Werner Finck

Werner Finck (2 May 1902 – 31 July 1978) was a German Kabarett comedian, actor and author. Not politically motivated by his own admission but just a "convinced individualist", he became one of Germany's leading cabaret artists under the conditions of the Nazi suppression after 1933.

Born in Görlitz in Prussian Silesia, the son of a pharmacist, Finck attended an art school in Dresden and began his career as an itinerant storyteller of fairy tales in the 1920s. He took acting lessons and began a mediocre tenure in the theatre, making his debut in Silesian Bunzlau (present-day Bolesławiec, Poland). However, it became obvious that he had "comic bones" and when he met a friend who had contacts in the Berlin Kabarett scene, he found his true calling.

Together with artists like Hans Deppe, Rudolf Platte and Robert A. Stemmle he founded the cabaret Die Katakombe with some friends in 1929. Finck acted as conferencier, and the cabaret, became successful because of his critical and subtly impudent remarks against the Nazis, proving to be an early thorn in their side. Finck had an ability to be seemingly lost for words when saying something and the audience, playing along, finished his sentences. He often defied authority by daring Gestapo informers in the audience to write down every word he said. According to an anecdote, Finck once confronted an officer asking with seeming innocence, "Am I talking too fast? Can you follow me or shall I follow you?"

According to his later accounts, Finck was confronted with politics for the very first time: "If only I had known that all these people were just Mitläufer. Some even camouflaged as Gauleiter. (...) So quite a few people claim I had disapproved of the Nazis. I would like to point out that these are defamations. You never know. (...) I must admit though that the Nazis disapproved of me." The way Finck presented his jokes made it very difficult for authorities to nail him down. His exploits made him a legend in his lifetime, to such an extent that when he introduced himself to British and American journalists after the war, he was met with disbelief as they believed that the "Werner Finck" who joked against the Nazis was a fairy-tale figure.

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