Biografia

German comedian, cabaret artiste and writer, the son of a pharmacist. He began his career as a fairytale storyteller in the 1920's. He was a co-founder of the Berliner cabaret 'Die Katakombe' in 1929. Finck came to prominence in the 1930's for brazenly satirizing the Nazi regime on stage. He was eventually imprisoned for six weeks at the Esterwegen concentration camp and only released after his friend, the actress Käthe Dorsch interceded on his behalf with Herman Goering. Finck later enlisted in the Wehrmacht as a private to evade further retribution. He resumed performing in political cabaret and in films after the war, also touring the United States in 1968.

Finck died in Munich, where he is buried in the Waldfriedhof cemetery. The inscription on his tombstone reads: "You are still here and I passed away, soon you are there where I am today.".

Bertolt Brecht wrote the poem Eulenspiegel überlebt den Krieg for Werner Finck.

He extended his topical-satirical work over the border in the 60's and appeared at the New York Barbizon-Plaza theater in 1963 and even made a tournee through the USA in 1968.

In 1950 he established the joke political party of the "Radical Centre" in West Berlin.