German Studies Faculty Publications German Studies 2-2015 Escape Artistry: Elisabeth Bergner and Jewish Disappearance in Der träumende Mund (Czinner, 1932) Kerry Wallach Gettysburg College Follow this and additional works at: https://cupola.gettysburg.edu/gerfac Part of the Cultural History Commons, European History Commons, Film and Media Studies Commons, German Language and Literature Commons, Jewish Studies Commons, and the Women's History Commons Share feedback about the accessibility of this item. Recommended Citation Wallach, Kerry. "Escape Artistry: Elisabeth Bergner and Jewish Disappearance in Der träumende Mund (Czinner, 1932)." German Studies Review 38.1 (February 2015), 17-34. This is the author's version of the work. This publication appears in Gettysburg College's institutional repository by permission of the copyright owner for personal use, not for redistribution. Cupola permanent link: https://cupola.gettysburg.edu/gerfac/28 This open access article is brought to you by The Cupola: Scholarship at Gettysburg College. It has been accepted for inclusion by an authorized administrator of The Cupola. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. Escape Artistry: Elisabeth Bergner and Jewish Disappearance in Der träumende Mund (Czinner, 1932) Abstract The late Weimar film Der träumende Mund culminates in the apparent but unconfirmed suicide of its female protagonist, played by Elisabeth Bergner. Bergner, whose background contributed to the film’s Jewish reception, and who later claimed to have written the film’s screenplay, left Germany and went into exile with director Paul Czinner in 1932. This film and the circumstances of its production and premiere link tragic modes of self-erasure, including the suicides of both many women and many German Jews, to notions of escape, emigration, and reemergence.