Monday, February 3, 2025
Emotional farewell to Hannelore Hoger in Hamburg
Emotional farewell to Hannelore Hoger in Hamburg
dpa • 19 hours • 2 minutes reading time
Hoger was popular with a large audience as "Bella Block".
With a moving memorial service, family, friends and companions in Hamburg said goodbye to actress Hannelore Hoger (ZDF crime series "Bella Block"). The chanson "Non, je ne regrette rien" (I regret nothing), an emotional life summary by the French singer Edith Piaf, filled the oval white and gold room of the baroque Christianskirche in Hamburg near the Elbe. Bright fairy lights sparkled under the ceiling. The altar was decorated with a blooming magnolia and a sea of colorful flowers in blood-red glass vases. In front of it was a portrait photo of the actress, who died on December 21st - and, on a small pedestal, her dark red urn with the silhouette of the Hanseatic city.
The actress Nicole Heesters was also a prominent companion of Hoger.
Colleagues such as Nicole Heesters and Jürgen Prochnow say goodbye
Family, friends and companions say goodbye to the actress in a Hamburg church. Among them were many celebrities such as crime writer Doris Gercke.
On Saturday, family, friends and companions said goodbye to the popular artist, who was probably born on August 20, 1941 in Hamburg. She liked to keep her age a secret. Hoger lived for a long time very close to the Christianskirche, in the Ottensen district. More than 100 guests accepted the invitation of her daughter Nina (63), also an actress. Everyone first lit small candles in front of the altar. Among them were many prominent colleagues - such as Jürgen Prochnow, Nicole Heesters, Leslie Malton, Christian Redl and Wanja Mues.
The urn burial was to take place later in a smaller circle.
In addition to the novelist Doris Gercke, the director Max Färberböck and the producer Katharina Trebitsch, important people responsible for the cult crime series "Bella Block" (ZDF), which Hoger had made known to a large television audience from 1994, were also present. Four speeches were given during the ceremony, which was often accompanied by music - the first by Hamburg's Senator for Culture, Carsten Brosda (SDP). He recalled that although Hoger was a television star, he had achieved extraordinary things, especially in the theater.
Great actress, person with rough edges
Numerous celebrities had come to the Christianskirche in the Ottensen district at the invitation of Hoger's daughter Nina Hoger.
"Hannelore Hoger was one of the great actresses in our country," said Brosda. And explained that with her stage presence and her psychologically sensitive acting, she was able to convey "that acting can also be a school of compassion." And thus can contribute to improving social conditions.
The senator mentioned Hoger's collaboration with director Peter Zadek (1926-2009) in the 1960s at the Ulm Theater - right at the beginning of her career. And Alexander Kluge (92), with whom she made the award-winning political film "The Artists in the Big Top: At a Lost Point" in 1968, among other things.
The artist's multifaceted character was repeatedly mentioned in the speeches, including by Albert Wiederspiel, director of the Hamburg Film Festival until 2023 - between very warm-hearted and occasionally bitchy. "Hannelore was 'larger than life'," said Wiederspiel, adding that the North German in her made her a "person with rough edges." She could be "terrifyingly honest" and "boundlessly generous."
Standing applause for the diva
Towards the end of the memorial service, the actor Gustav Peter Wöhler sang the song "Hold on to your love" for Hoger. And right at the end, the actress herself could even be heard - on tape, with a slightly brittle chanson about love - how difficult it can be to say "I love you". And then everyone gave the diva a huge standing ovation. The urn burial was to take place later in a small circle.