The “Iffland Ring,” for the past century the highest distinction to which a German-language actor can aspire, was conferred upon Werner Krauss, at a ceremony here, after he had been selected by a vote of the “Cartel Association of German-Speaking Members of the Stage.”
The award to the Nazi actor who played in “Jew Suess” is considered particularly offensive because the previous holder of the “Iffland Ring” was Albert Bassermann, who had expressly refused to pass it on to Krauss. A German of upright character and great dignity, Herr Bassermann spurned the most tempting offers made to him by Propaganda Minister Josef Goebbels and went into exile during the Hitler regime, as a gesture of protest against Nazism and of loyalty to his Jewish wife.
Krauss, on the other hand, did not lift a finger on behalf of his own Jewish ex-wife when she was deported and killed by the Nazis. Within six months after Hitler took over, he accepted the deputy presidency of the newly-created Nazi Theater Chamber. Within a year, he was the first actor upon whom Goering bestowed a Nazi title. When Goebbels produced “Jew Suess,” the film designed to smothe any German compunctions at the time when the deportation of Germany’s Jews to the death camps was in full swing, Krauss played five Jewish roles in the production.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
