Inge Meysel, 94; German Actress Was ‘Mother of the Nation’

Inge Meysel, 94, the German actress dubbed “Mother of the Nation” after World War II, died Saturday of heart failure at her home near Hamburg, Germany.

Meysel was banned from the stage during the Nazi era because her father was Jewish. But after the war, she appeared in many popular television shows, and over the last 40 years had performed 100 TV and stage roles. Her last appearance was in May in a German television crime series.

Although Meysel insisted she was not the maternal type, she earned the nickname “Mother of the Nation” for her memorable role as a concierge in the 1959-1960 TV series “Das Fenster zum Flur” (“The Window to the Floor”).

At the announcement of Meysel’s death, German President Horst Koehler said the country had “lost an outstanding actress who got to people’s hearts.”