Kurt von Ruffin

Biography

Kurt Von Ruffin (born 1901, Munich, Germany, died 17 November 1996, Berlin, Germany) was a German actor and opera singer who was imprisoned by the Nazis for the crime of homosexuality. Von Ruffin began his career as a singer. After completing filming on Schwarzwaldmädel in 1933, Von Ruffin was denounced as a homosexual by another gay man who named him under torture, and imprisoned at Lichtenburg, where many gay men were imprisoned, for two years. After nine months in Lichtenburg, Von Ruffin was released thanks to the intervention of prominent theatre director Heinz Hilpert. From 1941 until the end of the war, he appeared only on stage.