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Artur Brauner

Artur Brauner, one of the most important figures in German and international film in the post-war period, was born in Łódź in 1918, the son of Polish Jews, Moshe and Brana Brauner. His father was a successful timber merchant. Artur’s original name was Abraham, but as early as his time in primary school he wanted to be known as Artur. Decades later Artur Brauner could look back on over 250 films which he had produced himself, not in Łódź however, but Berlin. He was also the first Western film producer to produce a film in Poland.

Artur Brauner had lived in Berlin since 1945. He died there on 7 July 2019 at the age of 100. He was buried in the row of honour at the Heerstraße Jewish Cemetery. His Polish was accentless until the end.

The film producer Artur “Atze” Brauner. The photo was taken on 25th January 2002 in Leipzig when he was there for the mdr talkshow “Riverboat”.

picture-alliance / ZB

Artur Brauner was a highly successful film producer above all in the area of entertainment. His Edgar Wallace productions, his Karl May films and the Dr. Mabuse series are unforgettable, as are the box office hits “The Good Soldier Schwejk”, “Die Nibelungen”, “Kampf um Rom” and “Teufel in Seide”. Artur Brauner’s films always kept up with fashions and disdained no trends. His success proved him right and gave him the money to work with great stars like Romy Schneider, Sonja Ziemann, Heinz Rühmann, Maria Schell, Cornelia Froboess, Peter Alexander, Freddy Quinn, Caterina Valente, Klaus Kinski, Curd Jürgens and Gert Fröbe.

Artur Brauner constantly aimed to maintain his contact with Poland. He was also the first Western producer to produce a film in Poland. This was in 1958 when he made the film “The Eighth Day of the Week” (Ósmy dzień tygdonia), freely adapted from a short story by Marek Hłasko. The director was Aleksander Ford, and the main role was played by Brauner’s discovery Sonja Ziemann. As a result of their collaboration Brauner made three further films with Ford. After the events of “March 1968” and the anti-Semitic campaigns in Socialist Poland, Artur Brauner broke off all contacts with his native country. It was only in the 1980s that he returned to the “Polish film landscape”, where he produced films by the likes of Andrzej Wajda, Agnieszka Holland and Jerzy Hoffman.

Adam Gusowski, February 2016

Additional information:

Artur Brauner set up the “Artur Brauner Foundation” in 1991. He said that the aim of the foundation was to promote understanding between Jews and Christians as well as tolerance between people of different religions, cultural circles, skin colour and social and ethnic origins. The aim of the foundation can be especially seen in the annual award of the "Artur Brauner Film Prize" to German-language film producers whose films disseminate tolerance and humanist values to their audiences.

In 1976 the Herbig Verlag published Artur Brauner’s autobiography, “Mich gibt's nur einmal. Rückblende eines Lebens”. The book revealed that “Atze” Brauner (that is the name of the author on the cover) to be a God-given storyteller. Artur Brauner’s fascinating and sometimes humorous memories give readers an insight into the turbulent life of a successful film producer. Sadly, not more. The book concentrates on the 1950s and less on the person of Artur Brauner: it is centred on screenwriters, directors and film stars who lived and worked with him.