Paul Otto

Paul Otto (8 February 1878 – 25/30 November 1943) was a German film actor and director.

Otto was born as Paul Otto Schlesinger in Berlin. He began a qualification as a retail merchant and made his actor's debut in the age of 17. Otto worked at Theaters in Halle, Wiesbaden and Hanover before he returned to Berlin about 1906.

He first appeared in the silent film Ringkampf Konkurrenz in 1910 and in Arsène Lupin contra Sherlock Holmes (1910-11, five episode film serial) next to Viggo Larsen. In 1912 Otto directed his first own movie Selbstgerichtet. In the beginning of the 1930s he also appeared in successful Sound movies like Der Hauptmann von Köpenick. After 1933, Otto returned to theaterstages and worked at the Deutsches Theater Berlin and the Kammerspiele Berlin. In 1937 he was awarded a Staatsschauspieler - title and in 1942 Joseph Goebbels promoted him to the head of the stagecouncil at the Reichskulturkammer.

In September 1943 his Jewish descent was discovered. To avoid his deportation Otto committed suicide on 30 November 1943 (by other sources 25 November) together with his wife Charlotte Klinder-Otto at his home in Berlin.

Paul Otto (historian)

Paul Otto is a professor of American history at George Fox University, and a noted researcher in the area of Dutch-Native American relations and wampum.

Education and career

Otto received his BA (1987) from Dordt College, his MA (1990) from Western Washington University, and his PhD (1995) in early American and Native American history at Indiana University. Otto has taught at Calvin College and Dordt College and currently teaches at George Fox University in Newberg, Oregon, where he has been since 2002. He has served as the chair of their History & Political Science Department since 2005. He teaches courses on American history, Latin America, Southern Africa, Colonial America, and the Making of the American Republic. In 2010, Otto received a faculty achievement award for research as an undergraduate professor from George Fox University. In addition, Otto is currently on the Journal of Early American History's editorial board and on Providence Christian College's board of trustees in Pasadena, California.