Background
Joachim Gottschalk was born on 10 April 1904. He was a son of a doctor.
Joachim Gottschalk was born on 10 April 1904. He was a son of a doctor.
Having gradually established a reputation at Leipzig and Frankfurt am Main, Gottschalk was called to Berlin in 1938, appearing in a number of films which earned him wide success.
After the outbreak of war, Gottschalk found himself increasingly ostracized because of his Jewish wife, whom he refused to divorce in spite of constant pressure from Nazi officials.
In 1941 the Gestapo accused his wife of Rassenschande (racial defilement), giving her and her eight-year-old son one day to pack and leave the country.
The strain had become intolerable and, after killing their child, the Gottschalk couple committed suicide on 6 November 1941, before Gestapo agents could raid their home. News of the tragic death of the handsome young actor and his family spread quickly through Berlin's artistic quarter, nearly causing a revolt in the film studios.