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Her father was a Prussian count (Count von Lehndorff-Steinort) who was involved in a plot to assassinate Hitler in 1944 and hanged that year, when Vera was three. Her mother was arrested, and Vera and her sisters spent the rest of the war in Gestapo camps. They were reunited with their mother after the war, but the family was destitute, and ostracised by other Germans for their father's treachery. She ended up studying textile design in Florence, where a fashion designer first asked her to model. She had first travelled to New York in 1961 as plain old Vera, but failed to secure a single booking. After retreating to Milan for a spell, she returned to take Manhattan under her new name.... Veruschka!

Born in Königsberg in 1935, Renate Ewert and her family had to leave their home and relocate to Hamburg during WWII. As she was determined to become an actress, she applied for the "Hamburger Kammerspiele" but was rejected. By doing synchronising jobs for foreign movies she finally got her first role in the third part of 08/15 - In der Heimat (1955). After that one, she appeared in a number of movies as the seductive, mysterious girl but never got the dramatic parts she was eager to play.

She had affairs with some famous actors of the time but these didn't help her career. At the middle of the 60s she didn't get many offers anymore and turned to tablets and alcohol. At the 10th of December of 1966, she was found dead by a friend, actress Susanne Cramer, who wanted to visit her in her apartment: she had died three weeks previously, probably by starvation.

Her parents couldn't deal with Renate Ewert's untimely death: They poisoned themselves not long after their daughter died.

Marion Michael was born as Marion Ilonka Michaela Delonge in Königsberg, Germany (now Kaliningrad, Russia) in 1940. Her father was a doctor. The last months of the war she spent together with her mother and her four-year older brother on Hiddensee, a small island in the Baltic Sea. After the war, the family moved to Berlin where Marion attended a secondary school. As a ten-year-old, she made her stage debut in little theatre and was taught classical dance in the ballet school of Tatjana Gsovsky. When she was only 15, she was selected out of allegedly 12,000 entries for the lead in Liane, das Mädchen aus dem Urwald/Liane, Jungle Goddess (Eduard von Borsody, 1956). This adventure film was largely shot on location in Africa.

The story is about a girl who is discovered in the African jungle by an expedition group which includes Hardy Krüger. A tribe adores her as a goddess. It turns out that she is Liane, the long lost granddaughter of a rich shipowner in Hamburg. Her dark hair was dyed blonde and she was promoted as the 'German Brigitte Bardot'. Michael appeared topless during the first half of the film and this was part of the success of the film. However, she was acceptable for family audiences as the nature child with no obvious erotic suggestiveness.

The film was a huge box office hit, and producer Gero Wecker offered her a seven-year-contract. The press loved her, she was constantly photographed, and at the age of 18 she already owned a sports car. Unfortunately this success of her debut film would not be matched by any of her later films.

Marion Michael played next in the comedy Der tolle Bomberg/The Mad Bomberg (Rolf Thiele, 1957) opposite Hans Albers, an adaptation of the 1923 novel of the same title by Josef Winckler based on a real historical Westphalian aristocrat of the nineteenth century.

Then followed the sequel Liane, die weiße Sklavin/Jungle Girl and the Slaver (Hermann Leitner, 1957), this time opposite Adrian Hoven. Set in North Africa, this story concerns Arab slave traders who abduct Liane and members of her tribe. Later, the two Liane films were edited together and re-marketed as Liane - die Tochter des Dschungels/Liane - The Daughter of the Jungle.

In order to break away from the Liane image, Marion took dance and acting lessons and then appeared opposite Christian Wolff in Es war die erste Liebe/First Love (Fritz Stapenhorst, 1958) in which a Catholic theology student falls in love with a country girl. Tragedy came about when, during the shooting of the crime film Bomben auf Monte Carlo/Bombs on Monte Carlo (Georg Jacoby, 1960) with Eddie Constantine, she had a car accident that left her face temporarily scarred. However, she recovered and returned to acting in Schlußakkord/Festival (Wolfgang Liebeneiner, 1960), the Schlagerfilm Davon träumen alle Mädchen/That's What All The Girls Dream About (Thomas Engel, 1961), and Jack und Jenny/Jack and Jenny (Victor Vicas, 1963) with Senta Berger and Ivan Desny.

The following decade, Marion Michael mainly worked for love theatre and television. For six years she worked at the Städtischen Bühnen Köln and In 1970 gave birth to a son, Benjamin, allegedly fathered by an American director, with whom she lived in a commune and with whom she also did some street theatre. Afterwards, she suffered severe depression after a short marriage to actor Marcel Werner ended, and retired from acting in 1976. For a while she then worked as a saleswoman. In 1979 she took the unusual step of moving from West to East Germany, where she worked as a synchronisation assistant for TV.

She still occasionally acted in TV-films such as In Hassliebe Lola/In Hate Love Lola (Lothar Lambert, 1995) and Blond bis aufs Blut/Blonde Till Blood (Lothar Lambert, 1997), and in 1996 her life became the topic of a TV musical, Liane (Horst Königstein, 1996). She also played a small role in the production. The film was nominated for the Adolf Grimme award and the Prix Europa 1997.

In her later years, she still remained a well known German film icon and with her second husband, Freimut Patzner, lived in an old house in Oderbruch. In 2007 Marion Michael died of heart failure in a hospital in Gartz an der Oder. It was four days before her 67th birthday.

She was born Maria Erika Knab in Königsberg (now Kaliningrad) in Eastern Prussia. As routes to Hollywood go, hers was both dramatic and circuitous. Erika's parents were killed near the end of World War II by Red Army soldiers. The ten-year old orphan may have been one of the tens of thousands of civilians who were lucky enough to be evacuated in 1945. Little is known about the next decade of her life, but, in 1955, Erika turned up in West Berlin. There, she acted (as Erika Knab) in a few motion pictures, even had a leading role in Das Sandmännchen (1955), a fairy tale for children loosely based on Oscar Wilde's The Canterville Ghost. She also signed a contract with the short-lived Berolina production company and went on to dub the voice of Mickey Mouse for German viewers. Sometime during this period, she became Erika Peters after marrying an American citizen.

In 1957, Erika arrived in the U.S., initially making ends meet by importing used Volkswagens (without, apparently, an agency license). Reinvesting her earnings from this enterprise, she then ran a coin-operated laundromat in Los Angeles. In 1959, Erika made her screen debut on American television. She was featured in several movies, including Elvis Presley's G.I. Blues (1960), Heroes Die Young (1960) (headlining, as the daughter of a Romanian partisan) and a couple of low budget horror films (Mr. Sardonicus (1961) and House of the Damned (1963)). In addition, she guest starred in a handful of popular TV shows. In one particular instance, she was picked to appear in an episode of Jack Webb's G.E. True (1962), because an actress with a German accent was required who also "could fit into a normal-sized suitcase" (this, for an episode about an escape from communist East Berlin entitled "The Suitcase Man").

In 1961, Erika obtained a divorce from her first husband. Three years later, she married the costume designer Sy Devore and permanently retired from acting. After Devore died less than two years later from a heart attack. Erika got married a third time in 1969 to Robert M. Brunson, president of Century Fast Foods in Los Angeles. She henceforth called herself Erika Devore Brunson. Perpetually resourceful, never letting grass grow under her feet, she subsequently reinvented herself as a successful interior designer and creator of antique reproduction furniture. She invested a great deal of her profits in animal welfare-related charities. Erika Brunson twice served as commissioner of the Department of Animal Services and as a long-standing board member of the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS).

Erika Devore Brunson passed away in Los Angeles on May 17 2022 at the age of 86.

Antje Weisgerber was born on 17 May 1922 in Königsberg, East Prussia, Germany [now Kaliningrad, Russia]. She was an actress, known for The Country Doctor (1987), Die Nibelungen (1967) and Ein Schloß in Schweden (1967). She was married to Reinhard Schilling and Horst Caspar. She died on 29 September 2004 in Dortmund, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany.

Harry Liedtke was born on 12 October 1882 in Königsberg, East Prussia, Germany [now Kaliningrad, Russia]. He was an actor, known for Die Liebe einer Königin (1923), Die Konkurrenz platzt (1929) and Der Mann ohne Namen - 1. Der Millionendieb (1921). He was married to Käthe Dorsch, Ernestine Emaline Johanne Proft, Christa Tordy and Hanne Schutt. He died on 28 April 1945 in Bad Saarow, Brandenburg, Germany.

E.T.A. Hoffmann was born on the 24th of January 1776 in Königsberg (now Russia) as the son of a lawyer. After his father's death he has a very bad childhood ending when he went to university to study law between 1792-95. He managed to get into the bureaucratic services of the state Prussia, but was not considered too well. Stations in Bamberg, Poland and elsewhere followed until he succeeded in getting good jobs in Berlin, lastly as a judge after 1814. Hoffmann died on the 25the of June 1822. Hoffmanns interests were widespread. He wrote music, painted pictures and, of course, wrote excellent examples of German literature. His scurrile style of writing, together with a critical tone in many of his works, earned him not too much renommee during lifetime. Today his music and paintings are nearly forgotten, but his writings stand as fantastic examples of German late "Romantik", for example the "Kater Murr" or the "Sandmann". Often connected to the dark side of the soul or the human being, Hoffmann wrote "normal" literature too, but his fame is basicly grounded on the "dark" literature.

One of Germany's most popular actresses, Witta Pohl started to act on stage before she had major success in film and television. From 1983 to 1994, she starred in the leading role as the mother in the quite popular tv-series "Diese Drombuschs", her most memorable role. In the early Nienties she left her career as an actress behind her and stared to help children and established "Kinder Luftbrücke e.V.", an organisation which arranged transports to children mostly to East Europe. For her humanitarian work, Witta Pohl was awarded with the Golden Camera in 1994 (an award she had already won two times before, for her acting work) and with the Federal cross of Merit. She died from leukemia on April 4, 2011 in Hamburg.

Klaus Behrendt was born on 7 December 1920 in Königsberg, East Prussia, Germany. He was an actor, known for Was ihr wollt (1954), Donadieu (1976) and Die grosse Chance (1957). He died on 11 October 2013 in Lubmin, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany.

Margie Schmitz was born in 1941 in Königsberg, East Prussia, Germany [now Kaliningrad, Russia]. She was married to Curd Jürgens and Klaus Hermann Schmitz. She died on 1 August 2003 in Zürich, Switzerland.

Sandow was already a great admirer of Greek and Roman statues of gladiators and mythical heroes when his father took him to Italy as a boy. By the time he was 19, he was already performing strongman stunts in side shows. The legendary Florenz Ziegfeld saw the young strongman and hired him for his carnival show. He soon found that the audience was far more fascinated by Sandows' bulging muscles than by the amount of weight he was lifting, so Ziegfeld had Sandow perform poses which he dubbed "muscle display performances." The legendary strongman added these displays in addition to performing his feats of strength with barbells. He also added chain-around-the-chest breaking and other colorful displays to Sandows routine. Sandow quickly became a sensation and Ziegfeld's first star.

Sandow's resemblance to the physiques found on classic Greek and Roman sculpture was no accident. He actually measured the marble artworks in museums and helped to develope "The Grecian Ideal" as a formula for the perfect physique. He built his physique to those exact proportions. Because of this, he is considered to be the father of modern bodybuilding, having been one of the first athletes to intentionally develope his musculature to pre-determined dimensions.

Sandow performed all over Europe and came to America to perform at the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago. He could be seen in a black velvet-lined box with his body covered in white powder to appear even more like a marble statue come to life. His popularity grew since he was cultured, highly intelligent, and well-mannered. He also dressed very well and had a charming European accent, coupled with deep blue eyes and hearty laugh. He wrote several books on bodybuilding, nutrition and encouraged a healthy lifestyle as being as important as having a sound mind.

He was married to Blanche Brooks Sandow, had 2 daughters, but was probably unfaithful to her, since he was constantly in the company of women who paid money to feel his flexed muscles back stage after his stage performances. He also had a close relationship to a male musician he hired to accompany him during his shows. The man was Martinus Sieveking, a handsome pupil of Sandow. The degree of their relationship has never been determined, but they lived together in New York for a time.

Sandow knew many famous people in his lifetime... among his friends were Arthur Conan Doyle; Thomas Edison, who made early motion pictures of Sandow; the King of England; Isabella Gardner of Boston and many other celebrities of the day. Sandow invented many bodybuilding exercises, some still used today, and equipment such as a lightweight dumbbell-shaped hand exerciser that was spring-loaded. He was quite generous with his time and money -- out of his own pocket, he paid the housing costs of foreign athletes at the Olympic Games held in London. Sandow was the promoter and judge at the first bodybuilding contest ever held, in New York on September 14, 1901. Sandow also made a world tour in 1903. He died prematurely in 1925 at age 58 of a stroke shortly after pushing his car out of the mud.

Sandow was a charming, intelligent and industrious man who worked very hard for what he earned. He also inspired countless men to look at their bodies as something at least as important as their minds, since for several decades in the 19th century, more men were working in offices as clerks, bankers and other jobs which turned many bodies pale and weak. He changed countless attitudes about health and fitness, and we continue to feel its effects today.

Whatever her limitations as an actress, Charlott Daudert made up for with wide-eyed effervescence and a cute, feisty personality. The bubbly blonde began working life as editor of the children's section of a newspaper (as 'Aunty Charlotte') in her home town of Königsberg, East Prussia. She also dabbled in drafting costume designs. The abandonment of her journalistic career seems to have come about all of a sudden and quite by accident: accompanying a friend to a theatrical audition as 'moral support' resulted in Charlotte, not the friend, being signed up for drama school. Her 'discovery' is generally credited to the renowned actor Max Pallenberg who took on the role of her mentor. Known by her peers as 'Charly', she made her debut in a minuscule part in Shakespeare's "Much Ado About Nothing" and spent the next three years at Tilsit's Stadttheater under Pallenberg's direction. Following a brief stint in local radio, she then moved on to wider canvases in Berlin where she underwent further tuition by Leopold Jessner. By 1933, Charly had developed into an accomplished comedienne and come to the attention of Trude Hesterberg. She began performing comedy routines and singing in various popular cabarets, including "Musenschaukel" and "Die Katakombe". At the same time, she spiced up the screen as perpetually naive, sexy friends of the heroine. Her output was rather heavily weighted towards escapist entertainments, some of them not at all bad: April, April! (1935), Der Etappenhase (1937), Kitty und die Weltkonferenz (1939). Resuming in the same vein in the aftermath of World War II, the ever likeable, pert, dizzy Charlott warbled a popular hit song ("Ach du liebe Zeit, hat den kein Mensch mehr für die Liebe Zeit") in the ruins of Berlin in Nacht ohne Sünde (1950). There were diverse other supporting roles in box-office hits, including the caper comedies Klettermaxe (1952) and Der blaue Stern des Südens (1951). Sadly, despite her enduring popularity as a conveyor of uncomplicated happiness, genuine stardom was never to be on the cards. The decline of Charly's career was to be exacerbated by depression and alcoholism. On occasion, she would come on stage and forget or fumble her lines. By the autumn of 1960, she was making plans to retire from acting and run an artists B & B in Monaco. It never came to pass. Just four months later she was dead from a blood disorder at the age of 47.

Ingeborg Lapsien was born on 16 October 1926 in Königsberg, East Prussia, Germany [now Kaliningrad, Russia]. She was an actress, known for Die unfreiwilligen Reisen des Moritz August Benjowski (1975), Schwarz greift ein (1994) and Amouren (1972). She died on 5 June 2014 in Germany.

Immanuel Kant was born the fourth of ten children in a family of craftsmen in Königsberg.

Between 1732 and 1740 Kant attended the Friedrichskollegium in Königsberg. In 1737 his mother died. After leaving school, he studied natural sciences, mathematics, philosophy, theology and classical Latin literature at the Albertina University in Königsberg from 1740 to 1745. His father died in 1745, shortly before completing his studies. While he was still studying and doing his doctorate, Immanuel Kant worked as a tutor and tutor in the area around Königsberg to secure his family's livelihood. During this time he also published his first natural-philosophical texts such as "Thoughts on the True Estimation of Living Forces" (1749). After this time, Kant never left Konigsberg for the rest of his life.

Nevertheless, he later led a sociable life. In the scientific, anonymously published work "General Natural History and Theory of the Heavens" (1755), Kant deals with the formation of the planetary system according to Newton's principles. In 1755 he completed his doctorate with a thesis on fire entitled "De igne". In the same year he completed his habilitation thesis "Nova Dilucidatio", a treatise on metaphysical principles, and began teaching as a private lecturer at the Albertina. His lecture subjects were varied: logic, ethics, metaphysics, mathematics, natural law, philosophical encyclopedia, pedagogy, mechanics, theology and anthropology. Kant's lectures were well attended. Again and again he tried to get a full professorship at the university, but this was rejected for a long time despite his high qualifications.

In the years from 1758 to 1762 Königsberg was occupied by the Russians. This period brought with it a relaxed social atmosphere in which Kant took part. He turned down a professorship for poetry at the Albertina. In 1766, in addition to his income from hearing aids and private tuition, he found another source of income when he accepted the position of assistant librarian at the royal palace library. He also declined an appointment at the University of Erlangen as a professor for logic and metaphysics, as well as that at the University of Jena. It was not until 1770 that Kant received a full professorship in logic and metaphysics at the University of Königsberg. In his inaugural lecture, he spoke about the topic "Sensual and Intelligible World". Here Kant separates sensual and intelligent knowledge, space and time are recognized as subjective forms of perception.

The topic of his inaugural speech became the basis for his main work "Critique of Pure Reason" (1781), on which he had worked for ten years. This was followed at shorter intervals by further critical writings such as "Critique of Practical Reason" (1788) or "Critique of Judgment" (1790). These works were intended as the cornerstone for an overall system of his philosophy, which, however, was only partially implemented. His article "Answering the Question: What is Enlightenment", which appeared in the Berlin Monthly Magazine in 1784, became famous, as did Kant's catchy answer, which he summed up: "Enlightenment is man's emergence from his self-inflicted immaturity". "The Critique of Pure Reason" surprised the reading public. The edition, of which another edition with changes appeared in 1787, was difficult to understand.

Kant remedied this by writing a more accessible edition in 1783 entitled "Prolegomena to any future metaphysics". In 1790 his writing "About a discovery according to which all new criticism of pure reason should be made superfluous by an older one" came out as a defense against school-philosophical attacks from the Leipniz-Wolffian corner. In 1786 Kant became a member of the Academy of Sciences. In 1795 his writing "Perpetual Peace" was published. In it Kant presents a utopian draft of a League of Nations. The work became a success. Two periods were recognizable in Kant's work: the pre-critical and, after the publication of his main work "Critique of Pure Reason" in 1781, the critical creative phase. The following stages of development became noticeable:

In his scientific phase from 1747 to 1755 he laid the foundation for his later theory of development. In his metaphysical phase he turned away from traditional Wolffian teaching and advocated a critical metaphysics. His critical philosophy began with his main work, followed by the stage of the post-critical creative period, including the work "Opus postumum", which was only published in 1938 and which combines Kant's criticism and the metaphysics of idealism. In his practical philosophy, Kant sees the "categorical imperative" as the supreme justification principle for morality and norms of action: "Only act according to that maxim through which you can also want it to become general law." In 1796 Kant gave his last lecture.

Immanuel Kant died in Koenigsberg on February 12, 1804.

Werner Richard Heymann was active as a classical composer in Berlin from 1912. By the end of the decade, he also wrote songs for cabaret and served as musical director for Max Reinhardt from 1918 to 1919. In films with Ufa from 1923, he initially worked as assistant to the head of the music department Erno Rapee, before replacing the latter in 1926. Heymann remained under contract until 1933 as musical director and composer, scoring several classic films for F.W. Murnau and Fritz Lang. He also established himself as among the foremost writers of songs for film operetta, creating hits for popular fare like Three from the Filling Station (1930) and Bombs Over Monte Carlo (1931).

Forced to flee from Nazi persecution because of his Jewish background, Heymann made his way to Hollywood via Paris and London. There, he was noted particularly for scoring two of Ernst Lubitsch's best films: Ninotchka (1939) and To Be or Not to Be (1942). Heymann returned to Germany in 1951 where he resumed writing film scores and songs for the theatre until his death in 1961.

Angelika Zielcke was born in 1945 in Königsberg, East Prussia, Germany. She is an actress, known for Eneide (1971), Der Kommissar (1969) and Anwalt Abel (1988).

Michael Fengler was born on 14 November 1940 in Königsberg, East-Prussia, Germany [now Kaliningrad, Russia]. He is a producer and writer, known for Why Does Herr R. Run Amok? (1970), Eierdiebe (1977) and Output (1974).

Heinz Goldberg was born on 30 May 1891 in Königsberg, East Prussia, Germany [now Kaliningrad, Russia]. He was a writer and director, known for Der Geldteufel (1923), Paganini (1923) and The Love Contract (1932). He died in July 1969 in Berlin, Germany.

Irene Mann was born on 12 April 1929 in Königsberg, East-Prussia, Germany [now Kaliningrad, Russia]. She was an actress and assistant director, known for The Last Waltz (1953), Wir tanzen auf dem Regenbogen (1952) and Ferien vom Ich (1963). She was married to Berno von Cramm. She died on 19 September 1996 in Pfaffenhofen an der Ilm, Bavaria, Germany.

Siegfried Voß was born on 16 June 1940 in Königsberg, East Prussia, Germany. He was an actor, known for Albert Einstein (1990), Tatort (1970) and Das Tal der sieben Monde (1967). He died on 22 April 2011.

Rosemarie Pasdar was born in Königsberg, East-Prussia, Germany [now Kaliningrad, Russia]. She is known for Made in U.S.A. (1987). She was previously married to Homayoon Pasdar.

Peter Musäus was born on 12 October 1939 in Königsberg, East-Prussia, Germany [now Kaliningrad, Russia]. He is an actor, known for Lost Horizon (2010), Kriminaltango (1995) and Tatort (1970).

Anneli Granget was born on 11 August 1935 in Königsberg, East-Prussia, Germany [now Kaliningrad, Russia]. She was an actress, known for Unseliger Sommer (1961), Jeder stirbt für sich allein (1962) and Am grünen Strand der Spree (1960). She died on 25 April 1971 in Nuremberg, Bavaria, West Germany.

Heinz Peter Scholz was born on 3 August 1916 in Königsberg, East Prussia, Germany. He was an actor, known for Ein Volksfeind (1965), Love's Carnival (1955) and Sonderdezernat K1 (1972). He died on 7 August 1992 in Berlin, Germany.

Kurt Zehe was born on 12 January 1913 in Königsberg, East Prussia, Germany. He was an actor, known for So ein Früchtchen (1942), The Black Forest Girl (1950) and Schwarzwälder Kirsch (1958). He died in 1969.