Marlene Dietrich honoured by Berlin
Ten years after Marlene Dietrich’s death, her native Berlin today named her an honorary citizen of the city.
The actress had shunned Berlin for most of her life after turning her back on Nazi Germany.
The rare honour was a late reconciliation with the Hollywood diva, who was reviled after the Second World War by many Germans who viewed her as a traitor for supporting the Allies.
Born Maria Magdalene von Losch in 1901, Dietrich died in Paris in 1992 but was buried in Berlin at her request.
Dietrich’s grandson Peter Riva, who accepted the honour in her name at a city hall ceremony, said the 1989 fall of the Berlin Wall prompted her change of heart about the city she felt had rejected her.
‘‘For many years, Marlene was angry with Berlin as only a true lover can be,’’ he said. But the end of the capital’s post-war division excited Dietrich, then living in Paris.
‘‘For the first time, we heard her talk about ‘My Berlin’. From that moment her destiny changed and she made the decision that she would return to Berlin forever,’’ said Riva, 52.
The city government said it wanted to honour Dietrich’s artistic achievements, her world star status, and the opposition to the Nazis and support for Jewish refugees that made her an ambassador of ‘‘the other, democratic Germany’’.
