Sigurd Sigismund Lohde

On June 12, 1899, Jewish merchant Siegfried Lohde registered the birth of his fourth son, Sigismund[1] Weimar Registry Office. Birth record no. 278 dated June 12, 1899, via Ancestry., on June 4, 1899, at the Weimar registry office.

The Lohde family

Siegfried Lohde was born on October 25, 1865, in Danzig. He settled in Weimar (Thuringia). He married Karoline (“Lina”) Cohn (born on March 11, 1874, in Bremen) in Berlin on June 14, 1894[2] Weimar Registry Office, marriage record no. 584 dated June 14, 1894, via Ancestry.. Siegfried ran a shop for “men’s and boys’ fashion, Parkstr. 1[3] Weimar address book, 1899, via ancestry. Today: Puschkinstrasse 1. Wikipedia entry on the building, accessed on August 15, 2025.” in the Thuringian city of classics. The family lived at Wörthstraße 12. Later, the company moved to a Renaissance building at Kaufstraße 15[4] Wikipedia on Kaufstraße, now a cultural monument, accessed on August 15, 2025. and the family moved to Prellerstraße 1[5] Address books for Weimar, 1899 and 1906, via Ancestry.. Siegfried was also co-owner of a residential and commercial building at Schillerstraße 16[6] Weimar City Archives, Files of the Building Authority, reference number II-8-284, Thuringia Archive Portal, accessed on September 20, 2025. in Weimar.

He was co-founder of the Israelite Religious Association[7] See Lernort Weimar. Traces of Jewish Life in Weimar and Jewish Places about the Israelite Religious Association Weimar, accessed on October 25, 2025. See Erika Müller, Harry Stein, Jewish Families in Weimar (Weimar City Museum, 1998). in Weimar. Since 1903, this association had been organizing religious education for the children of its 25 members, in which at least one of Lohde’s sons (probably Sigmar) participated in April 1904. The association also organized religious services on the high holidays.

Eduard Siegbert, born on June 18, 1895, died in childhood on November 3, 1896.

Sigmar was born on March 23, 1897. He moved to Berlin, where he briefly shared an apartment with his mother Lina and younger brother Gerhard at Schöneberg, Frankenstraße 5[9] Berlin telephone directory 1931/32 via ancestry., in the early 1930s. He most recently lived in Vienna, Kohlmarkt 5/3[10] See Lohde/Gork family tree via ancestry.. Frankenstraße 5[/ref] , and worked as a sales representative. He was deported to Auschwitz on July 17, 1942.

The third son, Gerhard, born on May 19, 1898, was married twice. He died at the age of only 37[11] Birth and death dates of Sigurd Lohde's brothers via ancestry. on January 22, 1936, in Stendal Hospital after being forced to do unskilled labor in road and railway construction since 1933. The planned Stolperstein[12] Stumbling stone for Gerhard Lohde in Tangerhütte (Saxony-Anhalt), Schillerstraße 4. dedicated to him will bear the inscription: “Worn down by hard labor and bullying.” He left behind a son from his second marriage to Elise Hedwig Elisabeth Kupferschmidt (June 6, 1903 – August 5, 1986) named Hans-Georg Siegfried Berthold[13] See Lohde/Gork family tree, op. cit. (October 19, 1931 – April 9, 1983).

Their mother Karoline had moved to the German capital in 1928, where her sons worked. She fled from the Nazis to Vienna in 1933, where she lived with her son Sigmar, who had lost a leg in World War I, in Hockegasse[14] Address and telephone directories for Vienna from 1938 to 1940, via ancestry. (13th district). Later, the Nazis forced her to move to a “Jewish apartment” at Kohlmarkt 5/7. On July 10, 1942, she was deported to Theresienstadt and from there sent to her death on September 23, 1942, on transport Bq/1782 to the Treblinka extermination camp[15] Transport list from Theresienstadt via Arolsen Archives, accessed on August 15, 2025..

On Berlin stages

From 1929 to 1932, he was a member of the ensemble at the Berlin Volksbühne. There he appeared in Franz Molnar’s „Liliom“ alongside Hans Albers, Therese Giehse, and Bertha Drews, among others. In a vaudeville show, he was part of the “Seemannsquartett” (Sailors’ Quartet) with Ernst Busch and others. He also performed in “Kamrad Kasper[28] Volksbühne am Rosa Luxemburg-Platz, Season Chronicle 1930 to 1940, accessed on August 20, 2025.” by the Low German author Paul Schurek (with music by Hanns Eisler) with Busch and Drews. He also appeared on other stages in the capital; his performance in “Büromädels” (Office Girls) at the Lessing Theater “deserved mention,” according to the Berlin newspapaer “Börsenzeitung[29] Berliner Börsen-Zeitung on November 18, 1924, page 41, via Deutsches Zeitungsportal.”.

Sigurd Lohde also worked for the young medium of radio. He is known for his participation in 13 productions[30] ARD radio play database at the German Broadcasting Archive, accessed on August 25, 2025. recorded between 1927 and 1932. In 1929, the children’s program “König Drosselbart” (based on the fairy tale by the Brothers Grimm „King Thrushbeard“) was produced for the Vienna radio station with Lohde as the court jester[31] Grazer Tagblatt newspaper, January 5, 1929, page 11, via Anno.. He played several leading roles in radio plays, including the theater director in Franz Molnar’s “Das Veilchen” (The Violet) and the administrator in Goethe’s „Stella“ for Berliner Funkstunde. The program sections of German and Austrian newspapers also refer to his “Heitere Stunde” and the comedy “Kater Lampe” on the Breslau radio station.

At that time, he served as an employee representative in the Genossenschaft Deutscher Bühnenangehöriger[32] GDBA Handbook 1931, page 304. (GDBA); Cooperative of German Stage Employees) at the Volksbühne. Among other things, he was appointed head of a working group of the Film Association, which in 1932 called on film distributors and cinema operators to “release all completed films onto the market in view of the extraordinary shortage of films,” reported a trade journal[33] In “Der Schrei nach dem neuen Film” (The Cry for the New Film), Kinematograph, July 29, 1932, page 1, via Anno..

In 1931, he lived with his mother at Frankenstraße 5[34] GDBA Handbook 1931, page 303 via ancestry, and autograph contact in “Mein Film” from issue 358, page 16, via Anno.. In telephone directories from 1934 and 1935[35] Berlin telephone directory, 1934, via Ancestry., there are entries with the first name Sigurd and the occupation listed as actor and director at Barnayweg 1 (today Steinrückweg) in the Wilmersdorf Künstlerkolonie[36] Wikipedia on the artists' colony, which was built in 1927 by the GDBA and the Schutzverband deutscher Schriftsteller (Protective Association of German Writers) to provide affordable housing for artists without social security, accessed on September 22, 2025. (artists’ colony).

Early film work

Sigismund Lohde got his first film roles in 1931. He is listed among 60 “uncredited[37] “M” in the film database IMDB, accessed on 15 August 2025.” actors in Fritz Lang’s “M – A City Searches for a Murderer.” As Jim in the artist film “The Leap into the Void,” he was listed third in the cast. This production was shot in Paris[38] At that time, films were often shot in several languages simultaneously. Wikipedia entry on “Der Sprung ins Nichts” (The Leap into Nothingness), the German cinema market version of “Halfway to Heaven,” accessed on August 15, 2025. by the US company Universal. “The world of international criminals is excellently portrayed by Sigurd Lohde (as Fred Patterson, a rich American, dunera.de), Ernst Stahl-Nachbaur, Fritz Klippel, and Leonhard Steckel,“ praised a reviewer[39] Hallesche Nachrichten, December 24, 1931, page 17, via Deutsches Zeitungsportal. of the film ”Der Draufgänger” (The Daredevil), which was released at Christmas 1931 with Lohde alongside UFA star Hans Albers.

Two “Prussia films” followed in 1932, in which Lohde played high-ranking officers. In “Tannenberg,” he played Russian General Samsonov. This film glorified Field Marshal von Hindenburg[40] Wikipedia on Paul von Hindenburg, one of the co-inventors of the “stab-in-the-back myth,” which claims that the homeland betrayed its successful military leaders during World War I. Retrieved on August 25, 2025. and his 1914 victory over Tsarist Russia. Using the example of the now Reich President, a militaristic cult of leadership was propagated. A few months after the premiere, Hindenburg appointed Hitler as Reich Chancellor—the next cult of leadership figure.

The biopic “Theodor Körner” premiered a few weeks earlier. In it, Lohde played Freikorps leader Lützow[41] Entry for the film “Theodor Körner” on IMDB, accessed on August 15, 2025. from the wars of liberation against Napoleon, also in anticipation of the Nazis’ nationalistic image of Prussia. This role landed Lohde on the cover of the right-wing magazine “Deutsche Illustrierte[42] The “Deutsche Illustrierte” No. 41 from October 11, 1932, has no article accompanying its cover photo. On page 2, “The Path to the People's Community” is evoked in the text with photos of a paramilitary labor camp and a paean to the “real people's army” of the imperial era. Issue in the Dehn Archive..”

Sigurd Lohde played minor roles in at least nine other German productions until 1933. The trade journal „Kinematograph“ mentioned his appearance as the third son-in-law in „Frau Lehmanns Töchter“ (Mrs. Lehmann’s Daughters) “merely for the sake of completeness[43] “Kinematograph” from June 11, 1932, page 2, via Anno., … because the role itself offers little opportunity to show anything greater or more remarkable.”

The correct name for this medal is “Honour Cross of the World War[59] Wikipedia on the “Cross of Honor,” accessed on August 15, 2025.”. It was established by Paul von Hindenburg in July 1934 and was therefore also known as the “Hindenburg Cross.” Because Hindenburg, former field marshall of the Emperor and now Reich President and Hitler’s stooge, had already died on August 2, 1934, the medal was henceforth awarded “in the name of the Führer and Reich Chancellor.” This was in contrast to the awarding of orders, exclusively at the request of war participants. At least 8 million of these medals were distributed.

In 1934/35, persecution had not yet progressed to the point where Jews were excluded from receiving the medal. Many Jewish World War I veterans – and perhaps Sigurd Lohde as well – applied for the cheaply pressed and bronzed piece of metal.

In England

He found accommodation at 60A Boundary Road[64] Home Office index card for Lohde, via ancestry. in north London and worked for the German-language BBC radio station, among others. The first show by the Austrian-founded theater “Das Laterndl[65] Mark Piggott “A Beacon of Hope ...” University of London online, June 17, 2024, accessed August 15, 2025.” (The Lantern) was called ‘Unterwegs’ (On the Road) and premiered on June 27, 1939. In the first number of the cabaret revue, presented in English, Sigurd Lohe appeared as “His Lordship” at the top of the program sheet. The remaining numbers were performed in German; Lohde appeared in other roles. The British press praised the show concept[66] The Spectator on July 7, 1939, quoted in “A Light in Dark Times,” Exile Research Center, accessed on July 15, 2025., which was previously unknown there. “We should be grateful to Herr Hitler for the Lantern. Austria’s loss has been our gain.” He also appeared at the Deutsche Theater[67] Straschek Collection aao. in London. However, theaters and cinemas were closed at the outbreak of war.

Another consideration speaks against a “mistake.” A total of 13 lists of names were drawn up in several internment camps for transport on the Dunera. “Lohde, Sigismund 7992” is one of 300 names on list 7[80] See list 7 of the 12 of 13 embarkation lists in the NAA archive, NAA_657104_Liste7_300, accessed on February 17, 2024., which is assigned to the Camp Lingfield[81] The connection between List 7 and Lingfield is established by historians Alan Morgenroth and Rachel Pistol in “The Dunera Boys ... Who, when and why?” In “Dunera News” No. 109, page 10f.. The deportation of this group was therefore part of the British authorities’ plan to send internees overseas, and not a “mistake.” Given the lies told by the camp officers, it is not surprising that the internees from Lingfield were surprised to be taken on an ocean liner instead of a smaller ferry to the Isle of Man. Lohde’s remark about the “welcome” with bayonets at the ready, forcing him aboard the Dunera, is consistent with other internees’ accounts of the situation in Liverpool harbor and the reception on the Dunera.

The fact that Sigurd Lohde was detained at Camp Lingfield is also confirmed by himself. In the “Lingfield Ballade[82] Sigurd Lohde: “Lingfield Ballade,” bilingual original. Inventory number 4097 of the Jewish Museum of Australia.,” he described everyday life at the “Lingfield health resort” in ironic rhymes and mocked the guards. The bilingual text concludes with the optimistic call:

„Kopf hoch, ihr Freunde, habt Geschmack
The best to you and all good luck!“

(Click on image to enlarge. Source: Courtesy of the Jewish Museum of Australia, inventory no. 4097).

„Collar them all“

This slogan, attributed to Winston Churchill, sums up British internment and deportation policy in mid-1940. The occupation of the Arandora Star revealed part of the system used by the British authorities to occupy the five deportation transports. On July 9, 1940, Minister of Shipping Ronald Cross[83] Minutes of Question Time in the British House of Commons on July 9, 1940, accessed on August 20, 2023. responded to questions in the House of Commons on the occasion of the sinking of this second deportation transport to Canada by stating, „that all the Germans on board were Nazi sympathizers and that none came to this country as refugees.”

To support the claim that only enemies of Britain had been deported, Cross used the classification of many foreigners as Nazis in category “A.” On board the Arandora Star, one in three Germans and Austrians had been proven to have been persecuted by the Nazis as Jews or for political reasons. Many had been imprisoned in concentration camps after the pogroms in order to force them to leave the country and confiscate their assets. The deliberately false classifications[84] The decisions of the tribunals “at least reflected the opinion of the social class from which these King's Counsels (advisors to the king) came.” Several tribunals used inadequate guidelines to “exercise their anti-Bolshevik bias by declaring all veterans of the International Brigades who had fought fascism in Spain to be suspects.” This is the assessment of Canadian internee Eric Koch in “Deemed Suspect. A Wartime Blunder,” Toronto 1980, pages 9/10. made by the British placed perpetrators and victims on the same level, shaped the fate of thousands of refugees in England, and meant death for many victims of the Nazis. This leaves behind a great sense of unease.

The deportation of thousands of Nazi victims to Canada and Australia was neither in general nor in individual cases a British “mistake,” but part of the mass deportations of undesirable foreigners ordered by Churchill. No one was sent “on the wrong boat.”

The liberal parliamentarian Eleanor Rathbone[85] Wikipedia on Eleanor Rathbone, accessed on September 10, 2025. (1872–1946) had already sharply criticized[86] Minutes of the House of Commons from July 10, 1940, accessed on September 10, 2025. Winston Churchill’s government in the British House of Commons on July 10, 1940, the day of the Dunera’s departure, for the deportation of “those who have been pronounced by the tribunals to be victims of Nazi oppression. (…) If you throw your net round all the fish and draw them in, though only a very small minority of the fish are dangerous and suspicious people, you will at any rate get hold of those you want. But you do not get hold of all the dangerous people.”

“The British government has declared war on the wrong people,” British social scientist Francois Lafitte[87] Francois Lafitte „The Internment of Aliens“ was the first book about Britain's treatment of the refugees. It was published in England in September 1940, so it could not take into account the events on the Dunera and in the camps. attested to Winston Churchill and his Government in “The Internment of Aliens,” the first book on internment and deportation, which was published in as early as September 1940.

The 250 German and 200 Italian survivors[88] „Nominal Roll of German Internees for Melbourne“, NAA_Item657104. of the sinking of the Arandora Star were not exclusively Nazis or fascists. They were taken off the Dunera in Melbourne on September 3, 1940. In order to fill camp capacities (or rather, not to exceed the capacities of the camps intended for the other 2,000 internees), they were taken together with 96 mostly Jewish refugees – among them Sigurd Lohde – to Camp 3 in the vicinity of Tatura (State of Victoria). At times, Nazi victims were housed there together with German and Australian Nazis and Italian fascists.

The end of the internments can be dated to the spring of 1942. The internees who were still in Australia were called upon to enlist in the Australian Army. They were promised[96] Cf. Note from the Adjudant-General to the Australian Parliament, March 29, 1946. National Archives of Australia (NAA), NAA_ItemNumber4938132, sheet 28, paragraph d. a residence permit or naturalization Down Under.

Like many of his companions (including Dehn, Wasser, Laufer, Schwarz, etc.), Sigurd Lohde also enlisted. On April 8, 1942, he began his service with the 8th Employment Company[97] Military file aao. (service number V377393). This unarmed unit consisted of up to 600 former internees[98] See War Diary of the 8th Emp Coy, Australian War Memorial AWM52 22/1/17., exclusively of German and Austrian origin. It was not only the largest company, but also the Allied unit with the highest number of Jewish soldiers. The former internees were proud to now be serving the common war effort, even though many would have preferred to fight the Nazis with weapons.

There was also a shortage of non-commissioned officers. Sigurd Lohde was promoted to corporal[99] Military files aao. after only one week of service. Military experience from World War I was not a general requirement (e.g., Franz Lebrecht) for this promotion, although Lohde had served in World War I. In October 1942, Lohde was promoted to acting sergeant and in September 1945 to sergeant. He was stationed in Tocumwal, among other places, where soldiers of the 8th were called upon to transfer between trains of different gauges at the border station between the states of New South Wales and Victoria.

Where is Snow White?

The composition of the 8th Employment Company was also special in another sense, because many artists had joined the unit. Even in uniform and after often hard work, many used their leave passes to go to the theater. And they themselves enriched the cultural life at their stations with concerts[100] Dümling aao., page 283. Among other things, the soldiers benefited from the freedoms granted to them by their popular commander, Captain Edward Broughton[101] E.R. Broughton, biography by Dunera Boy Klaus Loewald in the Australian Dictionary of Biography, accessed on 30.8.2025. (1884–1955). Due to the many cultural activities, the soldiers occasionally jokingly referred to their unit as the “Entertainment Company.”

In 1943, they took this to the extreme: “Doc” Kurt Sternberg rewrote and expanded parts of the “Snow White” program. The result was “Sgt. Snow White,” an anti-fascist musical with a Seven Dwarfs feel and numerous allusions to their experiences in internment and the army, as well as German-English puns.

The play made it to the stage of Melbourne’s Union Theatre with three performances starting on April 17, 1943—the anniversary of the transition from internment to the army. In addition to professionals and amateurs on and behind the stage, even Captain Broughton is said to have not shied away from a small cameo appearance[102] Inglis, Spark et al. „Dunera Lives. Profiles“, Melbourne 2020, page 13..

A poem written in London by Dunera boy Simon Hochberger, entitled “The European” or “Sounds of Europe[105] Ibid, page 305.,” ended with a call to resist the Nazis:

“The armies of freedom are on their way
Forward worker – Forward soldier
The hangmen of Europe will PAY!!!”

Sgt. Sigurd Lohde wrote the lyrics and music for the “8 Aust Employment Coy March.” Courtesy of the Jewish Museum of Australia, inventory no. 4466.

Does anyone know anything about the whereabouts of the lost sheet music for the march? Please contact dunera.de.

This magazine looked beyond its radio horizon and highlighted the new interpretation of Grimm’s fairy tale, as the play was based on the personal experiences of the performers. This could open up new paths, the reviewer suggested, alluding to Australia’s theater scene under the title ”Novel Show as Pointer to Theatrical Future.”

The New York-based Jewish weekly magazine “Aufbau[108] Irma Schnierer, “Award-winning Europeans in Australia,” in Aufbau (New York), January 21, 1944, page 10.,“ reported on January 21, 1944, that author Simon Hochberger (Dunera) and composer Werner Baer (Queen Mary) had won an anonymous song contest for soldiers organized by the Australian broadcaster ABC with ”Sounds of Europe” and that the song had been broadcast nationwide. The judges were later surprised to have awarded the prize to foreigners, Dümling added. He smugly remarks that a printing of the winning poem[109] Dümling aao., page 306. was waived.

Australian „Pix“ Magazine headlined its richly illustrated story “Alien Soldier’s Show Twits Nazis” and decorated it with large photos by Dunera boy Harry Jay. The reviewer described the evening as “theater of flesh and blood” and “an eye-opener as to what can be done in a soldier show by imaginative and resourceful production, even with limited facilities and a mostly amateur cast.“ The author also mentioned Sigurd Lohde. A photo shows him as a lawyer whose stage name, “Dr. Blizzard of Oz,” alludes to both The Wizard of Oz and a snowstorm.

After receiving very positive reviews in the Australian press, the play was performed three more times in May 1943. New performances did not take place until decades later. In Sydney, students from the JMC Academy staged “Sgt. Snow White” again, exactly 81 years to the day after its premiere. This performance was directed by Ian Maxwell and Joseph Toltz.

In 1946, Lohde was listed in the electoral register[113] Voter list for Darlinghurst (Sydney) 1946, via ancestry. of the Sydney district of Darlinghurst and again as a chiropodist and masseur. He himself reported on the period after his military service: “I was a farmer, a domestic servant, a tie salesman, a department store clerk, a factory worker, and finally I opened a small milk bar[114] „Telegraf“ aao. in Sydney. That’s where everyone met.” He financed the milk bar with a lottery win[115] The family confirms corresponding reports. Emails from Kevin Lohde to dunera.de. of £1,000.

In the 1949 and 1954 electoral registers, Sigurd Lohde was now listed under his stage name Sydney Loder[116] See Glenmore voter list, 1946, via ancestry.de. and as an actor in the Sydney suburb of Glenmore, as he was naturally trying to gain a foothold in his chosen profession in Australia. He worked in radio and on stage, possibly under rather poor conditions, as he later reported. Among other places, he performed at the Palace Theatre and the Theatre Royal in Sydney.

He adopted the anglicized stage name Sydney Loder in 1948 at the latest, when he landed a role in the film “Eureka Stockade[117] Wikipedia entry on the film “Eureka Stockade”, accessed on August 14, 2025..” The film by director Harry Watt dealt with the gold prospector uprising of 1854 in Ballarat (120 km west of Melbourne). Although British troops brutally suppressed the protest, Eureka Stockade is considered the birth of Australian democracy[118] Wikipedia on the Eureka Stockade, accessed on August 14, 2025. and the introduction of universal suffrage. Lohde played the leading role of the historically documented Hanoverian Frederick Vern[119] „Gold in Victoria. Frederick Vern“. Geman Australia online, accessed 15.8.2025., for whose capture the colonial authorities had offered a sensational £500 reward by the standards of the time.

The world premiere in London at the end of January 1949 was followed by the Australian premiere in early May. This period was marked by increasing social tensions Down Under. In mid-1948, the Queensland state government had likened a strike by 3,000 railway workers[120] Wikipedia on the railway strike of 1948, accessed on August 15, 2025. to a communist uprising[121] Vgl. Menzies on Coal Strikes Futility in The Argus from 5.4.1949 via Trove.. In New South Wales, 23,000 miners went on strike from the end of June 1949 until the government deployed the military as strike breakers[122] Wikipedia on the miners' strike of 1949, accessed on August 15, 2025. to force an end to the strike.

“The new conservative government headed by Robert Menzies[123] Australian film scholar Paul Byrnes in “Curator's notes” on “Eureka Stockade,” Australian Screen (Australian Film Archive NSFA), accessed on 20.8.2025. was less interested in promoting Australian film, or British films made by left-leaning directors like Harry Watt.” The press coverage focused, among other things, on the lead actor Chips Rafferty, who was characterized as miscast: “No one would have been inspired by Rafferty’s leadership to revolt against tyranny.” There was also a nationalistic-cynical note[124] No Epic“, Rezension in „The Advertiser“ (Adelaide) from 27.1.1949 via NLA-Trove.: “It is no disadvantage for Australia that the six leading actors behind Rafferty were ‘imported’ from England.”

Conservative reviewers used criticism of the film’s craftsmanship to obscure the political explosiveness of the story about the struggle for social justice and against exploitation by the state. “‘Eureka Stockade’ had become the wrong film at the wrong time, at least for some.” “Pix” Magazine chose the headline[125] “Pix" magazine on April 23, 1949, via Trove. “Attacked by critics, applauded by the public.”

Although there is no written evidence of Sydney Loder’s involvement in “Captain Thunderbolt,” a 1953 biopic about a legendary Australian outlaw, he can be clearly seen[126] Brief report on the restoration in the annual report 2023/24 of the Australian Film Archive NFSA (pages 22/23); information from Wikipedia and IMDB, accessed on 20 August 2025. in a trailer and in a photo from the digitization and restoration of this film.

Herta Elisabeth Plagemann[129] Berlin Registry Office, marriage entry no. 591 dated June 19, 1934, also documents the divorce by judgment dated February 5, 1941. Via ancestry. (née Neuendorf), was a childhood friend of Lohde’s, according to the tabloid BZ[130] “BZ” from May 15, 1956, in the Straschek Collection, aao. on the occasion of their wedding on May 15, 1956. A year earlier, “she suddenly heard his voice in a radio play. And the old love was rekindled.” The newspaper’s claim that Herta had previously been an operetta singer cannot be proven. In the civil registry entry for her first marriage in 1934, she is described as an office clerk[131] Civil registry entry no. 591 aao..

Telephone and address books show entries for Herta[132] West Berlin telephone directories via ZLB. prior to 1956 at Sanderstraße 6 and Isoldestraße 2 in Neukölln, both with the addition “restaurant”. The newspaper “BZ” joked that Lohde had become a partner in her restaurant through marriage.

According to an Australian source[134] Pearl aao., page 195., Lohde ran a restaurant in West Berlin called “Das Kangeru”. The 1957 West Berlin telephone directory confirmed the existence of such a restaurant in the entry “Pearl aao., page 195.[135] West Berlin telephone directory, 1957, pages 405 and 407, via ZLB.”; the address given is Isoldestraße 2. Local historians consider it unlikely that “Zum Kängeruh” (or any restaurant for that matter) was located in this building: the curb in front of the building, which is still lowered today, and the facade design of the ground floor indicate that there used to be carriage houses or garages[136] Phone call with historian Joachim Perle. on the ground floor. Moreover, “Zum Kängeruh” probably did not exist for very long, as there are no further entries in the telephone directory or other evidence

Instead of the Lohdes, a Herta Dähn[137] Phone book 1958/59 via ZLB. A “Rügenklause” at the end of the 1960s at Uhlandstraße 43 is mentioned in “Berlin wie es schreibt und isst” (Berlin as it writes and eats), Munich, no date, page 178. is listed at Isoldestraße 2 in 1958/59 with the addition “Zur Rügenklause.” However, no later entries can be found for her either. Looking back, the Lohde family now assumes “that he redesigned the bar in Herta’s guesthouse[138] Emails from Kevin Lohde aao..”

In front of the camera, he often distinguished himself in supporting roles. He was hired remarkably often by Artur Brauner’s Berlin-based CCC-Filmkunst[143] Film catalog of CCC-Filmkunst, search for Lohde, accessed August 20, 2025., including in 1963 as a postman in “Scotland Yard jagt Dr. Mabuse” (Scotland Yard Hunts Dr. Mabuse). For television, he appeared in Shakespeare adaptations such as “As You Like It” and “Much Ado About Nothing.” In around 20 years, in addition to his theater and radio work, he appeared in around 72 cinema and TV roles in front of the camera.

His last film was a mini-role as conductor in “Taxi nach Leipzig[144] Wikipedia on “Taxi nach Leipzig,” TV premiere on November 29, 1970. Accessed on August 15, 2025.” (Taxi to Leipzig). This TV crime drama, first broadcast in 1970, is significant for two reasons: Firstly, it dealt with an East-West plot: due to a murder case on the transit highway between the Federal Republic and West Berlin, the GDR authorities requested assistance from the West. Secondly, shortly before it was broadcast, the film was included by the pubcaster ARD as the first episode in their new crime series “Tatort,” (Crime Scene) which still exists today.

Sigurd Lohde had already been able to contact the family of his brother Gerhard, who died in 1936, while Sigurd was still in Australia. Gerhard’s son Hans-Georg[148] Emails from Kevin Lohde aao. and Sigurd “developed a loving relationship.” Sigurd helped the family, who lived in Tangerhütte (GDR; now the state of Saxony-Anhalt), “primarily financially and materially, sending books, packages, and even washing machine parts,” and visited them often, according to the family.

“I didn’t find gold,” Lohde later joked, referring to the theme of his Australian movie. “But I made it through life and found my way back to Berlin,” the “Telegraf” newspaper quoted Sigurd Lohde[149] Telegraf aao. as saying a few months after his return from Australia.

Sigurd Lohde died on July 22, 1977, at his vacation home in Bad Sooden-Allendorf (Hesse). His widow Herta, who had taken on his stage name Loder, initially lived in the Berlin district of Wilmersdorf. In registration documents, she was later listed in Bavaria and Schleswig-Holstein as Herta Loder[150] Straschek Collection aao.. She died on April 25, 1997, her 75th birthday, in Berlin. She was buried alongside Sigurd at the Berlin Waldfriedhof Heerstraße cemetery.