Trivia

Rolf Wenkhaus was among an entire crew of six killed when their plane, a Focke-Wulf Fw 200 "Condor," was shot down during World War II. The Condor was a four-engine bomber that specialized in attacking shipping. Wenkhuas's plane, with identification code F8 MH 0093, was shot down January 31, 1942, off the coast of Bloody Foreland, County Donegal, Ireland by the HMS Genista, a Flower-class Corvette utilized as a convoy escort. The body of the Condor's pilot, Werner Bornefeld, washed up at Bunbeg, Ireland two weeks later.

Rolf Wenkhaus was the son of actor Kurt Wenkhaus.

He made his film debut at age 14 in 1931 as a child actor in the role of Emil in the Gerhard Lamprecht-directed adventure film Emil and the Detectives (German: Emil und die Detektive) for Universum Film AG. The film was based on Erich Kästner's 1929 novel Emil and the Detectives.

After the outbreak of World War II, Wenkhaus enlisted in the military and was killed in action in 1942.

In 1933 he appeared in one of the Third Reich's first propaganda films S.A.-Mann Brand as Erich Lohner, a juvenile member of the Hitler Youth who selflessly sacrifices himself at film's end to save a comrade. Like many Nazi propaganda films of the period, S.A.-Mann Brand was banned from viewing for many years following World War II.

Wenkhaus would be one of three young actors from Emil and the Detectives to be killed while serving in the military in World War II. Co-stars Hans Joachim Schaufuß would be killed in action at age 23 in October 1941 in Oryol and Hans Albrecht Löhr would be killed in action at age 21 in August 1942 on the Eastern Front.

Because his corpse has never been found they officially pronounced his dead only in 1948.

When World War II broke out he volunteered for the army. He became a crew member of the Condor bomber which was used as an escort at the coast of Ireland. The bomber was shot on January 31, 1942 and the whole crew including Rolf Wenkhaus lost their life.

The actor Rolf Wenkhaus applied for a role when the UFA was looking for the cast of the filming of Erich Kästner's bestseller "Emil und die Detektive". Rolf Wenkhaus was chosen for the title role and as Emil Tischbein he became famous overnight and the movie "Emil und die Detektive" (31) became a box-office hit.