Born: October 25, 1896 in Halle/Saale
died: February 2, 1971 in Wiesbaden

Herta Genzmer was born as the daughter of Privy Councillor Prof. Dr. Ing. Ewald Genzmer. He was an urban planner of European importance and co-founder of the Dresden Singakademie. The Wiesbaden city architect Felix Genzmer was his father. Herta Genzmer studied music and acting in Dresden. The Wiesbaden director Christian Carl Hagemann discovered her in Hamburg-Altona and engaged the 25-year-old actress for Wiesbaden. She first appeared in April 1922 in the drama "Easter" by August Strindberg. Difficult character roles by modern poets followed. Her favorite role was Marei in "Florian Geyer" by Gerhart Hauptmann. It was at the Wiesbaden theater that she met her future husband, the actor August Momber, whom she married in 1926. In his memoirs, he describes how she impressed him with her "strong talent, perfect upbringing and high intelligence". The marriage ended in divorce in 1934.

Hertha Genzmer joined the NSDAP in 1940 and the National Socialist People's Welfare Organization a year later. Her membership of the Reichstheaterkammer came about through a transfer from the Bühnengenossenschaft in 1933 as part of the "Gleichschaltung" of the cultural sector.

Herta Genzmer delighted Wiesbaden theater audiences for 25 years. As late as 1963, she appeared at the Hessisches Staatstheater Wiesbaden in Ionesco's "The Chairs". In 1947, she terminated her contract with the theater in order to devote herself entirely to young stage talent by founding the "Genzmer Acting School" (1952). Its best-known students include Horst Janson, Karin Dor, Veronika Faber and, more recently, the Iranian Jasaman Roushanaei. Today, the school is known as the Wiesbaden School of Drama. At various venues, such as the garden of the Villa Schnitzler, Freudenberg Castle and the Georg-Buch-Haus, almost all graduates receive the "predicate of stage maturity" after three years of training. In plays such as "Die Eisvögel" by Tine Rahel Völcker or Schnitzler's "Reigen", in text interpretations, designs for stage sets, in directing workshops and in television plays, the creative spirit of the founder is still paid living homage to today. In 1960, Herta Genzmer accepted a teaching position at the Staatliche Hochschule für Musik in Frankfurt. Through numerous appearances on radio and television, she had become known beyond the borders of Wiesbaden. She played Martha in the famous Hessian radio and television family "Die Hesselbachs". She received high public recognition until her death: Federal Cross of Merit 1st Class, Goethe Plaque and Golden Badge of Honor of the Cooperative of German Stage Members. In 2009, the Wiesbaden City Archive honored her with an exhibition.

In the west of the artists' quarter, a street is named after her as a "tribute to an important woman". It connects Maria Sybilla Merian-Straße with Christa Moering-Platz.

[This text was written in 2012 by Günther Fuhr for the printed version of the Wiesbaden City Dictionary and revised and supplemented by Dr. Dirk Stolper in 2023]