Joachim Gottschalk

When looking through this chronology this event caught my eye almost immediately. Frankly, I was not quite sure how to react to it. On November 7, 1941 Joachim Gottschalk who was a well known actor, and apparently a pretty big star among German women, committed mutual suicide with his wife and son. His wife was Jewish and the Gestapo were on the way. Most of his work had come under the Nazi regime, and he was a popular actor. Goebbels made sure that this event was kept very quiet, and while some Germans found out about it most were unaware until after the war.

Interestingly, if the story is true, Goebbels met Mrs. Gottschalk at an industry dinner shortly before and thought highly of her until he found out she was a Jew. He instructed Joachim to divorce his wife so she could be rounded up, and he could continue acting. He clearly refused, leading to the ultimate suicide.

This demonstrated two things to me. First, that it really did not matter who you were, public figure or not, you were not beyond the grasp of the regime. However, what is more interesting is the rift that this created between Goebbels and the cinema community. Certainly Goebbels could have played this differently, bending the story to fit his needs as he always did. I think he used this instance to send a message to those in the film industry who sought to disobey or disagree with him. This is indicative of his power and reach.