- Willy Birgel
Willy Birgel (1891-1973) began his acting career before World War I on the stage in his native Cologne, Germany, and came to movies rather late. He was about 43 years old before he got his first major film role as the English Camp Commandant in
Paul Wegener 's Ein Mann will nach Deutschland (roughly translated "A German Wants to Get to Germany" or "A German Wants to Go Home"). This UFA-production that premiered on 26th July 1934, portrays a German engineer living inSouth America who hears in 1914 of war in Europe. Realising his obligation for his "fatherland", he sets out for Europe, joined by a German comrade. The journey to Germany involves physical hardships, treacherous terrain, and hostile seas, obstacles faced by patriots who have only one thought: home to Germany to help a fatherland under attack. The film spoke of the kind of German values that were emphasized inNazi Germany .Similar films made by Birgel for theNational Socialist Regime include Unternehmen Michael (1937), Feinde (1940) and Kameraden (1941). In 1937, "Reichspropagandaminister"Joseph Goebbels named Birgel "Staatsschauspieler " or roughly Actor of the State, the highest honorGermany had for actors at the time. Besides the propaganda films, Birgel starred in a number of popular movies becoming an unlikely public favorite.After
World War II , Birgel was on the Allied black-list and did not make another film until 1947. By the 1950s, he was back to his pre-war popularity, often appearing with German film superstarHans Albers . In the 1960s, Birgel was able to transition to television. Willy Birgel died 1973 of heart failure. He was buried at the Melaten Cemetery in his birth city,Cologne .External links
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* [http://film.virtual-history.com/person.php?personid=1065 Photographs of Willy Birgel]
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