Trivia

Father of Elisabeth Degen.

Managed to survive the Nazi terror regime together with his mother. While his father was deported to a concentration camp and died shortly after World War II, they were hidden by friends in Berlin.

Published his critically acclaimed autobiography "Nicht alle waren Mörder - Eine Kindheit in Berlin" (Not everyone was a murderer - A childhood in Berlin) in 1999.

After studying acting in Berlin, he made his stage debut at the Deutsches Theater in Berlin. In the following decades, he collaborated with some of the most important stage directors in Germany such as Bertolt Brecht, Rudolf Noelte or Peter Zadek.

From 1954, Degen played in Bertolt Brecht's ensemble at the Theater am Schiffbauerdamm in Ost Berlin.

In his career he played Shakespeare's Hamlet 300 times.

Degen served as a soldier in Israel and acted in theaters in Tel Aviv.

In a Buddenbrooks film adaptation, Degen played Tonys first husband Bendix Grünlich.

He played Hitler in Michael Kehlmann's Film Geheime Reichssache and the Vice-Questore Patta in the TV series Donna Leon.

He performed in Munich, Salzburg and Hamburg and worked with directors such as Ingmar Bergman, George Tabori, Peter Zadek and Claude Chabrol.

He was director for four years at the Bayerisches Staatsschauspiel , Munich.

Is portrayed by Aaron Altaras on Nicht alle waren Mörder (2006), the movie about his childhood.

In 1955/56, he was engaged at the municipal theater in Cologne, from 1956 to 1963 he was at the Mannheim National Theatre, followed by the Schauspiel Frankfurt in 1963/64.

Since 1963, Degen appeared in films.

In 1949, he emigrated to Israel for two years.

In 1946, Degen appeared on stage for the first time.

From 1967 to 1973, he worked at the Staatliche Schauspielbühnen Berlin.

He was Israeli and German citizen.

He was also a director, his premiere was in Goethe's Urfaust.

He was a film actor and worked in theatre as actor and director.

Degen wrote in his 1999 debut Nicht alle waren Mörder. Eine Kindheit in Berlin (Not All Were Murderers. A childhood in Berlin) about his own experiences during the Nazi era.

Degen survived as a child the Holocaust in Berlin.

He had four children from previous marriages.

He was a German-Israeli actor.

His father Jacob Degen, a language professor and businessman, died in 1940 in the Sachsenhausen concentration camp In order to survive, mother Anna and son Michael hid in an arbor colony until the end of the war.