Elisabeth Schmal (1927-2021)
Elisabeth was born and raised in Vitry-sur-Orne, in Moselle. On August 25, 1939, while visiting her uncle in Saarbrücken, she was given an album of stickers featuring film stars, which he had collected for her. The stickers came from the packets of cigarettes he used to buy. Shirley Temple appeared alongside Danielle Darrieux, Marika Rökk and Marlene Dietrich. For a while, cinema remained an international pastime.
Elisabeth treasured the album until her death, and it reflected her interest in cinema whilst she was still just a young teenager. A few days after her holiday in Saarbrücken, the war broke out. She would continue to develop her passion for cinema, but only through the films that the Nazis chose to screen in Moselle.
Elisabeth described herself as a fan of German films. With her friends, she went often in movie theaters located in the cities next to her village (Rombas, Amnéville, Moyeuvre) to see films. She remembered also that one day she took the bus with her mother to go « in the big city, in Metz » and she saw the film Rembrandt (1942, Hans Steinhoff). That was probably in October 1942 during the two weeks screening of this film in Rex. Or maybe, two years later, in February 1944, while it was re-screening in Scala for eleven days.
« My parents didn’t have time, poor things – they had to work. My father was at the factory, working all three shifts. When he came home, well… We had to grow grain for our hens and rabbits. We never went without food because my parents worked so hard. There were just those times when I’d stand in front of the sideboard, open the door and say to Mum, ‘Don’t you have a little treat for me?’ It was those little treats I missed… But otherwise… The geese and the hens meant work. So they didn’t go for them ».
Elisabeth and her friends marvelled at the spectacular nature of German films and the songs they featured.
Photo 74 : DR – Portrait of the French actress Dannielle Darrieux (1917-2017).
Photo 75 : Bundesarchiv (Bild 146-2006-0197) – Portrait of the actress Marika Rökk (1913-2004).