Biography

Hans Behrendt was born on September 28, 1889 in Berlin, Germany. He was a writer and director, known for Alt Heidelberg (1923), The Island of the Lost (1921) and Dyckerpotts Erben (1928). He died in 1942 in Auschwitz-Birkenau Concentration Camp, Oswiecim, Malopolskie, Poland.

The director, actor and screen writer Hans Behrendt attended a study for literature, afterwards he dedicated to the acting. He was introduced to this métier at the Max-Reinhardt acting school and in 1911 he made his stage debut.

When Austria became part of the Deutsche Reich in 1938 Hans Behrendt had to emigrate again. His way led him to Belgium but two years later he was arrested by the Belgian police. Firstly he was placed in different prison camps in France, at the end he was deported to the KZ Auschwitz in 1942. There he died during his detention, most likely already in 1942.

From 1923 Hans Behrendt also practiced to direct movies.

After Word War I Hans Behrendt got in touch with the film business and he made his film debut as an actor in 1920 with "Maria Magalene" (1920) and "Katharina die Grosse" (1920). For "Katharina die Grosse" (1920) he wrote together with Bobby E. Lüthge the screenplay. This duo worked together in the next years for other screenplays.

Afterwards his career in Germany ended. Because of his Jewish ancestry he had to leave Germany and he first went to Spain where he directed the movies "Miguelon, o el ultimo contrabandista" (1933) and "Dona Francisquita" (1934). Finally he decided to go to Austria in 1936. There he continued his career as a stage actor at the Theater in der Josefstadt and he also shot his last movie as a director in Vienna called "Fräulein Lilli" (1936).