Helmuth Kionka

Biography

Helmuth Kionka was a German actor, writer and political activist, executed by the Nazi Regime in 1936. Born on November 10, 1906, in Breslau, Schlesien, he initially worked as a writer and journalist, before training as an actor in Berlin in the mid-1920s. His stage career began in 1926, and took off when he played the lead role in 'The Legacy of Quirlitz' and he went on to work at the Staatstheater, das Deutsche Künstlertheater, das Theater am Kurfürstendamm and die Saltenburg-Bühnen. He worked with such top directors as Max Reinhardt and Gustaf Grundgens. He also began to work in films in 1932/33 but, with the seizure of power by the Nazis in 1933, Kionka's acting career was effectively ended. He made only three films. He became involved in the Resistance and worked as a courier between Germany and foreign-based opposition groups. In April 1934 he went to Vienna, and then Zurich, finally settling in Paris, where he continued to work with anti-fascist groups. In the spring of 1936 he was lured back to Berlin with a fake offer of a role at the newly founded Dietrich-Eckart Buehne. Upon his arrival in Germany he was immediately arrested and accused of treason. He was sentenced to death in May 1936. About seven weeks before his 30th Birthday, on September 28 1936, Kionka was executed in Berlin.