Hella Moja

During the First World War and the subsequent years, Hella Moja (1892-1951) was one of the most popular stars of the German silent film era. There was even a Hella Moja series, and in 1918, the actress founded her own film company.


German postcard in the Film Sterne series by Rotophot, no. 78/3. Photo: Decla / Karl Schenker, Berlin.


German postcard in the Film Sterne series by Rotophot, no. 78/6. Photo: Decla / Karl Schenker, Berlin.


German postcard in the Film Sterne series by Rotophot, Berlin, no. 165/3. Photo: Becker & Maass, Berlin / Moja Film.


German postcard by Photochemie, Berlin, no. K. 1376. Photo: Alex Binder.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 1053/3, 1927-1928. Photo: Atelier Schneider, Berlin.

Short silent melodramas

According to IMDb, Hella Moja was born Helene Schwerdtfeger in Königsberg, Germany (now Kaliningrad, Russia) in 1896. However, the sources differ about her origins. Wikipedia writes that she was born as Helene Gertrud Mojzesczyck in Königsberg in 1892, and Thomas Staedeli at Cyranos writes that she was born either as Helene Morawski or as Helene Schwerdtfeger, in Ciemin-Zab, Russia, in 1892. Filmportal.de notes Helene Gertrud Schwerdtfeger as her birth name, Königsberg as her birthplace and 1892 as her birth year.

Hella appeared early in her career at the Teatr Artystyczny in Warsaw. Then she went to Berlin and worked as a translator of Polish and Russian, and as a writer for the Deutsche Presse-Korrespondenz in Hannover, the Ullstein-Verlag and the Scherl-Verlag.

She followed acting classes with Emmanuel Reicher and Frieda Richard and debuted on the Berlin stage in 1913 at the Lessingtheater. She was spotted for the cinema by film star Alwin Neuss, who at the time worked as a director for the Decla-Film studio.

Hella Moja appeared in his silent film Der Weg der Tränen / The Way of the Tears (Alwin Neuss, 1916), based on a script by Ruth Goetz.

She also worked for pioneer studios like Messter, Union and Terra-Film, and excelled in short silent melodramas like Die weiße Rose / The White Rose (Franz Hofer, 1915) opposite Erna Morena, Der Schwur der Renate Rabenau / The Vow of Renate Rabenau (Otto Rippert, 1916), Der Fremde / The Stranger (Otto Rippert, 1917) with Werner Krauss and Das verwunschene Schloss / The Enchanted Castle (Otto Rippert, 1918) again with Krauss, often playing a countess or a damsel.


German postcard by Rotophot in the Film Sterne series, no. 78/2. Photo Karl Schenker, Berlin / Decla Film.


German postcard by Rotophot in the Film Sterne series, no. 134/1. Photo: Decla / Becker & Maass, Berlin.


German postcard by Rotophot in the Film Sterne series, no. 134/3. Photo: Decla / Becker & Maass, Berlin.


German postcard by Rotophot in the Film Sterne series, no. 134/4. Photo: Decla / Becker & Maass, Berlin.


German postcard by Rotophot in the Film Sterne series, no. 165/5. Photo: Decla / Becker & Maass, Berlin.


German postcard in the Film Sterne series by Rotophot, no. 210/1. Photo: Nicola Perscheid, Berlin / Hella Moja Film.

Theatrical acting style

In 1918, Hella Moja founded her own film company, the Hella Moja Filmgesellschaft, which would produce 16 films. Her first production was Wundersam ist das Märchen der Liebe / Wondrous is the Fairy Tale of Love (Leo Connard, 1918) with Ernst Hofmann, for which the critics especially praised her acting.

Another successful production was Die Augen von Jade / The Eyes of Jade (Iwa Raffay, 1918). In Figaros Hochzeit / The Marriage of Figaro (Max Mack, 1920), based on the play by Pierre Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais, she was again impressive as Cherubino, Figaro's page, opposite Alexander Moissi as Figaro.

Other films in which she appeared were Abgrund der Seele / The Abyss of Souls (Urban Gad, 1920), Gräfin Walewska/Countess Walewska (Otto Rippert, 1920) and Der Mann um Mitternacht / The Man at Midnight (Holger Madsen, 1924) with Olaf Fjord. From the mid-1920s on, her theatrical acting style in films like U 9 Weddigen / U Boat 9 (Heinz Paul, 1927) with Gerd Briese was deemed old-fashioned. Moja quit acting and focused on script writing.

During the Nazi period, she had additional problems because she could not prove to be Aryan. In 1934, she changed her name to Helka Moroff and co-wrote the script for Die Vier Musketiere / The Four Musketeers (Heinz Paul, 1934) starring Hans Brausewetter and Käthe Haack.

In 1938, she was expelled from the Reichsschrifttumskammer (RSK) with the excuse that she did odd jobs next to scriptwriting. From 1942 to 1951, the former silent film star worked as a prompter at the Stadttheater Kiel under the name Hella Sewa. In 1951, Hella Moja committed suicide. She had been married to Erich Morawsky and film director Heinz Paul.


German postcard in the Film Sterne Series by Rotophot, no. 501/2. Photo: Decla. Publicity still for Das Mädel von nebenan / The Girl-next-door (Otto Rippert, 1917).


German postcard by Rotophot in the Film Sterne series, no. 501/3. Photo: Decla. Hella Moja and Theodor Loos (far left) in the German silent film Die das Glück suchen / Those Searching for Happiness (1917). Odd is that this title does not appear in the databases Filmportal.de and IMDb. By looking at the serial numbers of the Film Sterne series, the film must be from 1917.


German postcard by Rotophot in the Film Sterne series, no. 511/1. Photo: Decla. Publicity still for Die Tochter der Gräfin Stachowska / The Daughter of Countess Stachowska (Otto Rippert, 1917).


German postcard by Rotophot in the Film-Sterne series, no. 544/2. Photo: Hella Moja-Film GmbH Publicity still for Wundersam ist das Märchen der Liebe / Wonderful is the Fairy-Tale of Love (Leo Connard, 1918) with Hella Moja and Ernst Hofmann.


German postcard by Photochemie, Berlin, no. K 1651. Photo: Berliner Illustrations Gesellschaft.


German postcard by Photochemie, Berlin, no. K 1926. Photo: Eberth / Decla-Film.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 298/1, 1919-1924. Photo: Zander & Labisch / Hella Moja Film.


German postcard by Ross Verlag / W.J. Mörlins, Berlin, no. 320/1, 1919-1924. Photo: Karl Schenker, Berlin.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 459/2, 1919-1924. Photo: Karl Schenker.

Sources: Filmportal, Thomas Staedeli (Cyranos), Deutsches Filminstitut (German), Wikipedia (German), BFI Film & TV Database, and IMDb.

This post was last updated on 9 October 2025.

Das verwunschene Schloß (1918)

During the First World War and the following years, Hella Moja was one of the most popular stars of German silent cinema. There was even a Hella Moja serial and in 1918 she founded her own film company. One of her films for the Decla that year was Das verwunschene Schloß/The haunted castle (Otto Rippert, 1918). Her co-star was Carl Auen, who often appeared in silent films as the handsome gentleman, officer or nobleman.


German postcard by Rotophot in the Film-Sterne series, no. 546/1. Photo: Decla. Hella Moja as Veronika in Das verwunschene Schloß/The Haunted Castle (Otto Rippert, 1918).


German postcard by Rotophot in the Film-Sterne series, no. 546/2. Photo: Decla. On the right, Hella Moja as Veronika, Carl Auen as Gontard, and Lina Paulsen as Ursula in Das verwunschene Schloß (Otto Rippert, 1918).

Changing his own child in the cradle with the count's daughter

Das verwunschene Schloß/The haunted castle (Otto Rippert, 1918) was produced by Erich Pommer for Decla-Film-Ges. Holz & Co. in Berlin, and was written by Julius Sternheim. Count von Groningen (Max Ruhbeck) left his castle twenty years ago. Since then, the castle is considered haunted.

Shortly before his flight, the count has given his newborn child in custody to the administrator and farmer Grödner (Werner Krauss). Perfid Grödner exchanges his own child Gisela with the count's daughter Veronika in the cradle, hoping to get possession of the castle in this way.

Gisela, now called Veronika (Hella Moja), and Veronika, now called Gisela (Erra Bognar), grow up like sisters in the manor. One day the two girls meet a travelling singer named Gontard (Carl Auen) during a walk. He quickly takes a liking to Veronika. At the same time as Gontard's appearance, a new bailiff (Magnus Stifter) appears in town. He is sent to find out what the story of the haunted stories at Groningen Castle is about.

The following evening there is a village ball, where Veronika, Gisela, and Gontard are present too. While the villager Franz (Joseph Coenen) hits on Gisela, Gontard and Veronika notice a cone of light emerging from the supposedly uninhabited castle.

The village community is alerted and people go to Grödner to ask for the key to the castle gate, but he cannot be tracked. The bailiff rightly assumes that Grödner has selfishly organised this haunt to keep strangers away from the castle, but the official lacks the evidence to pin him down and imprison him for gross mischief.


German postcard by Rotophot in the Film-Sterne series, no. 546/3. Photo: Decla. On the right, Hella Moja as Veronika and Carl Auen as Gontard in Das verwunschene Schloß (Otto Rippert, 1918). The couple on the left are Erra Bognar (Gisela) and Joseph Coenen (Franz).


German postcard in the Film Sterne series by Rotophot, no. 546/4. Photoc: Decla. Hella Moja as Veronika, Lina Paulsen as Ursula, and Carl Auen as Gontard in Das verwunschene Schloß (Otto Rippert, 1918).

A cypher, hidden in a medallion to open an iron door

Veronika and Gontard are getting closer. The young man discovers a medallion on her neck, which he once gave to a girl whom he had fished out of a lake shortly before. Now old Ursula (Lina Paulsen), once the nurse of the count's daughter, recognises the nephew of the old count in Gontard.

Ursula asks him to get the castle key from Grödner and take possession of the castle. The latter not only sees his plot fail to grab the castle but also realises that his baby swap from twenty years ago threatens to be exposed. He has a fit of rage.

Gontard becomes suspicious and rummages through documents that eventually substantiate his suspicion that the manager had once replaced the babies. This is a blessing for Franz, he thought that his "Gisela" was the count's daughter, whom he could impossibly marry because of the class difference.

Gontard and Franz decide to put a stop to the villainous Gördner. Both sneak into the castle and wait for the culprit's return to organise his nightly light games. In fact, the steward appears and a fight follows. Dying, the villain admits the former baby exchange. Using a cypher hidden in Veronika's medallion, the two men manage to open a locked iron door, behind which Gördner has locked Veronika and the wet nurse. Now Gontard can finally marry the wrong Veronika, who is actually Countess Gisela.

Neue Kino-Rundschau reviewed the film on 27 July 1918: "This romantic film takes us to the land of fairy tales. Hella Moja once again conquers us with her acting. In the scene in which the poor peasant girl transforms into the rich countess, she plays so naturally that she must necessarily appear pleasant and convincing to the viewer. The other actors also fulfil their roles to the full. The extremely exciting plot, in which especially the splendidly executed crowd scenes reveal the work of the expert director, keeps our interest up to the last minute. The charming rural milieu and the good photography are further assets of the picture."


German postcard by Rotophot in the Film-Sterne series, no. 546/5. Photo: Decla. Hella Moja as Veronika in Das verwunschene Schloß (Otto Rippert, 1918).


German postcard by Rotophot in the Film-Sterne series, no. 546/6. Photo: Decla. Hella Moja as Veronika and Carl Auen as Gontard in Das verwunschene Schloß/The haunted castle (Otto Rippert, 1918).

Sources: Filmportal.de, Wikipedia (German) and IMDb.

Nur ein Schmetterling (1918)

Hella Moja starred in the German silent film Nur ein Schmetterling/Only a Butterfly (Iwa Raffay, 1918). Her own film company, Hella-Moja-Film, produced the film. Rotophot published a series of five sepia postcards of the film in their Film Sterne series, which Ivo Blom collected.


German postcard by Rotophot in the Film Sterne series, no. 543/1. Photo: Hella-Moja-Film. Hella Moja in Nur ein Schmetterling/Only a Butterfly (Iwa Raffay, 1918).


German postcard by Rotophot in the Film Sterne series, no. 543/2. Photo: Hella-Moja-Film. Hella Moja in Nur ein Schmetterling/Only a Butterfly (Iwa Raffay, 1918).The man sitting is the actor Ernst Hofmann.


German postcard by Rotophot in the Film Sterne series, no. 543/3. Photo: Hella-Moja-Film. Hella Moja in Nur ein Schmetterling/Only a Butterfly (Iwa Raffay, 1918).

Countess or Damsel

Little is known about Nur ein Schmetterling/Only a Butterfly (Iwa Raffay, 1918). IMDb mentions that Iva (other sources write Iwa) Raffay was both director and scriptwriter and that the cast also included Alfred Abel, Karl Falkenberg, Josef Ewald and Ernst Hofmann. We did not recognise them on the postcards.

Hella Moja was only 22 at the time. Since 1915, she had worked for pioneer studios like Messter, Union and Terra-Film, and had excelled in short silent melodramas like Die weiße Rose/The White Rose (Franz Hofer, 1915) opposite Erna Morena, Der Schwur der Renate Rabenau/The Vow of Renate Rabenau (Otto Rippert, 1916), Der Fremde/The Stranger (Otto Rippert, 1917) with Werner Krauss and Das verwunschene Schloss/The Enchanted Castle (Otto Rippert, 1918) again with Krauss.

In her films, Hella Moja often played a countess or a damsel. With success. There was a Hella Moja serial, and in 1918 she could found her own film company, the Hella Moja Filmgesellschaft, in Berlin. Nur ein Schmetterling was the third production of her film company.

Nur ein Schmetterling was shot at the Eiko Film studios in Berlin. It was the directorial debut of Iwa Raffay The Czech director also scripted the film. The film deals with a female artist (Moja), who follows a rich man (Hofmann) but then learns where true happiness is found.

According to Filmportal, the premiere of the film was probably in August 1918 in the movie palace Marmorhaus at the Kurfürstendamm in Berlin, but IMDb mentions that Nur ein Schmetterling already premiered in June 1918. The First World War was still going on and Germany was falling apart at home. Anti-war marches became frequent and morale in the army sank deep. In November 1918, 'the Great War' finally ended.



German postcard by Rotophot in the Film Sterne series, no. 543/4. Photo: Hella-Moja-Film. Hella Moja in Nur ein Schmetterling/Only a Butterfly (Iwa Raffay, 1918).


German postcard by Rotophot in the Film Sterne series, no. 543/5. Photo: Hella-Moja-Film. Hella Moja in Nur ein Schmetterling/Only a Butterfly (Iwa Raffay, 1918).

Sources: Wikipedia (German) and IMDb.

This post was last updated on 16 March 2023.

Heidegretel (1918)

Hella Moja played the title role in the German silent melodrama Heide-Gretel (Otto Rippert, 1918). The film was produced by Erich Pommer for the Decla-Filmgellschaft. Rotophoto published a series of five sepia postcards in the Film-Sterne series of the film.


German postcard in the Film-Sterne series by Rotophot, no. 547/1. Photo: Decla. Publicity still of Hella Moja in Heide-Gretel (Otto Rippert, 1918).


German postcard in the Film-Sterne series by Rotophot, no. 547/2. Photo: Decla. Publicity still of Hella Moja in Heide-Gretel (Otto Rippert, 1918). The man is probably Max Ruhbeck.

A Nightmare in the Snow

Hella Moja was one of the most popular stars of the German cinema during the First World War. In 1918, she even founded her own production company. In February 1918, her film Heide-Gretel, directed by Otto Rippert, premiered at the Berlin Marmorhaus cinema. Heide-Gretel was still produced by the Decla-Filmgellschaft, lead by Erich Pommer, who would later produce such classics as Das Cabinet des Dr. Caligari (Robert Wiene, 1920) and Metropolis (Fritz Lang, 1925). The cinematography was done by Carl Hoffmann.

The script by Carl Schneider tells the story of Heide-Gretel (Hella Moja), who has hard times in the inn 'Zum Mooskrug'. The landlord, her foster-father, beats her for every little mistake. When he wants to beat her again because she accidentally dropped glasses, two men protectively stand before her: Konrad and the ballet master Pankratius.

Heide-Gretel does not want to stay in this place any longer and runs out into the snow-covered forest, crying bitterly. Exhausted and desperate, the girl falls into a deep sleep despite the cold. Then she starts to dream...

In her dream, Konrad and Pankratius are by her side. She is led into the house of the ballet master, where the chamberlain of the sovereign has just arrived to discuss the upcoming ballet production. When Gretel starts to sing, the Chamberlain is delighted and leads her to the castle of the Prince. In her dream, the Prince suddenly falls in love with Gretel and wants to make her his wife, but she only agrees on condition he takes her protector Konrad to his court. Out of love for her, the Prince accepts Gretel's request.

When Konrad is at court, the Prince surprises his future wife on the morning of the wedding in his arms. The Prince has the rival thrown into a dungeon, but he soon frees him again at Gretel's request. Then she murders the Prince in her dream, whereupon she is arrested. To avoid the executioner, Konrad brings her poison so that she can die by her own hand. Konrad joins her into her death. From this nightmare, Gretel no longer awakens. People will find her frozen in the snow the next morning.


German postcard in the Film-Sterne series by Rotophot, no. 547/3. Photo: Decla. Publicity still of Hella Moja in Heide-Gretel (Otto Rippert, 1918).


German postcard in the Film-Sterne series by Rotophot, no. 547/4. Photo: Decla. Publicity still of Hella Moja in Heide-Gretel (Otto Rippert, 1918). The man is probably Max Ruhbeck.


German postcard in the Film-Sterne series by Rotophot, no. 547/5. Photo: Decla. Publicity still of Hella Moja in Heide-Gretel (Otto Rippert, 1918). The man left could be Leopold von Ledebur, the Prince in the film.

Source: Wikipedia (German), Filmportal.de, and IMDb.

Die Tochter des Gräfin Stachowska (1917)

During the First World War, the German government stimulated the film industry and the star system in Germany by subsidising film postcards. It worked. One of the most popular series was the Film Sterne series by publisher Rotophot. A typical example is the set of postcards made for Die Tochter der Gräfin Stachowska/The Daughter of Countess Stachowksa (Otto Rippert, 1917), produced by the great Erich Pommer for the Decla studio. The film's star is Hella Moja.


German postcard by Rotophot in the Film Sterne series, no. 511/1. Photo: Decla. Publicity still for Die Tochter der Gräfin Stachowska (Otto Rippert, 1917) with Hella Moja.


German postcard by Rotophot in the Film Sterne series, no. 511/2. Photo: Decla. Publicity still for Die Tochter der Gräfin Stachowska (Otto Rippert, 1917) with Hella Moja.

A poor Polish aristocrat

During the First World War and the following years Hella Moja (1890-1951) was one of the most popular stars of the German silent cinema. There was even a Hella Moja serial and in 1918 she founded her own film company.

In Die Tochter des Gräfin Stachowska/The Daughter of Countess Stachowksa (Otto Rippert, 1917) Moja plays a poor Polish aristocrat, who marries a rich man. She loves another man, but eventually returns to the other.

Die Tochter der Gräfin Stachowska was scripted by Paul Otto and photographed by Carl Hoffmann. The film was co-produced by Moja and legendary producer Erich Pommer. Moja's co-actors were Werner Krauss, Tony Tetzlaff, Thea Sandten, and a young Hans Albers, whose fourth film this was and his first substantial part.

Our sources differ about which film company produced the film. Filmportal.de indicates this was a Decla-Film-Gesellschaft Holz & Co., but the Murnau Stiftung claims it was produced by Moja's own film company Hella Moja Film-GmbH. We think Filmportal.de is right here. German Wikipedia writes that Moja founded her film company in 1918, and the postcards definitively show the Decla logo.


German postcard by Rotophot in the Film Sterne series, no. 511/3. Photo: Decla. Publicity still for Die Tochter der Gräfin Stachowska (Otto Rippert, 1917) with Hella Moja.


German postcard by Rotophot in the Film Sterne series, no. 511/4. Photo: Decla. Publicity still for Die Tochter der Gräfin Stachowska (Otto Rippert, 1917) with Hella Moja.

Sources: Filmportal.de, Murnau Stiftung (German), Wikipedia (German) and IMDb.

Wundersam ist das Märchen der Liebe (1918)

The German silent film Wundersam ist das Märchen der Liebe/Wondrous is the story of love (Leo Connard, 1918) is an Orientalist drama, produced by Hella Moja-Film GmbH. Producer Hella Moja is also the star of the film. She is a beautiful orphan, married to a prince. Because of jealousy, her husband abandons her. When she is about to commit suicide, he accepts her again. Other actors in the film were Ernst Hofmann, Marie Connard and the film's director, Leo Connard. Wundersam ist das Märchen der Liebe premiered in July 1918 at the Berlin movie palace Marmorhaus.


German postcard by Rotophot in the Film-Sterne series, no. 544/3. Photo: Hella Moja-Film GmbH. Hella Moja in Wundersam ist das Märchen der Liebe (Leo Connard, 1918).


German postcard by Rotophot in the Film-Sterne series, no. 544/4. Photo: Hella Moja-Film GmbH. Hella Moja in Wundersam ist das Märchen der Liebe (Leo Connard, 1918).


German postcard by Rotophot in the Film-Sterne series, no. 544/5. Photo: Hella Moja-Film GmbH. Hella Moja in Wundersam ist das Märchen der Liebe (Leo Connard, 1918).


German postcard by Rotophot in the Film-Sterne series, no. 544/6. Photo: Hella Moja-Film GmbH. Hella Moja in Wundersam ist das Märchen der Liebe (Leo Connard, 1918).


German postcard by Rotophot in the Film-Sterne series, no. 544/7. Photo: Hella Moja-Film GmbH. Hella Moja in Wundersam ist das Märchen der Liebe (Leo Connard, 1918).


German postcard by Rotophot in the Film-Sterne series, no. 544/8. Photo: Hella Moja-Film GmbH. Hella Moja in Wundersam ist das Märchen der Liebe (Leo Connard, 1918).