Michael Degen

Michael Degen
Degen in 2012
Born 31 January 1928
Chemnitz, Saxony, Germany
Died 9 April 2022 (aged 94)
Hamburg, Germany
Citizenship Germany
Israel
Occupations
  • Actor
  • Theatre director
  • Writer
Years active 1963–2022

Michael Degen (31 January 1928 – 9 April 2022) was a German-Israeli actor, in film and theatre, as well as a theatre director and writer.

Early life

Born in Chemnitz as the younger son of Jewish parents, Degen survived the Holocaust in Berlin, while his older brother was sent to Palestine via Denmark and Sweden. His father, Jacob Degen, was a language professor and businessman of Russian Jewish descent. On 13 September 1939, Jacob Degen was arrested by the Secret State Police and taken to the Sachsenhausen concentration camp. Subjected to severe abuse over the weeks that followed, he was released on 2 February 1940 but never recovered from his injuries, dying shortly afterward. To survive, Michael and his mother, Anna, hid in a Berlin allotment until the end of the war.

In 1946, Degen appeared on stage for the first time and received his education through a scholarship at the acting school of the Deutsches Theater in East Berlin. In 1949, he emigrated to Israel for two years. Degen served as a soldier in Israel and acted in theatres in Tel Aviv.

Career

In 1954, Degen joined Bertolt Brecht's Berliner Ensemble at the Theater am Schiffbauerdamm in East Berlin. In 1955–1956, he worked with the Schauspiel Köln. From 1956 to 1963 he was at the Mannheim National Theatre, followed by the Schauspiel Frankfurt in 1963–1964. From 1967 to 1973, he worked at the Staatliche Schauspielbühnen Berlin. During his career, he played Shakespeare's Hamlet 300 times. A reviewer of The Times wrote of Degen's acting in Harry Buckwitz's 1965 Hamlet production at Schauspiel Frankfurt, "Nervously impulsive and sometimes violently emotional". Degen performed in Munich, Salzburg and Hamburg and worked with directors including Ingmar Bergman, George Tabori Peter Zadek and Claude Chabrol. He was Moliere's Dom Juan in Ingmar Bergman's production at the Salzburg Festival and Adam in Kleist's The Broken Jug. He was also a director: his premiere was in Goethe's Urfaust in 1972. He was a director for four years at the Bayerisches Staatsschauspiel, Munich. Degen began appearing in films in 1963. In Franz Peter Wirth's Buddenbrooks television adaptation (1979), he played the role of Bendix Grünlich. He played Adolf Hitler in Michael Kehlmann's 1988 film Geheime Reichssache as well as Dr. Martin Sanders in Diese Drombuschs. His last role was the vain Vice-Questore Patta in the television series Donna Leon.

Degen wrote in his 1999 debut Nicht alle waren Mörder. Eine Kindheit in Berlin. (Not All Were Murderers. A childhood in Berlin.) about his own experiences during the Nazi era.

Personal life

Degen lived with his third wife in Hamburg. He had four children from previous marriages. He was an Israeli and German citizen.

He died on 9 April 2022 in Hamburg, at the age of 94. An obituary of the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung called Degen "an actor of melancholic elegance".

Legacy

In 2006, Jo Baier filmed Degen's memoirs with Aaron Altaras and Nadja Uhl for ARD (Not All Were Murderers).

Awards

Selected filmography

Source:

Film
Year Title Role Notes
1974 Supermarket Frank
1976 21 Hours at Munich Mohammed Khadif TV film
1977 Beyond Good and Evil Karl Andreas
1979 Phantasten Sollier TV film
1982 Elective Affinities Hauptmann Otto TV film
1983 The Oppermanns Dr. Gustav Oppermann TV film
1987 The Colony Karl Brunner
1988 The Bomb Paul Meyerdiercks TV film
Geheime Reichssache Adolf Hitler TV film
1990 Dr. M Reimar von Geldern
The Master of the Day of Judgment Waldemar Solgrub TV film
1998 Eine ungehorsame Frau Georg Winterborn TV film
Frankfurt Millennium Walter
2000 Manila Walter
Rote Glut Gustav Kohmers TV film
2001 Leo & Claire Leo Katzenberger
2002 At Night in the Park Krahn
2003 Babiy Yar Genadij Lerner
2012 Lost in Siberia Fengler
Hannah Arendt Kurt Blumenfeld

Source:

TV Series
Year Title Role Notes
1979 The Buddenbrooks Bendix Grünlich 3 episodes
1987–1990 Diese Drombuschs Dr. Martin Sanders 15 episodes
1988 Game, Set and Match Werner Volkmann 13 episodes
1993–1994 Auto Fritze Otto Fritze 26 episodes
1994 Anna Maria – Eine Frau geht ihren Weg Hannes Seeberger First episode
1996 Tanz auf dem Vulkan Karl Reichmann TV miniseries
2000–2019 Donna Leon Vice-Questore Patta 25 episodes
2004 The Wishing Tree Fritz Hofmann TV miniseries
2008 Die Patin – Kein Weg zurück Jochen Bühler TV miniseries

Writings

  • Degen, Michael (1999). Nicht alle waren Mörder : eine Kindheit in Berlin (in German). München: Econ. ISBN 978-3-430-12049-4. OCLC 43557684. and Degen, Michael (2010). Nicht alle waren Mörder : eine Kindheit in Berlin (in German). Berlin: List. ISBN 978-3-548-60910-2. OCLC 729967730.
  • Degen, Michael (2004). Blondi (in German). München: List. ISBN 3-548-60409-9. OCLC 76502376.
  • Degen, Michael (2005). Der Steuerhinterzieher (in German). Berlin: Ullstein. ISBN 3-550-08617-2. OCLC 63125762.
  • Degen, Michael (2007). Mein heiliges Land : auf der Suche nach meinem verlorenen Bruder (in German). Berlin: Rowohlt Berlin. ISBN 978-3-87134-559-3. OCLC 124038151.
  • Degen, Michael (2011). Familienbande (in German). Berlin: Rowohlt Berlin. ISBN 978-3-87134-633-0. OCLC 724798726.
  • Degen, Michael (2015). Der traurige Prinz Roman einer wahren Begegnung (in German). Berlin: Rowohlt Berlin. ISBN 978-3-87134-768-9. OCLC 897128120.