Alfred Struwe

Who was Alfred Struwe?

Alfred Struwe was a German actor, best known for his television role as Dr. Alexander Wittkugel in Zahn um Zahn.

The son of a postman, he grew up with his five siblings in Marienburg. His first acting experience was in Hitler Youth summer camps. In 1944 he was called up first into the Reich Labour Service, then into the military. After attending officer training school in Hanover, he was sent along with other young contemporaries into battle in the final days of World War II. In 1945 he rejoined his family in Leipzig. Since his father, Gustav, was opposed to his making acting his career, he instead had to attend a police academy, until in 1948 it closed and he was also discharged. From then on, he was able to dedicate himself entirely to acting. He had already performed part-time in amateur productions and taken private acting lessons during his police training. In 1949 he joined the theater company in Greiz and subsequently was engaged in Brandenburg, Zittau, Cottbus, Karl-Marx-Stadt and Dresden.

Struwe made his first appearance before the cameras in 1954, in the DEFA co-production Leuchtfeuer.