On 17 November 2021, German actress Christine Laszar (1931) passed away in Berlin. In East-German crime films and political thrillers of the early 1960s, she embodied elegant, cool, and intelligent women.
![Christine Laszar (1931-2021)]()
East-German postcard by VEB Progress Film-Vertrieb, no. 1325 F, 1960. Photo: Friedemann.
![Christine Laszar (1931-2021)]()
East-German postcard by VEB Progress Film-Vertrieb, Berlin, no. 2248, 1965. Photo: Schwarzer.
Christine Laszar was born Cristine 'Christel' Lazarus in 1931 in Ortelsburg, Weimar Germany (today Szczytno, Poland). She graduated from the West-Berlin Max Reinhardtstageschool and began her theatre career at the Renaissance-Theater in Berlin.
She appeared at the cabaret Die Stachelschweine and at the Munich Schaubude. In the GDR she made guest appearances at the Volksbühne Berlin. At the Theater der Zeit in Munich's Goethesaal, Laszar played General Fressy in Rolf Honold's play 'Geschwader Fledermaus', which was directed against the Indochina War.
Director Erich Engel gave her the same role in his DEFA film version. In Geschwader Fledermaus/The Bat Squadron (Erich Engel, 1958), she plays the mistress of an American general opposite Wolfgang Heinz, Günther Simon, and Norbert Christian. It was Engel's final film.
She then got a permanent job at DEFA, moved to the GDR in 1958, and married Karl-Eduard von Schnitzler but the marriage was divorced after a short time
In crime films and political thrillers she embodied cool, intelligent women who have a natural elegance and are not always on the right side in the political battles of the time - whether as a journalist, doctor, artist, or simply wife.
![Christine Laszar (1931-2021)]()
East-German postcard by VEB Progress Film-Vertrieb, Berlin, no. 1212, 1959.
![Christine Laszar (1931-2021)]()
East-German postcard by VEB Progress Film-Vertrieb, Berlin, no. 257/769, 1958. Photo: DEFA / Pathenheimer.
In the early 1960s, Christine Lazar was one of the top actors of the DEFA. Initially, she was mainly seen in sympathetic roles. As Dr. Barbara Frei she is convincing in Der Tod hat ein Gesicht/Death has a face (Joachim Hasler, 1961). Here, as a young chemist, she fights against the use of a new toxin that destroys all life without destroying material values.
In Der Traum des Hauptmann Loy/The Dream of Captain Loy (Kurt Maetzig, 1961) she is killed by an agent in an American military plane as Corporal Doris Graves of the United States Air Force. In Der Arzt von Bothenow/The doctor from Bothenow (Johannes Kittel, 1961), she embodies Otto Mellies' demanding and strenuous wife alongside him.
From 1963 onwards, she was regularly cast as a dangerous criminal. In 1966, Wolfgang Carlé commented in the book 'Schauspieler von Theater, Film und Fernsehen' (Actors of Theatre, Film, and Television): "Let us hope that we will soon see Christine Laszar in a role that will open up new variants of her ability."
Laszar, by then a town councillor in Teltow, made guest appearances at the Volksbühne and appeared in television films, including the film biographies Carl von Ossietzky (Richard Groschopp, 1964) and Krupp und Krause (Horst E. Brandt, Heinz Thiel, 1969). At the beginning of the 1970s, she became a television editor at the Deutschen Fernsehfunk (DFF - German Television Broadcasting Company), working on portraits of artists, among other things.
After an illness, she withdrew into private life in the 1980s. Christine Laszar passed away in Berlin Her first marriage was to the actor and director Rudolf Schündler. Their daughter Katrin became an editor and presenter at the DFF.
![Christine Laszar (1931-2021)]()
East-German postcard by VEB Progress Film-Vertrieb, Berlin, no. 1048, 1959. Photo: Friedemann.
![Christine Laszar and Günther Simon in Der Tod hat ein Gesicht (1961)]()
East-German postcard by VEB Progress Film-Vertrieb, Berlin, no. 1605, 1962. Photo: DEFA / Neufeld. Christine Laszar and Günther Simon in Der Tod hat ein Gesicht/Death has a face (Joachim Hasler, 1961).
![Christine Laszar (1931-2021)]()
East-German postcard by VEB Progress Film-Vertrieb, Berlin, no. 2609, 1966. Photo: Pathenheimer.
Sources: Ines Walk (Stiftung DEFA Filme - German), Wikipedia (German and English), and IMDb.
East-German postcard by VEB Progress Film-Vertrieb, no. 1325 F, 1960. Photo: Friedemann.
East-German postcard by VEB Progress Film-Vertrieb, Berlin, no. 2248, 1965. Photo: Schwarzer.
Not always on the right side in the political battles of the time
Christine Laszar was born Cristine 'Christel' Lazarus in 1931 in Ortelsburg, Weimar Germany (today Szczytno, Poland). She graduated from the West-Berlin Max Reinhardtstageschool and began her theatre career at the Renaissance-Theater in Berlin.
She appeared at the cabaret Die Stachelschweine and at the Munich Schaubude. In the GDR she made guest appearances at the Volksbühne Berlin. At the Theater der Zeit in Munich's Goethesaal, Laszar played General Fressy in Rolf Honold's play 'Geschwader Fledermaus', which was directed against the Indochina War.
Director Erich Engel gave her the same role in his DEFA film version. In Geschwader Fledermaus/The Bat Squadron (Erich Engel, 1958), she plays the mistress of an American general opposite Wolfgang Heinz, Günther Simon, and Norbert Christian. It was Engel's final film.
She then got a permanent job at DEFA, moved to the GDR in 1958, and married Karl-Eduard von Schnitzler but the marriage was divorced after a short time
In crime films and political thrillers she embodied cool, intelligent women who have a natural elegance and are not always on the right side in the political battles of the time - whether as a journalist, doctor, artist, or simply wife.
East-German postcard by VEB Progress Film-Vertrieb, Berlin, no. 1212, 1959.
East-German postcard by VEB Progress Film-Vertrieb, Berlin, no. 257/769, 1958. Photo: DEFA / Pathenheimer.
One of the top actors of the DEFA
In the early 1960s, Christine Lazar was one of the top actors of the DEFA. Initially, she was mainly seen in sympathetic roles. As Dr. Barbara Frei she is convincing in Der Tod hat ein Gesicht/Death has a face (Joachim Hasler, 1961). Here, as a young chemist, she fights against the use of a new toxin that destroys all life without destroying material values.
In Der Traum des Hauptmann Loy/The Dream of Captain Loy (Kurt Maetzig, 1961) she is killed by an agent in an American military plane as Corporal Doris Graves of the United States Air Force. In Der Arzt von Bothenow/The doctor from Bothenow (Johannes Kittel, 1961), she embodies Otto Mellies' demanding and strenuous wife alongside him.
From 1963 onwards, she was regularly cast as a dangerous criminal. In 1966, Wolfgang Carlé commented in the book 'Schauspieler von Theater, Film und Fernsehen' (Actors of Theatre, Film, and Television): "Let us hope that we will soon see Christine Laszar in a role that will open up new variants of her ability."
Laszar, by then a town councillor in Teltow, made guest appearances at the Volksbühne and appeared in television films, including the film biographies Carl von Ossietzky (Richard Groschopp, 1964) and Krupp und Krause (Horst E. Brandt, Heinz Thiel, 1969). At the beginning of the 1970s, she became a television editor at the Deutschen Fernsehfunk (DFF - German Television Broadcasting Company), working on portraits of artists, among other things.
After an illness, she withdrew into private life in the 1980s. Christine Laszar passed away in Berlin Her first marriage was to the actor and director Rudolf Schündler. Their daughter Katrin became an editor and presenter at the DFF.
East-German postcard by VEB Progress Film-Vertrieb, Berlin, no. 1048, 1959. Photo: Friedemann.
East-German postcard by VEB Progress Film-Vertrieb, Berlin, no. 1605, 1962. Photo: DEFA / Neufeld. Christine Laszar and Günther Simon in Der Tod hat ein Gesicht/Death has a face (Joachim Hasler, 1961).
East-German postcard by VEB Progress Film-Vertrieb, Berlin, no. 2609, 1966. Photo: Pathenheimer.
Sources: Ines Walk (Stiftung DEFA Filme - German), Wikipedia (German and English), and IMDb.