She was one of the most popular actresses in East Germany: in 1977, Eva-Maria Hagen followed her former partner Wolf Biermann to the West. Now the versatile artist has died.
She was considered the “Brigitte Bardot of the GDR”: The actress, singer and author Eva-Maria Hagen died on August 16 in Hamburg at the age of 87, the management said on behalf of the family.
The mother of punk singer Nina Hagen and grandmother of actress Cosma-Shiva Hagen made the DEFA film comedy “Don’t forget my Traudel” popular, and she appeared in around 50 TV and cinema films by 1965. In the same year, Eva-Maria Hagen met the singer-songwriter Wolf Biermann, who was critical of the regime. In 1977 she followed her ex-partner to Hamburg, where she lived until the end.
“On August 16, 2022, our beloved Eva-Maria Hagen left this earthly world and preceded us to our eternal home. We mourn with longing, with love and gratitude. Nina, Cosma and Otis Hagen – as well as all their friends, Companions,” was the message that the management spread on behalf of the family.
Eva-Maria Hagen was born on October 19, 1934 in Koltschen in Eastern Pomerania in what is now Poland. After fleeing to the West, which she described in her book “Eva Beyond Paradise”, the family found a new home in Perleberg, Mecklenburg. After an apprenticeship as a machine fitter, she began studying acting in East Berlin in 1952, where she made her debut in 1953 under the direction of Bertolt Brecht at the Berliner Ensemble. Within a short time she became one of the most successful actresses in East Germany, not least because of her continued success as the flower girl Eliza in the musical “My Fair Lady”.
Biermann marked a turning point in her life
Meeting Biermann was a turning point in her life. The film diva was accused of defamation of the state and from then on made guest appearances in provincial theaters. When she publicly protested against Biermann’s expatriation in 1976, Hagen was dismissed without notice and banned from working. In 1977 she followed her ex-partner to Hamburg with her daughter Nina, who came from her previous marriage to the writer Hans Oliva-Hagen. In addition to film and theater, she built a second career as a chanson singer in the West. She also made a name for herself as an author, for example in 1998 she published the correspondence with Biermann in her book “Eva und der Wolf”.
Only after the fall of the Wall did Hagen shoot films in Babelsberg in Potsdam again, appear on stage as “Medea” or “Mother Courage” or sing Brecht songs. She also took on guest roles in many television series, starred together with Harald Juhnke in “Jugendsünde”. In the cinema, she starred in comedies such as “Dinosaurs – you look old against us!” (2009), as well as in dramas like “Take your life” (2004) and “Lore” (2012). Together with daughter Nina and granddaughter Cosma-Shiva she was in front of the camera for the Snow White film “Seven Dwarfs – Men Alone in the Forest”. In 2014, all three Hagen women dubbed the new “Biene Maja” film together.
Minister of State for Culture Claudia Roth (Greens) paid tribute to her life and work: “With Eva-Maria Hagen we are losing a great, versatile and courageous artist whose biography reflects German-German history – she wrote history with her art,” it said Friday in a statement.
“Second World War and expulsion, Stasi surveillance and a ban on working – all of this has shaped Eva-Maria Hagen’s eventful life. After courageously opposing the SED regime and finally having to leave the GDR, she started all over again in West Germany and showed once again that she was a unique all-rounder as an actress and singer, author and painter,” says Roth. (dpa)