13 August 2017

Rose Liechtenstein

Rose Liechtenstein (1887-1955) was a German theatre and film actress of the silent film era. Later she became 'the Adele Sandrock of the Israeli'.

Rose Liechtenstein
German postcard by Photochemie, Berlin, no. K. 2351. Photo: Atelier Eberth, Berlin.

Fritz Lang


Rose Liechtenstein, also credited as Rosa Liechtenstein, Rose Lichtenstein and Rosa Lichtenstein, was born as Rosa Liechtenstein in 1887 in Landsberg, Germany or in Wronke, Russian Germany (now: Wronki in the Szamotuły County, western-central Poland). The sources differ about her birthtown.

She received her training at the Marie-Seebach-Schule before she went to Meiningen in 1909. There followed engagements in Düsseldorf, Mannheim, Berlin and New York. She worked with such famous directors as Erwin Piscator and Max Reinhardt. In 1915 she played at front theatres in the German-occupied areas of Belgium and France.

From 1916 she was also active in the film business. She starred in such silent melodramas as Arme Eva Maria/Poor Eva Maria (Joe May, 1916) at the side of Mia May, Der eiserne Wille/The Iron Will (Adolf Gärtner, 1917) starring Albert Bassermann, and the silent Detective film Der Würger der Welt/The creeper of the world(E. A. Dupont, 1919) with Max Landa.

Rose Liechtenstein appeared for Fritz Lang in small parts in Die Nibelungen, 2.Teil: Kriemhild's Revenge/Die Nibelungen: Kriemhild's Revenge (1924), Metropolis (1926) and in his first sound film M - Eine Stadt sucht eine Mörder/M - A city looks for a murderer (1931). It was her last film before her emigration.

In addition to her stage work, Liechtenstein was also cast as a spokesman for radio play productions at the Berliner Funk-Stunde in 1929. The rise of the National Socialists caused the artist of Jewish origin to flee to Palestine in 1936.

In 1944, she was one of the founders of the famous Theatron Kameri in Tel Aviv, where she played more than 25 roles. She became' the Adele Sandrock of the Israeli', according to author Rudolf Frank.

In 1955, Rose Liechtenstein died 68 years old in Tel Aviv.

Die Nibelungen, part II
German postcard by Ross Verlag, Berlin, no. 677/2. Photo: Decla-Ufa-Film. Kriemhild (Margarete Schön) at the spring where Siegfried died in Die Nibelungen, 2.Teil: Kriemhild's Revenge/Die Nibelungen: Kriemhild's Revenge (Fritz Lang, 1924).

Sources: Stephanie d'Heil (Steffi-line - German), Wikipedia and IMDb.

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