Actress Renate Krößner's estate is being added to the museum's collection

Platform shoes, a leather jacket, screenplays, and production documents: parts of actress Renate Krößner’s estate are being added to the collection at the Potsdam Film Museum. The collection also includes photos, personal documents, and posters from her films.

Krößner’s widower, actor Bernd Stegemann, was also present at the handover. When asked what kind of person Krößner was, he replied: “I think she was the most extraordinary and wonderful person I have ever met in my life—someone with whom I spent 50 years and with whom I would have gladly spent another 50.”

According to the museum, Krößner was a frequent guest at the Potsdam Film Museum. For the new head of collections, Oliver Hanley, the acquisition of her estate is of special significance—particularly as the film studio Defa celebrates its 80th anniversary.

Krößner died six years ago at the age of 75 in Blankenfelde, Brandenburg. She was originally from Osterode in the Harz Mountains, where she was born in 1945. After graduating from the State Drama School in Berlin, Krößner initially worked on stages in Parchim, Stendal, Senftenberg, and Brandenburg an der Havel, until she celebrated one of the great successes of GDR cinema with “Solo Sunny.”

A current special exhibition at the Potsdam Film Museum, on view through May 2027, bears a reference to the film in its title: “Ohne Frühstück. No Discussion. 80 Years of DEFA Films.” It features 40 well-known and lesser-known films—including “Solo Sunny,” in which she dismissed her admirers with the words, “No breakfast. No discussion either.” A kimono and a light blue striped shirt from the film directed by Konrad Wolf are on display in the exhibition and, according to the museum, are part of the estate.

Sunny failed in a male-dominated society

In the 1980 film, Krößner plays the aspiring jazz singer Ingrid “Sunny” Sommer, who fails in the face of resistance from a male-dominated society. For this role, she was awarded the Silver Bear for Best Actress at the Berlinale that same year. Because the film displeased the GDR’s cultural bureaucracy, Krößner was not offered any roles for a long time. So in 1983, she applied for an exit visa and traveled to West Berlin in 1985 with her son and her partner Stegemann.

In the West, Krößner was able to continue her career, performing on stages in Basel, at the Residenztheater in Munich, and at the Schaubühne in Berlin, among others. She also appeared in television roles, including in “Tatort” and series such as “Liebling Kreuzberg,” “Stubbe – von Fall zu Fall” alongside Wolfgang Stumph, and “Einmal Bulle, immer Bulle.” Her film roles included appearances in “Helden wie wir” and “Alles auf Zucker,” among others.