Swetlana Schönfeld in front of the German Theater in Berlin.Image: www.imago-images.de
From the Maxim Gorki Theater to the Salzburg Festival to “Tatort”: Swetlana Schönfeld was at home on many stages. Her variety of roles will never be forgotten.
May 27, 2026, 9:57 p.mMay 27, 2026, 9:57 p.m
She was also known from the “crime scene”: The actress Swetlana Schönfeld is dead. She died in Berlin on May 17th after a short serious illness at the age of 74, as the Windhuis acting agency announced, citing her family. The funeral is planned in a small circle.
Schönfeld was an ensemble member of the Maxim Gorki Theater and the Berliner Ensemble for many years. She played at the Deutsches Theater, the Schaubühne am Lehniner Platz, the Salzburg Festival and the Ruhrtriennale. Over the course of her long theater career, she has worked with well-known directors such as Thomas Langhoff, Luc Bondy, Andrea Breth and Claus Peymann.
She began her film and television career at DEFA in the GDR. In 1977 she won the Ernst Zinna Prize for best actress. Since the 1990s she has also appeared in numerous film and, above all, television productions from “Soko Wismar” to “Betty’s Diagnosis”.
Among other things, she played Inspector Saalfeld’s mother in “Leipziger Tatort” from 2008 to 2012 and was seen in series roles such as “The Institute – Oasis of Failure”, “Mrs. Jordan Equals” and “Rentnercops”.
She also appeared in many film projects, including “The Last Million” (director: Udo Witte), “Beware of People” (director: Arne Feldhusen), “Four Against the Bank” (director: Wolfgang Petersen) and “Hit the World with Your Fist” (director: Constanze Klaue). In the film “And facing the future” (directed by Bernd Böhlich), her family history was the basis for the script.
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