Nazi-era entertainer dies at 108

Dutch-born entertainer Johannes Heesters has died at the age of 108, his agent said.

Dutch-born entertainer Johannes Heesters has died at the age of 108, his agent said.

Heesters made his name performing in Adolf Hitler’s Germany and was dogged later in his decades-long career by controversy over his Nazi-era past.

Agent Juergen Ross said Heesters died at the hospital in the southern city of Starnberg early today.

Heesters’ career took off in Berlin, where - starting in 1935, two years after the Nazis took power - he became a crowd favourite at the Komische Oper and Admiralspalast.

READ MORE

Heesters was never accused of being a propagandist or anything other than an artist willing to perform for the Nazis, and the Allies allowed him to continue his career after the war, when he took Austrian citizenship.

AP