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Steffie Spira

German actress (1908–1995)

Correspondence, annotated notebooks and portrait silhouettes prepared for research
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Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionJun 1, 2026
Entity authorityQ2338888 ↗
Source-derived summary

Steffie Spira (2 June 1908 – 10 May 1995) was an Austrian-born German stage, film and television actress. Spira was the daughter of actors Fritz and Lotte Spira. Her sister was actress Camilla Spira.

Her father was of Jewish descent, and died in a concentration camp during the Holocaust. Spira became a theatre actress during the Weimar Republic, and joined the German Communist Party in 1929.

Following the Nazi takeover of power, she fled into exile. After being interned by the French government at the Camp de Rieucros, she escaped to Mexico. Spira returned to Europe in 1947 and settled in East Germany. She became a leading stage actor at the Volksbühne and appeared frequently in East German film and television productions.

In 1989, Spira was a speaker at the large Alexanderplatz demonstration calling for the current East German government to step down.

Editorial summary

The public source identifies “Steffie Spira” as german actress (1908–1995). This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Steffie, Spira and German.

Editorial reviewA productive starting point for separating a subject’s documented career from later reputation and commemoration. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1908, 1995, 1929, 1947—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1908-06-02. Its value is orientation rather than verdict, with Steffie, Spira and German providing the first useful test.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Steffie Spira”, the useful work is to connect “german actress (1908–1995)” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.

Evidence profile

Chronology provides the most reliable spine for this subject; interpretation should follow only after identities and dates are secure. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jun 1, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q2338888. VIAF identifies the subject as 45097874. The Library of Congress control number is n91046153. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1908, 1995, 1929 and 1947.

Critical limits

Later biographies can compress uncertainty and repeat inherited reputations, so apparently settled claims may still require comparison. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Read biographical claims against dates, named institutions and the cited references. Distinguish a subject’s later reputation from evidence produced during their lifetime.

Best used for
  • Establishing names and roles
  • Building a first chronology
  • Locating cited institutions
Verify next

Personal papers, civil or court records, institutional files and the scholarship cited by the source.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Steffie Spira”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Steffie Spira primary sources, Steffie Spira archive and Steffie research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Steffie Spira”?
  2. Which primary records establish identity, chronology and institutional ties?
  3. Which claims depend on a single source or contested interpretation?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “Steffie Spira” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.