Max Ehrlich

Passions

Vocation

German actor, screenwriter, and director on the German theatre, comedy and cabaret scene of the 1930s. Ehrlich began his career in the 1920s at various theatres, including leading roles in Max Reinhardt productions and revues. He appeared in 42 films, ten of which he directed, and on eight records. He wrote several books, including From Adelbert to Zilzer, his best-selling humorous collection of stories and anecdotes about sixty-two of his best known show business friends and colleagues. In 1943 –like so many of his colleagues– Ehrlich was imprisoned in the Westerbork concentration camp. While at Westerbork, he created and became director of the "Camp Westerbork Theatre Group," a cabaret troupe that during its eighteen-month existence staged six major theatre productions, all within the concentration camp's confines. A majority of the actors were famous Jewish show business personalities; prominent artists from Berlin and Vienna, such as Willy Rosen, Erich Ziegler, Camilla Spira, and Kurt Gerron; or well known Dutch performers, like Esther Philipse, Jetty Cantor, and Johnny & Jones. At its high point, the group counted fifty-one members, including a full team of musicians, dancers, choreographers, artists, tailors, and make-up, lighting, and other technicians, as well as stage hands. During the summer of 1944, increasing numbers of transports carried Westerbork's prisoners to the extermination camps in the East. Of 104,000 camp inmates, fewer than 5,000 survived. In the last transport to leave Westerbork, on 4 September 1944, Ehrlich was number 151 on the list of victims. Eyewitnesses recount that, after reaching Auschwitz, he was recognized by a Hauptsturmführer. As a result, Ehrlich was subjected to additional torture: brought before a group of SS officers holding their loaded guns aimed at him, he was ordered to tell jokes. On 1 October 1944, Ehrlich was murdered in the Auschwitz gas chambers. On 12 April 1945, British troops liberated Westerbork. By then, only 876 prisoners were left: 464 men, 309 women, and 229 children; only two were Theatre Group members. Link to Wikipedia biography