Soderbaum, Kristina

▪ 2002

      Swedish-born German film actress (b. Sept. 5, 1912, Stockholm, Swed.—d. Feb. 12, 2001, Hitzacker, Ger.), portrayed the Aryan ideal heroine in a series of films in the 1930s and '40s, particularly those directed by her husband, Veit Harlan, under the aegis of Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels. The blonde, blue-eyed star's credits included Jugend (1938), Die Reise nach Tilsit (1939), and Der Grosse König (1942). Most controversial were her lead roles in the blatantly anti-Semitic propaganda film Jud Süss (1940; Jew Süss) and Kolberg (1943), said to be Goebbels's imitation of the American epic Gone with the Wind. After World War II Harlan was indicted for war crimes several times, but he was never convicted; he died in 1964. Söderbaum too was unapologetic for her role in Nazi filmmaking. She spent the postwar years photographing other film stars and occasionally acting in films and television programs.

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