Fritz Diez

Not to be confused with the West German industrialist Fritz Dietz.

Fritz Diez
Fritz Diez
Born	Friedrich Diez (1901-02-27)27 February 1901 Meiningen, Duchy of Saxe-Meiningen, German Empire
Died	19 October 1979(1979-10-19) (aged 78) Weimar, German Democratic Republic
Occupation	Actor, producer, director
Years active	1920–1979
Spouse(s)	Martha Beschort

Fritz Diez (27 February 1901 – 19 October 1979) was a German actor, producer, director and theater manager.

Biography

Early life

The Meiningen Theater.

Diez's mother was a servant, and raised her three children alone. To support his family, the child began working at the age of nine. While on the 7th grade, he appeared in his class' production of William Tell. In 1920, after joining the Meiningen Ducal Theater in the role of a supernumerary actor, Diez left his work as an electrician's apprentice and began taking acting classes in the Meiningen School of Dramatic Arts. He devoted himself to professional acting ever since, appearing on the stages of theaters in Flensburg, Hanau, Baden-Baden, Würzburg and Eger.[1] While performing in the Eisenach Theater, he met his future wife, actress Martha Beschort. The two married in 1923.[2]

During 1932, while he and Martha were working in the Stadttheater Bremerhaven, they both joined the KPD. Diez, who originally was a member of the Guild of the German Stage, joined the Profintern-oriented Revolutionary Trade Union Opposition and was elected as chairman of the theater's branch.[1]

Exile

On the morning of 28 February 1933, a day after the Reichstag fire, Diez's home was raided by the Gestapo. On 6 March, immediately after the elections, the actor was dismissed from his work for being a communist.[1] During 1935, Diez - fearing an interrogation by the Gestapo - had to emigrate from Germany.[3] He and his wife traveled to Switzerland, where he worked in the St. Gallen Theater. Diez became involved in the communist and anti-fascist circles of German exiles that were formed in the country.[2] The St. Gallen Theater's manager, Theo Modes, was a supporter of the Third Reich, and Diez was "completely isolated" in his place of work.[4] In 1943 he joined the Swiss branch of the recently founded National Committee for a Free Germany.[5] By the end of the war, Diez headed the St. Gallen fraction of the Democratic Union of Germans in Switzerland, an offshoot of the Committee.[6] He also edited this movement's newspaper.[2]

German Democratic Republic

Fritz Diez (second from the left) in 1966.

Diez returned to the Soviet-administered Meiningen in 1946. He worked in the municipal theater, first as an actor and later as a director and an artistic director.[2] In 1947, he was appointed its manager.[7] During 1952, he made his debut on screen in the DEFA film Shadow Over The Islands. He appeared in some twenty films until the end of his career, as well as in several television productions.[8]

In 1954, Diez left Meiningen, remaining an honorable member of the theater, and instead took the position of the Halle National Theater's manager.[9] On 1958 he joined the Dresden Theater as an actor and a director. During the 1960s, he performed and directed plays in the Volksbühne and in the Deutsches Theater. Diez was also a member of the German Shakespeare Society.[10]

The figure of Hitler, which he first portrayed in the Meiningen Theater during 1947, was described by Diez as an "ungrateful role which always seemed to pursue me."[1] He played the character on screen in seven different productions - Ernst Thälmann - Führer seiner Klasse (1955), I, Justice, Frozen Flashes (both 1967), Liberation (1970-1), Seventeen Moments of Spring (1973), Take Aim (1974) and Soldiers of Freedom (1977). Dilara Ozerova - the wife of Yuri Ozerov, who directed Liberation - claimed that Diez was reluctant to accept the invitation to depict Hitler in her husband's film series, fearing typecasting, but had to accept it as a "Party mission".[11] Author Charles P. Mitchell wrote that the actor was "Eastern Europe's equivalent to Bobby Watson in terms of the frequency of his Hitler appearances."[12]

In 1971, Diez received the Patriotic Order of Merit in silver.[13] On 9 October 1979, shortly before his death, he was awarded the title of an Honorary Citizen of Meiningen.[14]

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1952	Shadow Over The Islands	Arne Horn
1953	Swings Or Roundabouts	Hellwand
1955	Ernst Thälmann	Adolf Hitler
1956	Thomas Müntzer	Field Captain Hoffmann
1957	Betrogen bis zum jüngsten Tag	Adolf Hitler	Voice
1959	Special Mission	Captain Lieutenant Wegner
1959	Goods for Catalonia	Captain Gerner
1959	SAS 181 Does Not Reply	The intendant
1959	The Goodies	Weber
1959	The Punch Bowl	State Secretary Frisch
1960	Always on Duty	Father Kraft
1960	Doctor Ahrendt's Decision	Scholz
1960	Five Cartridges	Major Bolaños
1963	Carbide and Sorrel	Worker
1966	The Escape In The Silent	Stetter
1967	Frozen Flashes	Adolf Hitler
1967	I, Justice
1970	Liberation I: The Fire Bulge
1970	Liberation II: Breakthrough
1971	Liberation III: Direction of the Main Blow
1971	Liberation IV: The Battle of Berlin
1971	Liberation V: The Last Assault
1972	Hurray! We Are Going on a Vacation!	Grandfather
1976	Take Aim	Adolf Hitler, Otto Hahn
1980	Glück im Hinterhaus	Vater Erp
1995	Velikiy polkovodets Georgiy Zhukov	Hitler	(final film role)

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1963	A Man and his Shadow	Uncredited role
1963	Carl von Ossietzky	Hellmut von Gerlach
1963 '	Blue Light	Major Löbel	Episode 18: Hot Money
1965	Moments of Joy	Otto Meinicke
1966	Secret Unit Boomerang	Uncredited role
1966	No Victory Without Struggle	Hermann Abs
1967	Blue Light	Dr. Döppke	Episode 28:Night Patrol
1969	Three From the K	The committee chief	Episode 13: A Strange Case
1970	Tscheljuskin	Valerian Kuybyshev
1973	Seventeen Moments of Spring	Adolf Hitler	Episodes no. 1, 3 and 5
1973	The Wondrous Treasure	Judge
1974	New From Florentiner No. 73	Krawuttcke
1977	Soldiers of Freedom	Adolf Hitler	Four episodes
1978	Dangerous Inquiry	Uncredited role	Season 1, Episode 2: Death in the Alpsee
1980	Joy in the Rear Exit	Karl's father	Filmed before Diez's death
1993	The Tragedy of the 20th Century	Adolf Hitler	Compilation of footage from older pictures
1995	The Great Captain Georgy Zhukov	Adolf Hitler	Compilation of footage from older pictures

Voice actor

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1957	Duped Till Doomsday	Adolf Hitler
1961	The Story of the Christmas Man	Narrator
1961	Two Goats	Narrator
1961	Aunt Minna, her Dog and Science	Narrator

References

1. Theater der Zeit. Verband der Theaterschaffenden der DDR (September 1979). ISSN 0040-5418. Pages 16-21.
2. Frithjof Trapp. Handbuch des deutschsprachigen Exiltheaters 1933-1945: Verfolgung und Exil deutschsprachiger Theaterkünstler. K.G. Saur Verlag (1999). ISBN 978-3-598-11374-1. Pages 89, 181-182, 285.
3. Werner Mittenzwei. Exil in der Schweiz. Röderberg (1979). ISBN 978-3-87682-484-0. Page 351.
4. Brigitte Bruns. Werft Eure Hoffnung über neue Grenzen. Henschel Verlag (2007). ISBN 978-3-89487-571-8. Page 62.
5. Hans Teubner. Exilland Schweiz. Diez Verlag (1979). ASIN B003H2Z0RG. Page 296.
6. Jörg Krummenacher. Flüchtiges Glück. Die Flüchtlinge im Grenzkanton St. Gallen zur Zeit des Nationalsozialismus. Zürich (2005). ISBN 3-85791-480-7. Page 402.
7. Petra Stuber. Spielräume und Grenzen: Studien zum DDR-Theater. Links Verlag (2003). ISBN 3-86153-171-2. page 302.
8. Dieter Reimer. DEFA-Stars: Legenden aus Babelsberg. Militzke Verlag (2004). ISBN 3-86189-717-2. Pages 178-9.
9. Norbert Moczarski, Die Protokolle des Sekretariats der SED-Bezirksleitung Suhl. Boehlaus Herrmann Nachf., 2002. ISBN 978-3-7400-1162-8. Page 23.
10. B. Tauchnitz. Shakespeare Jahrbuch. Banden 100-101. Deutsche Shakespeare-Gesellschaft (1964). Page 43.
11. An interview with Dilara Ozerova. Archived 2012-03-16 at the Wayback Machine
12. Charles P. Mitchell. The Hitler Filmography: Worldwide Feature Film and Television Miniseries Portrayals, 1940 Through 2000. McFarland & Co. (2002). ISBN 978-0-7864-1295-2. Page 171.
13. Ingrid Eberhardt. Kinder des Bezirkes – diesmal Schauspieler Fritz Diez oder: Das totale und unwiderrufliche Engagement fürs Theater. Freies Wort, 15 June 1979.
14. Fritz Diez Archived 2011-07-19 at the Wayback Machine in a list of renowned actors from Meiningen.

External links

• Fritz Diez on IMDb
• Fritz Diez. defa-sternstunden.de.