Josef Eichheim

Biography

Josef Eichheim was a German singer, comedian, stage and film actor. In 1905 he moved to Switzerland where he studied acting in Zurich; his training there was instrumental in helping him to find work. In 1932 he played at the Munich Kammerspiele and Bayerischen Staatstheater, and in all appeared in about 67 movies including Rosen in Tirol (1940) ("The Bird Seller", "Le Marchand d'oiseaux") (1940) and Die falsche Braut (1945) ("The False Bride", "La Fausse fiancée") opposite Elfriede Datzig. During the war, Goebbels asked him to play in "Jud Süss"; however, Eichheim declined. In 1945 he was imprisoned by the American Military Police in Internierungslager Emmering, near Fürstenfeldbruck. There he became ill and was moved to a hospital in Haar, near Munich, where he died November 14, 1945, still unaware of why he had been imprisoned.