Hertha Thiele

For a brief period during the Weimar Republic, Hertha Thiele (1908-1984) appeared in several controversial stage plays and films. She is best known for playing a 14 year old schoolgirl in love with her female teacher in the ground-breaking Mädchen in Uniform/Girls in Uniform (1931). She received thousands of fan letters - mostly from women. Decades later, Thiele became a well known film and television actress in East Germany.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 6997/1, 1931-1932. Photo: Ufa.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 7174/1, 1932-1933. Photo: Deutsche Lichtspiel-Syndikat (DLS). Publicity still for Das erste Recht des Kindes/The first right of the child (Fritz Wendhausen, 1932).


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 7174/2, 1932-1933. Photo: Deutsche Lichtspiel-Syndikat (DLS). Publicity still for Das erste Recht des Kindes/The first right of the child (Fritz Wendhausen, 1932).


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 7423/1, 1932-1933. Photo: G.L. Manuel Frères, Paris.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 7423/1, 1932-1933. Studio Lorelle, Paris.

Lesbian-themed Films

Hertha Thiele was born in Leipzig in 1908. Her father worked as a locksmith. She began her acting career on stage at the Schauspielhaus (theatre house) in Leizig with the play Krankheit der Jugend/Disease of Youth by Ferdinand Bruckner in 1928.

Two years later she had her breakthrough there in the original version of Christa Winsloe's play Ritter Nerestan/Knight Nerestan, set in a Prussian boarding school for girls.

She made her film debut in the adaptation, Mädchen in Uniform/Girls in Uniform (Leontine Sagan, Carl Froelich, 1931). Thiele played Manuela, a schoolgirl deeply infatuated with her teacher, played by Dorothea Wieck. The film made her a star and she received thousands of fan letters, mostly from women.

Next Hertha Thiele starred with Ernst Busch in Bertolt Brecht's Kuhle Wampe/To Whom Does the World Belong? (Slatan Dudow, 1932). This interesting film shows the difficult life of a working class family in Berlin in times of the Great Depression. The film was censored in 1932 and banned by the Nazis in 1933, accused of communist tendencies.

Thiele also had a leading role opposite Hermann Thimig and Viktor de Kowa in Kleiner Mann, was nun?/Little Man What Now (Fritz Wendhausen, 1933) based on the novel by Hans Fallada.

She was reunited with Dorothea Wieck in another lesbian-themed film, Anna und Elisabeth/Anna and Elizabeth (Frank Wisbar, 1933). The film was banned by the Nazis soon after it opened. Later, Thiele said that this was the most important work of her career. During the early 1930s, she also continued to play in stage productions by Max Reinhardt (Molnar's Harmonie, 1932) and Veit Harlan (Veronika, 1935).


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 6845/1, 1931-1932. Photo: Gerstenberg-Dührkoop, Berlin.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 8117/2, 1933-1934. Photo: FFG (Carl Froelich-Film GmbH). Publicity still for Reifende Jugend/Ripening Youth (Carl Froelich, 1933).


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 8537/1, 1933-1934. Photo: Suse Byk, Berlin.


Dutch postcard by City Film, no. 603. Photo: publicity still for Elisabeth und der Narr/Elisabeth, die weisse Schwester von St. Veith (Thea von Harbau, 1934). Hertha Thiele starred as Elisabeth Dietrich.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 684. Photo: Gerstenberg-Dührkoop, Berlin.

Not Blowing With The Wind

In 1933 the Nazi government approached Hertha Thiele to appear in the propaganda film Hans Westmar (Franz Wenzler, 1933). She replied to propaganda minister Josef Goebbels: "I don't blow with the wind each time it changes directions." Her film career was thwarted.

In 1932 she had married actor Heinz Klingenberg. She left him when he accepted the title role in the propaganda-film S.A.-Mann Brand/Storm Trooper Brand (Frans Seitz, 1933). They divorced in 1936. That year she was also excluded from the Reichstheater and Reichsfilmkammer.

After this Berufsverbot she left Germany for Switzerland in 1937. It took five years before she was able to find acting work in Bern.

In 1949 Thiele went with her second, Swiss husband to East Germany where she worked for the Berliner Rundfunk. She tried to start a theatre there, but did not succeed. For years she lived in Switzerland and Paris, working as a psychiatric nursing assistant.

In 1966, she finally returned to East Germany. There she worked in stage productions in Magdeburg and Leipzig. During the 1970s she was often seen in TV series and made-for-TV films, including the popular crime series Polizeiruf 110/Police Call 110.

Thiele's work was featured in a television documentary Das Herz auf der linken Seite/The Heart at the Left Side (1975). In 1983 followed a retrospective at the Berlin Film Festival (Exil – Sechs Schauspieler aus Deutschland/Exile - Six Actors from Germany) and a monography on her life and work, which was published by the Deutsche Kinematek.

To her last films belong the DEFA productions Die Legende von Paul und Paula/The Legend of Paul and Paula (Heiner Carow, 1973) starring Angelica Domröse, and Die Unverbesserliche Barbara/The Incorrigible Barbara (Lothar Warneke, 1977) with Dutch actress Cox Habbema.

Hertha Thiele died in 1984 in East-Berlin.


Dutch Postcard by M. Bonnist & Zonen, Amsterdam, Z., no. 104 e. Photo: Fim Film, Amsterdam. Publicity still for Mädchen in Uniform/Girls in Uniform (Leontine Sagan, Carl Froelich, 1931).


British card in the series Film Shots by Film Weekly. Photo: Deutsche. Publicity still for Mädchen in Uniform/Girls in Uniform (Leontine Sagan, Carl Froelich, 1931) with Dorothea Wieck.


Scene from Mädchen in Uniform/Girls in Uniform (1931). Source: Greek Anon (YouTube).


Scene from Kuhle Wampe/To Whom Does the World Belong? (1932). Source: Kanal von raikomat (YouTube).


Trailer for Die Legende von Paul und Paula (1973). Source: DEFA Stiftung (YouTube).

Sources: Stephanie D'heil (Steffi-line - German), Thomas Staedeli (Cyranos), Filmportal.de (German), Wikipedia, and IMDb.

Mädchen in Uniform (1931)

The German film Mädchen in Uniform/Girls in Uniform (Leontine Sagan, Carl Froelich, 1931) is a ground-breaking classic. The film made of its two lead actresses, Hertha Thiele and Dorothea Wieck, international stars - and lesbian idols.


Dutch Postcard by M. Bonnist & Zonen, Amsterdam, Z., no. 104 e. Photo: Fim Film, Amsterdam. Publicity still for Mädchen in Uniform/Girls in Uniform (Leontine Sagan, Carl Froelich, 1931).

Spirited and independent

Manuela von Meinhardis (Hertha Thiele), a spirited and independent 14-year old schoolgirl, is sent to a boarding school for daughters of officers in Northern Germany, when her mother dies. The girls at this Catholic boarding school are slight, pale creatures - hungry for food and comfort.

The authoritarian head mistress, Fraülein von Nordeck zur Nidden (Emilia Unda), runs the school with an iron hand. She believes that daughters of Prussian soldiers must be taught discipline and deprivation, not luxury.

Ilse (Ellen Schwannecke) is the school trouble-maker, leader, and clown. Witty and outspoken, she repeatedly entertains the other girls, binding them together in secret comradery against their oppressive elders.

Like the rest of the girls, Manuela yearns for the attention of the fair and beautiful Elizabeth Von Bernburg (Dorothea Wieck), a young teacher who believes it's important to be the children's trusted friend. Manuela is ecstatic when Fraülein von Bernburg presents her with a gift, one of her slips, to replace the girl's own tattered underwear.

Relief from the regimentation of school life comes when the girls stage a theatrical production for students, staff and trustees of the boarding school. Manuela's performance as Don Carlos is accomplished and praised by students and staff.

At a party following the play, Manuela is the only student who can tolerate the taste of the punch given to them as a reward. Her friends pass their cups on to her and she soon gets herself quite drunk. In a semi-conscious state she announces her feelings for Fraulein von Burnberg to the entire school along with the infuriated Headmistress.


Dorothea Wieck. German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 6846/1, 1931-1932. Photo: Atelier Binder, Berlin.


Hertha Thiele. German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 6997/1, 1931-1932. Photo: Ufa.

At speed and on a low budget

German actress Hertha Thiele began her professional acting career in 1928 as a stage actress in Leipzig.

There she had her breakthrough two years later with the play Ritter Nérestan (Knight Nérestan) by Christa Winsloe.

Thiele and Claire Harden played the lead roles in this tale set in a Prussian boarding school for girls. The play, directed by Leontine Sagan, was an immediate success at its premiere in 1930.

After Leipzig the play was produced on stage in Berlin as Gestern und heute (Yesterday and Today), with a different cast and a more prominent lesbian theme. Again it was a huge success.

This success prompted Carl Froelich to adapt it for film. Reportedly he toned the lesbian theme somewhat down. He invited Leontine Sagan, for whom it was her first film. to join. The direction was split into direction of the cast and mise-en-scene by Sagan and overall direction by Carl Froelich, the Künstleriche Oberleitung.

After many screen tests, author Christa Winsloe insisted that Hertha Thiele played the lead role. Director Sagan preferred Gina Falckenberg who had done the role on stage in Berlin.

Thiele had already played a young lesbian in Ferdinand Bruckner's stage play Die Kreatur (The Creature) and although twenty-three years old when filming began, she was considered to be more capable of portraying a fourteen-year-old. The role of the adored teacher Fräulein von Bernburg was given to Swiss actress Dorothea Wieck.

Having mostly played the same roles on stage, the all-female cast was able to produce the film at speed and on a low budget of RM55,000. It was largely shot at the Potsdam military orphanage, now a teacher training college for women. Carl Froelich's studio in Berlin-Tempelhof was also used.


British card in the series Film Shots by Film Weekly. Photo: Deutsche. Publicity still for Mädchen in Uniform/Girls in Uniform (Leontine Sagan, Carl Froelich, 1931) with Ellen Schwannecke and Dorothea Wieck.


British card in the series Film Shots by Film Weekly. Photo: Deutsche. Publicity still for Mädchen in Uniform/Girls in Uniform (Leontine Sagan, Carl Froelich, 1931) with Dorothea Wieck and Hertha Thiele.

Goodnight kiss

From its premiere at the Capitol cinema in Berlin until 1934 Mädchen in Uniform grossed some RM 6,000,000. It was a success throughout much of Europe. The film won the audience referendum for Best Technical Perfection at the Venice Film Festival in 1932 and received the Japanese Kinema Junpo Award for Best Foreign Language Film in 1934.

The international success made of both Wieck and Thiele major stars. The goodnight kiss Thiele received from Wieck was especially popular: one distributor even asked for more footage of other kisses like it to splice into prints of the film.

Mädchen in Uniform was ground-breaking as one of the earliest narrative films to explicitly portray homosexuality. The two stars received thousands of fan letters, mostly from women, and both became lesbian idols. This made the film also very controversial.

Author Christa Winsloe was a lesbian. She was educated in the Empress Augusta boarding school, where Mädchen in Uniform was set. Reportedly there really was a Manuela, who remained lame all of her life after she threw herself down the stairs. She came to the premiere of the film and for Winsloe this experience was one she had to write from her heart.

Jan Onderwater at IMDb: "The play as well as the later novel emphasizes the sexual/lesbian love theme, but the film adaptation was toned down; the original sad end was replaced by a happy end. Though the film goes as far as it can in its theme of (awakening) lesbian feelings and sexual feelings of young girls in general, shifting emphasis automatically meant concentrating on the theme of the cold and inhumane authoritarian (Prussian) way of life and upbringing, a way of thinking still present in the Weimar republic and in 1931 already considered a danger to the young republic. Then audiences were more interested in this aspect than in the sexual one."

In the US, the film was first banned, but First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt saw the importance of it and the film got a limited American release in 1932-1933.

In Germany, an alternate ending which subtly pandered to pro-Nazi ideals enabled continued screening in German cinemas, but eventually even this version of the film was banned as 'decadent' by the Nazi regime, which reportedly attempted to burn all of the existing prints.

Leontine Sagan and many others associated with the film fled Germany soon after the banning. Many of the cast and crew were Jewish, including Emilia Unda and Ellen Schwannecke, and those who could not escape from Germany died in the camps. When assistant director Walter Supper realized his Jewish wife would be arrested, he shot her, himself and his dog.

Despite its later banning, Mädchen in Uniform was followed by several German films about intimate relationships among women, such as Acht Mädels im Boot/Eight Girls in a Boat (1932), Ich für dich, du für mich/Me for you, you for me (Carl Froelich, 1934) and Anna und Elisabeth/Anna and Elisabeth (Leontine Sagan, 1933), which also starred Wieck and Thiele but was banned by the Nazis soon after its opening night.

After the war, Mädchen in Uniform is said to have inspired the 1949 novel Olivia by Dorothy Bussy, which treats very similar themes, and which was made into the French film Olivia (Jacqueline Audry, 1951). And there was a German remake, Mädchen in Uniform, (Géza von Radványi, 1958) starring Lilli Palmer, Romy Schneider, and Therese Giehse.

The Nazis had attempted to burn all of the existing prints, but several had been dispersed around the world and survived the war. The screened film versions were heavily censored until the 1970s, and it was not shown again in Germany until 1977 when it was screened on television there. A year later, the film was re-released in the US. It's now an international cult classic, but according to Wikipedia even this and later released versions probably miss some brief scenes.


British card in the series Film Shots by Film Weekly. Photo: Deutsche. Publicity still for Mädchen in Uniform/Girls in Uniform (Leontine Sagan, Carl Froelich, 1931) with Dorothea Wieck and Emilia Unda.


British card in the series Film Shots by Film Weekly. Photo: Deutsche. Publicity still for Mädchen in Uniform/Girls in Uniform (Leontine Sagan, Carl Froelich, 1931) with Dorothea Wieck and Emilia Unda.


Dutch postcard by Takken, Utrecht (printed by 't Sticht), no. AX 3879, posted by mail in 1959. Photo: Grimm / C.C.C. / Gloria. Publicity still for Mädchen in Uniform/Girls in Uniform (Géza von Radványi, 1958) with Romy Schneider.

Sources: Heide Schlüpmann & Karola Gramman (Screening the past), Jan Onderwater (IMDb), Wikipedia and IMDb.