Heinrich Schroth


Heinrich August Franz Schroth was a German stage and film actor.

Career

Schroth was born in Pirmasens, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. He made his acting debut at the Sigmaringen Royal Theatre in 1890. In 1894 he went to the Municipal Theatre in Augsburg, in 1896 to Mainz and in 1897 to the Royal Court Theatre in Hanover. From 1899 to 1905, he spent six years as a part of the ensemble of the Deutsches Schauspielhaus in Hamburg and from 1905 onwards at various Berlin theatres.
Schroth made his film debut in the 1916 Walter Schmidthässler-directed drama Welker Lorbeer. He spent the 1910s in numerous German silent film productions, working with such directors as George Jacoby, Robert Wiene and Harry Piel. His career in the 1920s was prolific, and he appeared opposite such silent film actors as Lil Dagover, Emil Jannings, Paul Wegener and Brigitte Helm and transitioned to sound film with ease.
During World War II Heinrich Schroth participated in a large number of film productions for the Nazi Party, including propaganda films for the Nazi regime. In the final phase of the Second World War, Reich Minister of Propaganda Joseph Goebbels placed Schroth on the Gottbegnadeten list, a 36-page list of artists considered crucial to Nazi culture. Schroth's most memorable role of the World War II era is possibly that of the role of Herr von Neuffer in the 1940 Veit Harlan-directed, anti-Semitic melodrama Jud Süß, commissioned by Joseph Goebbels.
Schroth's stage and film career spanned five decades. He died in January 1945.

Personal life

Heinrich Schroth was married three times. Little is known of his first wife. The couple had a son, Heinz Schroth. His second wife was Else Ruttersheim, with whom he had a son, actor and director Carl-Heinz Schroth in 1902. His third wife was German actress Käthe Haack, with whom he had a daughter, actress Hannelore Schroth in 1922.

Selected filmography