Lale Andersen - Early Life

Early Life

She was born in Lehe, now part of Bremerhaven and baptized Liese-Lotte Helene Berta Bunnenberg. In 1922, at the age of 17, she married Paul Ernst Wilke (1894 – 1971), a local painter. They had three children together: Björn, Carmen-Litta, and Michael. Shortly after the birth of the third child, the marriage broke up. Leaving the children in the care of her relatives (sister Thekla and brother Helmut), Lale went to Berlin in October 1929, where she reportedly studied acting at the Schauspielschule at the Deutsches Theater. In 1931, her marriage ended in divorce. About the same year, she began appearing on stage in various cabarets in Berlin. From 1933 to 1937, she performed at the Schauspielhaus in Zürich, where she also met Rolf Liebermann, who would remain a close friend for the rest of her life. In 1938, Lale was in Munich at the cabaret Simpl, and soon afterwards joined the prestigious Kabarett der Komiker in Berlin.