Brigitte Mira

The textile collection contains articles of clothing and accessories from the 1930s to the 1990s. It includes a dress from Rainer Werner Fassbinder’s ‘Angst essen Seele auf’ and a fur coat that she bought directly in Cannes in 1974 to wear to an unexpected award ceremony for the film (Prize of the Ecumenical Jury; Prix FIPRESCI du Festival de Cannes). The collection of photographs includes albums, individual prints and slides ranging from the period in 1936, when Mira performed in the stageplay “Schuss ins Blaue” in Kiel, to 2002, when she appeared in the “Jedermann Festival” performances at Berlin Cathedral. Aside from 30 private photo albums, the albums on numerous works for theatre, television, film and show appearances are particularly important. They also include photos of her first role in ‘Liese und Miese’, a short film series directed by Eugen York that began in 1943. This series intended to propagate appropriate wartime behavior by purposefully casting polar opposites ‒ with Mira playing the negative character and Gisela Schlüter her positive counterpart. However, the series was discontinued after only 10 episodes, because audiences were much more prone to sympathize with Mira’s “Miese” (nasty) character. In addition to many press clippings, private and work-related correspondence, there are also personal documents, programmes and production records, including 42 screenplays and scripts, 14 notebooks and 93 video cassettes. Alongside feature films and recordings of show appearances, these also contain documentaries about Brigitte Mira and her appearances on talk shows. (Text: Barbara Schröter)