Over Colombo Yrida [31]
1954 The Prisoner of the Maharaja Yrida [32]
1955 Verrat an Deutschland Katharina von Weber [33]
1958 Two Hearts in May Annemie Müller [34]
I'll Carry You in My Arms Ines Thormälen [35]
1962 The Maharaja's blonde wife Yrida A single-cut of The Prisoner of the Maharaja and the Stars Over Colombo [36]
1966 Playgirl Visitor at the Six Days of Berlin Scenes deleted
1974 Karl May Emma May [37]
1988 Let's Go Crazy Comtessa [38]
1991 75 Jahre UFA: Eine Deutsche Filmgeschichte Self [39][40]
1992 Das bleibt, das kommt nie wieder Self [41]
1993 The Trip back to Sweden - Kristina Söderbaum Self [42]
Night Train to Venice Euphemia Final film role [43]
2009 Harlan – In the Shadow of Jew Süss Self (archival footage) [44][45]

Television

Year Title Role Notes Ref.
1973 Die große Rolle Self Jud Suess - the Nightmare Role [46][47]
1992 We Have Ways of Making You Think Self Goebbels Master of Propaganda [48]
1993 Der Bergdoktor Frau Landmann

Awards

Award Year Category Nominated work Result Ref(s)
Venice Film Festival 1942 Volpi Cup for Best Actress The Golden City Won [49]

References

  1. ^ a b Romani, Cinzia (1992). Tainted Goddesses: Female Film Stars of the Third Reich. New York: Sarpedon. p. 84. ISBN 978-0-9627613-1-7.
  2. ^ a b Ascheid, Antje (2003). Hitler's Heroines: Stardom and Womanhood in Nazi Cinema. Philadelphia: Temple University Press. p. 46. ISBN 978-1-56639-984-5.
  3. ^ Fox, Jo (2000). Filming Women in the Third Reich. Oxford: Berg. p. 162. ISBN 978-1-85973-396-7. Retrieved 30 October 2011.
  4. ^ Wallace, Ian (2009). Feuchtwanger and Film. Oxford: Peter Lang. p. 141. ISBN 978-3-03911-954-7. Retrieved 2 November 2011.
  5. ^ a b Rhodes, Anthony (1976). Propaganda: The Art of Persuasion: World War II. New York: Chelsea House. p. 20. ISBN 978-0-87754-029-8.
  6. ^ Romani, Cinzia (1992). Tainted Goddesses: Female Film Stars of the Third Reich. New York: Sarpedon. p. 90. ISBN 978-0-9627613-1-7.
  7. ^ Romani, Cinzia (1992). Tainted Goddesses: Female Film Stars of the Third Reich. New York: Sarpedon. p. 86. ISBN 978-0-9627613-1-7.
  8. ^ Koch, W. John (2004). No Escape: My Young Years Under Hitler's Shadow. Edmonton: Books by W. John Koch Publishing. p. 155. ISBN 978-0-9731579-1-8. Retrieved 3 November 2011.
  9. ^ Romani, Cinzia (1992). Tainted Goddesses: Female Film Stars of the Third Reich. New York: Sarpedon. pp. 84–86. ISBN 978-0-9627613-1-7.
  10. ^ a b c Romani, Cinzia (1992). Tainted Goddesses: Female Film Stars of the Third Reich. New York: Sarpedon. p. 87. ISBN 978-0-9627613-1-7.
  11. ^ Romani, Cinzia (1992). Tainted Goddesses: Female Film Stars of the Third Reich. New York: Sarpedon. p. 93. ISBN 978-0-9627613-1-7.
  12. ^ Ascheid, Antje (2003). Hitler's heroines: stardom and womanhood in Nazi cinema. Temple University Press. p. 43. ISBN 978-1-56639-984-5. Retrieved 9 November 2011.
  13. ^ "Hur behandlar du din hund? (1933)". Swedish Film Database (in Swedish). Stockholm, Sweden: Swedish Film Institute. Retrieved 28 April 2026.
  14. ^ "Sången till henne (1934)". Swedish Film Database (in Swedish). Stockholm, Sweden: Swedish Film Institute. Retrieved 28 April 2026.
  15. ^ "Onkel Bräsig". filmportal.de (in German). Frankfurt am Main, Germany: Deutsches Filminstitut. Retrieved 28 April 2026.
  16. ^ "Jugend". BFI Collections Search. London: British Film Institute. Retrieved 28 April 2026.
  17. ^ "Jugend". filmportal.de (in German). Frankfurt am Main, Germany: Deutsches Filminstitut. Retrieved 28 April 2026.
  18. ^ "Verwehte Spuren". BFI Collections Search. London: British Film Institute. Retrieved 28 April 2026.
  19. ^ "Verwehte Spuren". filmportal.de (in German). Frankfurt am Main, Germany: Deutsches Filminstitut. Retrieved 28 April 2026.
  20. ^ "Das unsterbliche Herz". filmportal.de (in German). Frankfurt am Main, Germany: Deutsches Filminstitut. Retrieved 28 April 2026.
  21. ^ "Die Reise nach Tilsit". filmportal.de (in German). Frankfurt am Main, Germany: Deutsches Filminstitut. Retrieved 28 April 2026.
  22. ^ "Jud Süß". filmportal.de (in German). Frankfurt am Main, Germany: Deutsches Filminstitut. Retrieved 28 April 2026.
  23. ^ "Der große König". filmportal.de (in German). Frankfurt am Main, Germany: Deutsches Filminstitut. Retrieved 28 April 2026.
  24. ^ "Die goldene Stadt". filmportal.de (in German). Frankfurt am Main, Germany: Deutsches Filminstitut. Retrieved 28 April 2026.
  25. ^ "Immensee". filmportal.de (in German). Frankfurt am Main, Germany: Deutsches Filminstitut. Retrieved 28 April 2026.
  26. ^ "Opfergang". filmportal.de (in German). Frankfurt am Main, Germany: Deutsches Filminstitut. Retrieved 28 April 2026.
  27. ^ "Kolberg". filmportal.de (in German). Frankfurt am Main, Germany: Deutsches Filminstitut. Retrieved 28 April 2026.
  28. ^ "Unsterbliche Geliebte". filmportal.de (in German). Frankfurt am Main, Germany: Deutsches Filminstitut. Retrieved 28 April 2026.
  29. ^ "Hanna Amon". filmportal.de (in German). Frankfurt am Main, Germany: Deutsches Filminstitut. Retrieved 28 April 2026.
  30. ^ "Die blaue Stunde". filmportal.de (in German). Frankfurt am Main, Germany: Deutsches Filminstitut. Retrieved 28 April 2026.
  31. ^ "Sterne über Colombo". filmportal.de (in German). Frankfurt am Main, Germany: Deutsches Filminstitut. Retrieved 28 April 2026.
  32. ^ "Die Gefangene des Maharadscha". filmportal.de (in German). Frankfurt am Main, Germany: Deutsches Filminstitut. Retrieved 28 April 2026.
  33. ^ "Verrat an Deutschland. (Der Fall Dr. Sorge)". filmportal.de (in German). Frankfurt am Main, Germany: Deutsches Filminstitut. Retrieved 28 April 2026.
  34. ^ "Zwei Herzen im Mai". filmportal.de (in German). Frankfurt am Main, Germany: Deutsches Filminstitut. Retrieved 28 April 2026.
  35. ^ "Ich werde dich auf Händen tragen". filmportal.de (in German). Frankfurt am Main, Germany: Deutsches Filminstitut. Retrieved 28 April 2026.
  36. ^ "Die blonde Frau des Maharadscha". filmportal.de (in German). Frankfurt am Main, Germany: Deutsches Filminstitut. Retrieved 28 April 2026.
  37. ^ "Karl May". filmportal.de (in German). Frankfurt am Main, Germany: Deutsches Filminstitut. Retrieved 28 April 2026.
  38. ^ "LET'S GO CRAZY". BFI Collections Search. London: British Film Institute. Retrieved 28 April 2026.
  39. ^ "75 JAHRE UFA: EINE DEUTSCHE FILMGESCHICHTE". BFI Collections Search. London: British Film Institute. Retrieved 28 April 2026.
  40. ^ "Wenn ich sonntags in mein Kino geh'... Ein Film zum 75. Geburtstag der Ufa". filmportal.de (in German). Frankfurt am Main, Germany: Deutsches Filminstitut. Retrieved 28 April 2026.
  41. ^ "Das bleibt, das kommt nie wieder". filmportal.de (in German). Frankfurt am Main, Germany: Deutsches Filminstitut. Retrieved 28 April 2026.
  42. ^ "The Trip back to Sweden - Kristina Söderbaum (1993)". MUBI. Retrieved 28 April 2026.
  43. ^ "NIGHT TRAIN TO VENICE". BFI Collections Search. London: British Film Institute. Retrieved 28 April 2026.
  44. ^ "HARLAN IM SCHATTEN VON JUD SÜSS". BFI Collections Search. London: British Film Institute. Retrieved 28 April 2026.
  45. ^ "Harlan: In the Shadow of Jew Seuss (2009)". MUBI. Retrieved 28 April 2026.
  46. ^ "Jud Suess - the Nightmare Role (1973)". MUBI. Retrieved 28 April 2026.
  47. ^ "Die große Rolle. 2. Jud Süß - die Alptraumrolle". filmportal.de (in German). Frankfurt am Main, Germany: Deutsches Filminstitut. Retrieved 28 April 2026.
  48. ^ "Goebbels Master of Propaganda". BFI Collections Search. London: British Film Institute. Retrieved 28 April 2026.
  49. ^ "Kristina Söderbaum: Awards". Swedish Film Database (in Swedish). Stockholm, Sweden: Swedish Film Institute. Retrieved 28 April 2026.
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