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January 2023 marks the 80th anniversary of the release of the film classic Casablanca. The film had its world premiere at the Hollywood Theatre on Nov. 26, 1942, and was released nationally in the U.S. on Jan. 23, 1943.
In real life, Allied forces had liberated Casablanca from the Nazi collaborationist Vichy France regime on Nov. 11, 1942, and from Jan. 14-24, 1942, U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill met in the Moroccan city to plan the Allied strategy for the next phase of World War II.
So who was the biggest antifascist in the cast of Casablanca? It wasn’t any of the obvious suspects: Humphrey Bogart (who played Rick Blaine), Ingrid Bergman (Ilsa Lund), or even Paul Henreid (Victor Laszlo).
Instead, it was the German actor Conrad Veidt, who played Major Heinrich Strasser, one of the most villainous Nazis ever to appear on the silver screen—but in real life, was far from a bad guy.
