Editing Emil Jannings (section)

==Childhood and youth==
Jannings was born in [[Rorschach, Switzerland|Rorschach]], Switzerland, the son of Emil Janenz, an American businessman from [[St. Louis]], and his wife Margarethe (''née'' Schwabe), originally from Germany.<ref>Roman Rocek: Die neun Leben des Alexander Lernet-Holenia. Eine Biographie. Böhlau, Wien u.a. 1997; {{ISBN|3-205-98713-6}}. S. 186</ref><ref>Frank Noack: "Jannings. Der erste deutsche Weltstar". Collection Rolf Heyne, [[München]] 2012</ref> Jannings held German citizenship; while he was still young the family moved to [[Leipzig]] in the [[German Empire]] and further to [[Görlitz]] after the early death of his father.

Jannings ran away from school and went to sea. When he returned to Görlitz, his mother finally allowed him to begin a traineeship at the town state theatre, where he started his stage career. From 1901 onwards he worked with several theatre companies in [[Bremen]], [[Nuremberg]], Leipzig, [[Königsberg]], and [[Głogów|Glogau]] before joining the [[Deutsches Theater (Berlin)|Deutsches Theater]] ensemble under director [[Max Reinhardt]] in Berlin.<ref name="Times51580"/> Permanently employed since 1915, Jannings met with playwright [[Karl Vollmöller]], fellow actor [[Ernst Lubitsch]], and photographer [[Frieda Riess]]. After World War I all were at the heart of [[Weimar Culture]] in [[1920s Berlin]]. Jannings made his breakthrough in 1918 with his role as Judge Adam in Kleist's ''[[The Broken Jug|Broken Jug]]'' at the [[Konzerthaus Berlin|Schauspielhaus]].