Hannjo Hasse

Hannjo Hasse (31 August 1921 – 5 February 1983) was an East German actor. Over his nearly four decade career, he was best known for his roles in the films of Lebende Ware and Walter Defends Sarajevo (1972), as well as the television series Rote Bergsteiger (1968) and Archiv des Todes (1980).

Biography Hasse began studying acting in 1938 and attended Lily Ackermann's Institute for Stage Artists' Education in Berlin. At 1941, he was drafted in the Labour Service, and later in the Army. After the end of the Second World War and his release from captivity, Hasse returned to Weimar, where he spent another six months to complete his drama training.

He made his debut on stage at the Nordhausen Theater, where he was also employed as a dramaturgist. Later, he also worked in theaters in Eisleben, Burg bei Magdeburg and Schwerin, before settling in the Hans Otto Theater in Potsdam, in which he was a member of the regular cast between 1954 and 1962. Afterwards, he moved to Berlin's Volksbühne, and then to the Deutsches Theater. Hasse played a wide range of supporting characters, from Malvolio to the Fledermaus.

Hasse made his first appearance on screen already during 1951, playing a minor role in Der Untertan. From the late 1950s, he focused mainly on cinema and television work. Although his earlier stage roles were mostly comical in nature, he depicted sinister characters almost solely; Renate Seydel, who interviewed him in 1966, commented that he was the most perennial villain in the actors' cast of DEFA and Deutscher Fernsehfunk. He portrayed greedy pioneers who sought to dispossess Native Americans in many of East Germany's Red Western pictures. He is also remembered for depicting SD Colonel von Dietrich in the Yugoslav partisan film Walter Defends Sarajevo or a Gestapo officer in the Czechoslovak film Higher Principle. In addition to those entertainment films, he also portrayed historical antagonists in several bleaker pictures dealing with the recent past, like Alfred Naujocks in The Gleiwitz Case, Reinhard Heydrich in Sokolovo and Adolf Eichmann in 1966's Lebende Ware – based on the blood for goods affair. Hasse told Seydel that he considered those roles as having educational value, in order to "demonstrate the full horror of Fascism" to younger viewers.

Hasse was awarded the Art Prize of the German Democratic Republic on 7 May 1971. He is buried at Stahnsdorf South-Western Cemetery.

Selected filmography

1951: Der Untertan – Mann (uncredited) 1954: Gefährliche Fracht – Sekretär von Harms 1954: Stärker als die Nacht 1954: Ernst Thälmann - Sohn seiner Klasse 1955: Ham wa nich! 1956: Die Millionen der Yvette – Herr 1956: Der Hauptmann von Köln 1957: Wo Du hin gehst – Adjutant 1958: Cerný prapor – Wolf 1959: Kapitäne bleiben an Bord – 2. Steuermann 1959: Sterne – Captain 1959: Bevor der Blitz einschlägt 1959: Weißes Blut – Dr. Kopf 1959: Kabale und Liebe 1960: Einer von uns – Catteau 1960: Seilergasse 8 1960: Leute mit Flügeln – SS-Offizier 1960: Vyšší princip – vrchní komisar Worlitzek 1961: Der Fall Gleiwitz – Alfred Naujocks 1961: Gewissen in Aufruhr (TV Mini-Series) – Oberst Rolf Steiner 1961: The Dress – Harry Riebauer (voice, uncredited) 1962: Freispruch mangels Beweises – Prosecutor Fuhrmann 1962: Polnocná omsa – Brecker 1962: An französischen Kaminen – Major Siebert 1963: Nebel – Mr. Edwards 1963: Reserviert für den Tod – Hauptmann Donath 1964: Preludio 11 – Barro (voice) 1964: Das Lied vom Trompeter – Pietzker 1966: Die Söhne der großen Bärin – Pitt 1966: Pharaoh – (german version, voice) 1966: Schwarze Panther – Leon 1966: Das Tal der sieben Monde – Sanitter 1967: Smrt za oponou – nemecký policista Hans Kreibe 1967: Die gefrorenen Blitze – SD Officer Zech 1967: Das Mädchen auf dem Brett – Klemm 1968: Spur des Falken – Bludgeon 1968: Mohr und die Raben von London – Mr. Cross 1968: Der Mord, der nie verjährt – Kapitänleutnant Pflugk-Hartung 1969: Lebende Ware – Adolf Eichmann 1969: Nebelnacht – Dr. Egbert Nikolai 1969: The Bridge – SS-Standartenführer Hoffmann 1970: Liberation I: The Fire Bulge – General Fieldmarshal Günther von Kluge 1970: Liberation II: Breakthrough – General Fieldmarshal Günther von Kluge 1970: Tödlicher Irrtum – Lee Garrett 1971: KLK Calling PTZ - The Red Orchestra – Ein Deutscher 1971: Liberation III: Direction of the Main Blow – General Fieldmarshal Günther von Kluge 1972: Valter brani Sarajevo – SS-Standartenführer Von Dietrich 1972: The Stolen Battle – von Seydlitz 1972: Nakovalnya ili chuk – Nebe 1973: Copernicus – Andreas Osiander – editor 1973: Die Hosen des Ritters von Bredow – Geheimer Rat von Lindenberg 1973: Unterm Birnbaum – Justizrat Vowinkel 1974: Das Geheimnis des Ödipus (TV Movie) – Oberfeldwebel 1974: Ulzana – Der Herr aus Washington 1974: Wie füttert man einen Esel – Vertreter Hasse 1974: Zum Beispiel Josef – Ausbilder in der Legion 1974: Johannes Kepler – Oberkontrolleur 1974: – Captain Consadine 1975: Front bez flangov – General von Horn 1975: Sokolovo – Reinhard Heydrich 1975: Atentat u Sarajevu 1975–1979: Das unsichtbare Visier (TV Series) – Van Straaten / Cliff 1976: Hostess – Fiatbesitzer 1976: Beethoven – Tage aus einem Leben – Fürst Karl Lichnowski 1977: Der kleine Zauberer und die große Fünf – Der Drachen (voice) 1977: Auftrag – Überleben (TV Movie) – Willi 1977: Wer reißt denn gleich vor’m Teufel aus – Hofmarschall 1978: – General von Horn 1978: Fleur Lafontaine – Arzt 1979: Einfach Blumen aufs Dach – DHZ-Direktor 1980: Archiv des Todes (TV Series) – Major Zirrgiebel 1980: Die Schmuggler von Rajgrod – von Thunsdorff 1980: Der Baulöwe – Herr Paul 1980: Yunost Petra 1980: Levins Mühle – Rittmeister von Lojewski 1980: Svítalo celou noc – Mjr. Krombach 1981: Peters Jugend 1982: Front v tylu vraga – General von Horn 1983: Martin Luther