Marlene Dietrich Collection Berlin

Marlene Dietrich’s extensive estate has been housed at the Deutsche Kinemathek since 1993. The entire archive is completely indexed and secured and has been at least partially digitized. New collections are also being acquired on an ongoing basis to expand our holdings. The collection can be viewed upon advance registration with the Deutsche Kinemathek. Certain prominent or highly notable items have been put into the permanent exhibition for viewing. We look forward to your visit.

The Marlene Dietrich Collection Berlin features:

Written documents covering roughly 300,000 sheets of paper
File folders with documents from her private life, including:

– 70 official personal documents such as birth certificate, marriage certificate, ID cards, passports, permits, power of attorney, certificate of naturalization
– 12 school notebooks from 1912–1918;
– 155 file folders with rental documents, bank documents, tax documents, medical documents, travel documents

File folders related to professional life, including:

– 270 contracts and business-related documents on films, show appearances, self-publications and audio recordings;
– roughly 1,200 file folders containing invoices;
– 60 file folders with tax documents;
– 30 file folders on legal disputes;
– 95 film scripts
– 129 file folders with manuscripts and typescripts related to autobiography, publications and more

45,000 sheets of correspondence

– 1,280 file folders with correspondence to Marlene Dietrich, including from David Bowie, Jean Cocteau, Max Frisch, Hildegard Knef, Ernest Hemingway, Karl Lagerfeld, Alfred Polgar, Nancy and Ronald Reagan, Erich Maria Remarque, Josef von Sternberg, Carl Zuckmayer
– 920 file folders with correspondence from Marlene Dietrich (drafts of letters, copies, carbon copies, copies of telegram texts), including to Jean Gabin, Ernst Lubitsch, Meri von Sternberg, Orson Welles, Billy Wilder
– 790 file folders with correspondence between third parties, mostly to family members

Private library with 1,800 titles
including:

– 355 signed copies with dedications, including by Harold Arlen, Max Frisch, Milton H. Greene, Christopher Isherwood, Alexander Liberman, Konstantin Paustowsky, Alfred Polgar, Erich Maria Remarque, Maximilian Schell, Johannes Mario Simmel, Christa Winsloe, Carl Zuckmayer
– Underlining and handwritten notes by Marlene Dietrich, especially in autobiographies from Ingrid Bergman, Max Colpet, Hildegard Knef, and Dietrich biographies from Helga Bemmann, Homer Dickens, René Droz, Charles Higham, Sheridan Morley, Charles Silver, Alexander Walker

16,500 photos, 1904–1992
including:

– 6,500 set photos and production stills from films
– 5,000 photos from show appearances
– 2,000 photos from public appearances
– Private and family photography
– 2,000 original prints from famous photographers such as Martin Badekow, Cecil Beaton, Mario Bucovich, Irving Chidnoff, Don English, Horst P. Horst, George Hurrell, Armstrong Jones, Ray Jones, Eugene Robert Richee, Edward Steichen and William Walling

3,300 textile objects from the 1920s to the 1990s
including:

– 40 Film- und 30 Showkostüme u. a. von Jean Louis, Travis Banton, Edith Head, Eddie Schmidt
– qualitativ hochwertige Privatgarderobe u.a. von von Elizabeth Arden, Balenciaga, Balmain, Chanel, Courrèges, Dior, Givenchy, Guerlain, Irene, Knize, Lee, Levis, Schiaparelli, Ungaro
– Textile Sammlung mit 70 Handtaschen, u.a. von Azka, Koret, Lilly Dache, Etienne Aigner, Edouard; 90 Paar Handschuhe u.a. von Germaine Bouché, John Frederics, Hermès; 400 Hüte u.a. von Agnès, Cavanagh, Dobbs, John Frederics, Yves Saint Laurent; 430 Paar Schuhe u.a. von Aprile, Delman, Edouard, Massaro, Vivier

2,500 audio documents objects from the 1930s to the 1980s
 

350 posters, drawings and paintings
including:

– 100 costume sketches
– 60 film posters
– 70 graphics
– 120 show posters
 

Extensive file folders containing 3D objects with high quality jewelry, accessories and luggage, among other items

December 27, 1901
Birth of Marie Magdalene Dietrich, second daughter of Louis Erich Otto Dietrich and his wife Elisabeth Josefine, née Felsing

1907–1919
Attends school in Berlin and Dessau

1920/21
Boarding school in Weimar; violin lessons from Professor Robert Reitz, court kapellmeister and instructor at the music school there

October 1922
First theater roles in chamber plays and in the Großes Schauspielhaus, Berlin; first film roles in ‘So sind die Männer’ (GER, 1922, Director: Georg Jacoby) and ‘Der Mensch am Wege’ (GER, 1923, Director: Wilhelm Dieterle); during the filming of ‘Tragödie der Liebe’ (GER, 1923, Director: Joe May) introduced to Rudolf Sieber

May 17, 1923
Marriage to Rudolf Sieber; the marriage would last until his death in 1976.

December 13, 1924
Birth of daughter Maria

1927
First lead role alongside Willi Forst in the Austrian film ‘Café Electric’ (German title: ‘Wenn ein Weib den Weg verliert’, Austria, 1927, directed by Gustav Ucicky)

October 1929
Screen test and contract for the film ‘Der blaue Engel’ (GER, 1930, directed by Josef von Sternberg)

April 1, 1930
Premiere of the film ‘Der blaue Engel’ in the Gloria Palast, Berlin

April 2, 1930
Trip on the 'Bremen' to the USA

November 14, 1930
Premiere of her first American film ‘Morocco’ (USA, 1930, Director: Josef von Sternberg)

December 6, 1930–April 17, 1931
Residence in Berlin; returns to Hollywood with daughter Maria

1935
After seven films together, breaks off work with Josef von Sternberg

1937
Applies for US citizenship

June 9, 1939
Marlene Dietrich becomes citizen of the USA

1944/45
Participation in the Camp Shows of the United Service Organization (U.S.O.) in North Africa, Italy, France and Germany

September 1945
Visits mother in Berlin

November 3, 1945
Death of mother in Berlin

November 18, 1947
Marlene Dietrich becomes first woman to be decorated with the Medal of Freedom, America’s highest civilian commendation, by Major General Maxwell D. Taylor.

November 8, 1950
Marlene Dietrich is decorated by France as a “Chevalier de la Légion d’Honneur”; in 1971 President Georges Pompidou raises her to status of “Officier”, and in 1989 President François Mitterand further elevates her to “Commandeur”

1953
First solo appearance in the Sahara Hotel, Las Vegas

1960
Tour through Europe; appearance in the Federal Republic of Germany, including in May in the Titania Palast Berlin

1962
Publication of book: ‘Marlene Dietrich’s ABC’ (New York Doubleday, 1962; Berlin, Blanvalet Verlag, 1963)

1975
Last tour through Belgium, Netherlands, Great Britain, Canada, USA and Australia

1976
Retires to Paris apartment at Avenue Montaigne 12

1978
Last film appearance in ‘Schöner Gigolo, armer Gigolo’ (FRG, 1978, directed by David Hemmings)

1979
Autobiography: ‘Nehmt nur mein Leben’

1984
Documentary film ‘Marlene’ by Maximilian Schell (FRG, F, CZ, 1984)

May 6, 1992
Marlene Dietrich passes away in her Paris apartment.

May 16, 1992
Burial in Berlin in the Friedhof Friedenau, Stubenrauchstraße 43

Online presentation of “Impressions from the Marlene Dietrich Collection Berlin”

Project direction: Franziska Latell (2018), Matthias Struch (2017)

Project concept: Franziska Latell, Peter Mänz, Silke Ronneburg

Professional archiving support: Silke Ronneburg, Dr. Barbara Schröter

Indexing: Annette Groschke, Niklas Hütter, Florian Nörenberg, Silke Ronneburg, Dr. Barbara Schröter, Anke Vetter, Markus Alexander Watzl, Katharina Weber

Preparation of thesaurus: Elke Weidlich

Editorial work for archive database: Sandra Schieke

Translation into English: Steven William Sidore

Digitization: Siegmar Brüggenthies

QA for digitization: Marian Stefanowski

Long-term digital archiving: Antje Dittmann

Data modelling, data export: Sandra Schieke

Technical adaptation / Middleware: Johannes Starlinger

Rights research and clarification: Mirjana Lozančić, Matthias Struch

IT and system administration: Christian Hoffmann, Thoralf Schulze, Gergö Ulbrich

Our thanks go out for the generous contributions of the Berlin Senate Committee for Culture and Europe and the Friends of the Deutsche Kinemathek. Their support has allowed us to digitize roughly 2,000 objects from the archive in 2017 and 2018 with the aid of the research and competency center of digitization Berlin (Forschungs- und Kompetenzzentrum Digitalisierung Berlin).

We also owe our thanks to

Jürgen Bosse, Volkmar Ernst, Anja Müller (Forschungs- und Kompetenzzentrum Digitalisierung)

All materials published as part of the online presentation of the “Impressions from the Marlene Dietrich Collection Berlin” exhibit are copyright protected and may only be reused by third parties with explicit written permission.