The story starts in 1733, with the coronation of the Duke of Württemberg. Although another director I spoke to disputed this claim, Söderbaum said Harlan had been reluctant to do Jud Süß (which translates as Süß the Jew), but Goebbels had insisted. He could intervene in every aspect of a film. In her autobiography, she seemed surprised by the postwar hostility towards Harlan, astonished that their children were taunted as Nazis at school in Sweden. But I saw no signs of curiosity about life beyond the bars. A beautiful woman, a very convincing actress, totally obedient and devoted to her forceful husband, she told me she had lived “in a gilded cage” and “went everywhere in a limo”. Söderbaum could be described as the archetypical feminists’ nightmare. She was not unimpressed by Hitler’s eyes herself.
But whether that made me a sex symbol or not, I don’t know.” For her part, she found that: “Goebbels had very nice eyes but,” she added with a laugh, “he was a devil!” She said Adolf Hitler, on the other hand, was always very pleasant to her – and Harlan would often remark on his amazing eyes. Still, she added, “terribly many people fell in love with me. “He told me I was not sexy but erotic,” said Söderbaum. His taste – apart from his wife, Magda – ran to dark-haired actresses. Söderbaum claimed Joseph Goebbels, head of Nazi propaganda, didn’t much like her. A leaflet from 1942 noted: “Her acting lessons mainly consisted of refining her German pronunciation.” In a two-page questionnaire, she described herself as 100% Aryan (75% Swedish, 22% Danish, 3% Russian = 100% Aryan). Swedish by birth, she had big greeny-blue eyes, white curly hair and wore blue eyeliner and bright pink lipstick. She had been one of the greatest stars of her era.
Söderbaum, even at the age of 80, was still very beautiful, in a traditional pink-and-white babydoll style. ‘I lived in a gilded cage’ … Söderbaum during rehearsals for Jud Süß.
0 kommentar(er)
