From Marie Magdalene to Marlene
Marie Magdalene Dietrich was born on December 27, 1901, in Schöneberg, which is now a district of Berlin. Her mother came from a rich German family who owned a jewelry and clock-making firm. Her father was a police lieutenant who died in 1907 when she was just six years old. Her father’s best friend, Eduard von Losch, who was an aristocratic first lieutenant, wooed Marlene’s mother, and they got married in 1914. But he then died during the First World War.
Marlene Dietrich as a baby. Photo by Snap / Shutterstock
Her family nicknamed her “Lena” and “Lene.” And when she was about 11, she combined her first two names, forming the name “Marlene.” She learned to play the violin and developed an interest in theater and poetry as a teenager. But thanks to a wrist injury, her dreams of becoming a concert violinist shattered.