She was the film diva of post-war cinema

Her first film role was quite unusual. “The Half-Strongs” from 1956 tells of young people in Berlin, their living conditions and criminal activities. Initially, several young men test whether their stolen watches can survive a dive in the indoor swimming pool. At the edge of the pool they meet Sissy – played by the young Karin Baal. “Do you know Sissy?” one asks his brother and then explains to him: “Sissy is a cloud. A cloud of atoms.”

The film became a classic of post-war German cinema – and Baal was later celebrated as the German answer to Brigitte Bardot. She has now died in Berlin at the age of 84, as her children told the German Press Agency. “She shaped a generation and will never be forgotten. “It’s tearing a huge hole – not just in our family, but in Berlin and all of Germany,” said Therese Lohner and Thomas Baal, the actress’s children.

She used to pose with a cigarette in her hand and black eyeliner. She has appeared in many films and series. For example in the productions “The Girl Rosemarie” (1958) about the murder of the prostitute Rosemarie Nitribitt, “The Juvenile Judge” (1960) and “The Young Sinner” (1960).

Self-confident female character in “The Half-Strongs”

Her female character in “The Half-Strongs” is still interesting today. She played her sissy – “with an upsilon like Romy”, as it is said in one scene – boldly and self-confidently. There is a wonderful dance scene with Horst Buchholz as Freddy. They are black and white photos in which women are called “Miss” and people order “a Coca” in a café.

Over the course of the film, Baal’s character revealed himself to be scheming and violent. When they attack a man, Freddy decides to let him have his jewelry. “Why?” asks Sissy. “It belongs to his mother,” he replies. “So what!” says Sissy. In the end, she is the one who picks up the gun and shoots. A scene that has rarely been seen.

Baal was chosen from hundreds of applicants for the role. She was still a teenager at the time and her name was Karin Blauermel. For a long time, Baal was unable to get rid of the image of the femme fatale that was built up among the “young people”.

The “Stuttgarter Nachrichten” once called her “the wicked blonde poison in the German pea soup cinema,” and later came the New German Film. She appeared in “Berlin Alexanderplatz”, “Lili Marleen” and “Lola” for Rainer Werner Fassbinder. She worked with Reinhard Hauff, Margarethe von Trotta and Wim Wenders.

Many appearances in Edgar Wallace films and series

Baal regularly performed in theater and appeared in TV series. She was seen in “Liebling Kreuzberg”, “The Black Forest Clinic” and “Praxis Bülowbogen”. And in Edgar Wallace films. Baal also repeatedly experienced crises and low blows. Two marriages failed and her third husband died of cancer. His death plunged her into depression and alcohol. In 2000 she married the Kurdish actor Cevdet Celik, who was 30 years her junior and was threatened with deportation. The relationship fell apart.

In 2018 she was honored for her life’s work with the inaugural Götz George Prize. The Götz George Foundation honored Baal as a “great actress and admirable woman.” It was said at the time that she opened up to her characters with touching devotion and thereby made even the finest nuances of their wide range of emotions visible.

This can also be observed in “The Half-Strongs”. The film is also an examination of the young people who grew up in post-war Berlin. “The majority of young people have nothing to do with the appearance of teenagers,” it says in the opening credits to the film. “But the minority stands out, and that’s why people talk about them.” The film should also be a warning “for all young people who are in danger of going astray.” It is still worth seeing today. Also because of Karin Baal.

In pictures from recent years, Baal was seen in a wheelchair. But even though in her old age she repeatedly thought about moving to Vienna to be with her daughter, the actress lived in Berlin until the end, as her daughter Therese Lohner said. “She loved Berlin too much and really wanted to stay in her beloved Charlottenburg.”