Editing Hildegard Knef (section)

== German film career ==

When the film ''[[Dreaming (1944 German film)|Träumerei]]'' was made in 1944, Knef shot some scenes, which would have marked her film debut, but these were left out of the final cut. She did appear in several films before the fall of [[Nazi Germany]], but most were released only afterward.   

During the [[Battle of Berlin]] she dressed as a soldier to stay with her lover, [[Ewald von Demandowsky]], and joined him in the defence of [[Schmargendorf]].<ref>Beevor, A (2003) ''Berlin: The Downfall 1945'', Penguin Books, p. 311</ref> The [[Soviet Union|Soviets]] captured her and sent her to a prison camp.<ref name="HKnefBio">{{cite web|last=Gurke|first=Thomas M|title=Hildergard Knef|url=http://www.hildegardknef.de/1-Hilde%20englisch/Chronology%201925-49.htm|publisher=Impressum|access-date=10 January 2013}}</ref> Her fellow prisoners helped her escape and return to Berlin. Von Demandowsky was executed by the Russians on 7 October 1946, but before that he secured for Knef the protection of the well-known character actor [[Viktor de Kowa]] in Berlin. De Kowa gave her the opportunity to be a [[Master of ceremonies|mistress of ceremonies]] in the theatre that he had opened. Knef also got a part in [[Marcel Pagnol]]'s ''Marius'', which was directed by [[Boleslaw Barlog]]. De Kowa also directed Knef in other plays by [[William Shakespeare|Shakespeare]], Pagnol, and [[George Abbott]].<ref name="The New York Times" />

Her two best-known film roles were Susanne Wallner  in [[Wolfgang Staudte]]'s film ''[[Die Mörder sind unter uns]]'' (''The Murderers Are Among Us''), produced in 1946 by the [[DEFA|East German state film company]] and the first film released after the [[Second World War]] in [[East Germany]]; and Marina in ''[[Die Sünderin]]'' (''The Sinner''), in which she performed a brief nude scene, the first in German film history, which caused a scandal in 1951.<ref>Ralf Schmitt, [http://www.spielfilm.de/news/4827/hildegard-knef-ist-tot-76jaehrige-starb-an-lungenentzuendung-in-berlin.html "Hildegard Knef ist tot"] ''Spielfilm'' (1 February 2002). Retrieved 5 March 2012 {{in lang|de}}</ref> The film was also criticised by the [[Catholic Church]], which protested against the nude scene. Knef stated that she didn't understand the tumult that the film was creating. She wrote that it was totally absurd that people considered her nudity to be scandalous, as Germany was the country that had created [[Auschwitz]] and had caused so much horror. She also wrote, "I had the scandal, the producers got the money."<ref name="The New York Times" />

In 1948 she received the best-actress award from the [[Locarno Film Festival]] because of her role in the film ''Film Without a Title''. Her singing career started in the 1960s once her film career was not going very well. She performed in television shows such as episodes of ''[[Scarecrow and Mrs King]]'' and a 2000 documentary in which she was playing by herself ''Marlene Dietrich: Her Own Song''.<ref name=Gale />

In the 1960s she appeared in a number of low-budget films, including ''[[The Lost Continent (1968 film)|The Lost Continent]]''.

She appeared in the 1975 screen adaptation of the [[Hans Fallada]] novel ''[[Every Man Dies Alone]]'' directed by [[Alfred Vohrer]],<ref name="CRaddatzBio">{{cite web|last=Warneke|first=Peter|title=Biographie Carl Raddatz|url=http://www.filmmuseum-potsdam.de/Carl-Raddatz.html|publisher=Film Museum Potsdam|access-date=5 March 2012}}</ref> released in English as ''[[Everyone Dies Alone]]'' in 1976, and for which she won an award for best actress at the International Film Festival in [[Karlovy Vary]], then [[Czechoslovakia]].<ref name="HKnefBio" />

During her career she performed in more than 50 films. Nineteen of her films were produced in countries other than Germany: the United States, United Kingdom, France, Italy, Austria and Spain.<ref name="HKnef_10Facts" />