 Jannings later starred in a number of Nazi propaganda films, which made him unemployable as an actor after the fall of the Third Reich.Jannings was born in Rorschach, Switzerland, the son of Emil Janenz, an American businessman from St. Louis, and his wife Margarethe ("née" Schwabe), originally from Germany.Jannings held German citizenship; while he was still young the family moved to Leipzig in the German Empire and further to Görlitz after the early death of his father.