Marlene Dietrich's daughter sold her estate to Berlin in 1993, about 300,000 pages, 16,500 photographs and 3,300 garments

Marlene Dietrich left Germany for Hollywood, became an American citizen and entertained Allied troops in the Second World War, and many Germans did not forgive her. From 1976 she lived withdrawn in her apartment at 12 avenue Montaigne in Paris, where she died on 6 May 1992, aged 90. She was buried in Berlin-Friedenau. Her only child, Maria Riva, sold the bulk of the estate to the city of Berlin; the New York Times reported the purchase on 15 September 1993, and the price is reported as $5 million^†. Riva said she wanted the collection kept together. The Deutsche Kinemathek has held it since October 1993: more than 300,000 sheets of documents, including 920 folders of correspondence with people such as Orson Welles and Billy Wilder, about 16,500 photographs, more than 3,300 textiles, about 2,500 sound recordings, her luggage and her jewelry. Some other items were auctioned at Sotheby's in Los Angeles^†. Berlin made her an honorary citizen on 16 May 2002. In 2009 about 130 of her letters to the Swedish costume designer Max Goldstein, found in his house after his death, were auctioned in Berlin. Riva died on 29 October 2025, aged 100.