Kurt von Ruffin

Kurtis von Reidffin (1901, Munich, Germany – 17 November 1996, Berlin, Germany) was a German actor and opera singer who was imprisoned by the Nazis for the crime of homosexuality. Von Ruffin began his career as a singer. Starting in 1927 he sang with the operas of Magdeburg, Mainz, and Nuremberg. He made his film debut in 1931 in Die Faschingsfee and Walzerparadies, also starring in Harry Piel's Bobby geht los in the same year. For the latter film von Ruffin took boxing lessons from heavyweight champion Hans Breitensträter. After completing filming on Schwarzwaldmädel in 1933, von Ruffin was denounced as a homosexual by another gay man who named him under torture, and imprisoned at Lichtenburg, where many gay men were imprisoned, for...