Therese Giehse - Early Career

Early Career

When the Nazis came to power in 1933, Giehse left Germany for Zürich, Switzerland, where she continued to act in exile, playing leading roles in Zürich, including in Erika Mann's acclaimed political cabaret, the Pfeffermühle (which was itself also an exile, having been transported from Munich to Zürich in 1933 as well). During her exile, she traveled throughout central Europe with Pfeffermühle. On 20 May 1936 she married the homosexual English writer John Hampson, in order to obtain a British passport and thereby avoid capture by the Nazis. She returned to Germany after World War II, and performed in theatres on both sides of the Iron Curtain, but mostly in her native Bavaria, until her death in 1975.