Jürgen Ohlsen

Jürgen Ohlsen (15 March 1917 – 23 September 1994) was a German actor best remembered for portraying "Heini "Quex" Völker" in the 1933 Nazi propaganda film Hitlerjunge Quex (Our Flag Leads Us Forward).

Jürgen Ohlsen
Born(1917-03-15)15 March 1917
Schöneberg, Berlin, Germany
Died23 September 1994(1994-09-23) (aged 77)
Düsseldorf, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany
Resting placeFriedhof Unterbach
NationalityGerman
OccupationActor
Notable work
Hitlerjunge Quex

Career

Ohlsen was born in Schöneberg, Berlin, Germany on 15 March 1917.[1] Due to the illness of actor Hermann Braun, Ohlsen inherited the uncredited role of Heini Völker (nicknamed 'Quex') in Hitlerjunge Quex (Our Flag Leads Us Forward, 1933). Units of the Berlin Hitler Youth also joined the cast of the film.[2][3] Ohlsen later took the role of a supporter of aviator Ernst Udet in Heinz Paul's Wunder des Fliegens (Wonder of Flying. 1935).[4]

Ohlsen joined the Hitler Youth in 1934 when the Nazis dissolved Berlin's Der Jungenbund Südlegion , of which he was a member.[5] He appears not to have taken the Party's anti-Semitic position seriously for he was disciplined for repeatedly playing tennis with a Jew.[6] Ohlsen was alleged to be gay and by at least the fall of 1938, following the release of Hitlerjunge Quex, the verb "quexen" (literally "to quex") had entered the Hitler Youth vocabulary as a euphemism for gay sex.[7][8] It was said that Ohlsen was the lover of Baldur von Schirach, the Reichsjugendführer (Reich Youth Führer), leader of the Hitler Youth.[4] Von Schirach was replaced in 1940 by Artur Axmann, perhaps in part due to these allegations.[7][8]

Later years and death

No longer the cherubic man-child of his Quex years, by 1940 Ohlsen had disappeared from the public eye.[9][10] According to a report by the Osnabrück Gestapo, Ohlsen was supposed to be sent to a concentration camp during 1940 or 1941 where he was to be killed.[11] On 23 September 1994, Ohlsen died at the age of 77 in Düsseldorf, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany.[1]

Filmography
  • Hitlerjunge Quex: Ein Film vom Opfergeist der deutschen Jugend also known as Our Flag Leads Us Forward. (1933; 95 mins.) Directed by Hans Steinhoff.[12] Ohlsen played the starring role of Heini Völker. Title translation: Hitler Youth Quex. A Film of the Sacrifice of German Youth.[13]
  • Alle Macht mit (1933; 6 mins) Directed by Franz Wenzler [14]
  • Wunder des Fliegens: Der Film eines deutschen Fliegers (1935; 79 mins.) Directed by Heinz Paul Ohlsen played the role of Heinz Muthesius. German ace Ernst Udet starred int this film.[15][16]

References
  1. "Jürgen Ohlsen" (in German). Filmportal.de. Retrieved 24 September 2012.
  2. Baird, Jay W. (1992). To Die for Germany: Heroes in the Nazi Pantheon. Indiana University Press. p. 121. ISBN 9780253207579.
  3. Waldman, Harry (2008). Nazi films in America, 1933-1942. McFarland. p. 34. ISBN 9780786438617.
  4. Rentschler, Eric (1993). Emotional engineering: Hitler youth Quex. Center for German and European Studies, University of California. p. 41.
  5. Paulus Buscher. Das Stigma. Koblenz 1988.
  6. "Perfect Youth: Irks Nazis By Associating With Jew.: New York Times, August 23, 1935, p. 9.
  7. Gottfried Lorenz. Hans Siemsen – Die Geschichte des Hitlerjungen Adolf Goers – Der Fall des Harburger HJ-Führers K. Sch., Accessed: 12 September 2012.
  8. Rentschler (1996) p. 327 n. 68.
  9. Bernd-Ulrich Hergemöller (2001), Mann für Mann – Ein biographisches Lexikon (in German), Hamburg: Suhrkamp Taschenbuch, ISBN 3-518-39766-4
  10. Rentschler (1996) p. 327, n. 68; p. 328, n. 77.
  11. Gerd Steinwascher, ed. Gestapo Osnabrück meldet--: Polizei- und Regierungsberichte aus dem Regierungsbezirk Osnabrück aus den Jahren 1933 bis 1936. Osnabrück, Germany: Selbstverlag des Vereins für Geschichte und Landeskunde von Osnabrück, 1995, p. 267, Entry No. 29.
  12. Rentschler (1996), p. 288
  13. The cast and production staff are listed on Rentschler (1996) p. 219. Chapter 2 of this work (pp. 49-69 with notes on pp. 319-329) is devoted to Quex.
  14. "Alle Macht mit -" (in German). filmportal.de. Retrieved 17 September 2012.
  15. Rentschler (1996) pp. 233, 328 n. 77.
  16. Bernhard Chiari, Matthias Rogg, and Wolfgang Schmidt, eds. Krieg und Militär im Film des 20. Jahrhunderts. Oldenbourg Verlag, 2003. p. 383 n. 37.

Sources
  • Baird, Jay W. (1992). To Die for Germany: Heroes in the Nazi Pantheon. Indiana University Press.a ISBN 9780253207579.
  • Buscher, Paulus (1998) Das Stigma. Koblenz ISBN 978-3926584014
  • Chiari, Bernhard, Matthias Rogg, and Wolfgang Schmidt, eds. Krieg und Militär im Film des 20. Jahrhunderts. Oldenbourg Verlag, 2003. ISBN 3486567160
  • Hergemöller, Bernd-Ulrich (2001), Mann für Mann–Ein biographisches Lexikon (in German), Hamburg: Suhrkamp Taschenbuch, ISBN 3-518-39766-4
  • "Perfect Youth: Irks Nazis By Associating With Jew." New York Times, August 23, 1935, p. 9. (Subscription only)
  • Rentschler, Eric (1993) Emotional engineering: Hitler youth Quex. Center for German and European Studies, University of California,
  • Rentschler, Eric (1996) The Ministry of Illusion: Nazi Cinema and Its Afterlife. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press ISBN 978-0674576407
  • Steinwascher, Gerd, ed. Gestapo Osnabrück meldet--: Polizei- und Regierungsberichte aus dem Regierungsbezirk Osnabrück aus den Jahren 1933 bis 1936. Osnabrück, Germany: Selbstverlag des Vereins für Geschichte und Landeskunde von Osnabrück, 1995, p. 267, Entry No. 29. ISBN 3980341232
  • Holmstrom, John. The Moving Picture Boy: An International Encyclopaedia from 1895 to 1995, Norwich, Michael Russell, 1996, p. 95.


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