Tanja von Lahnstein | |||||||||||||||||||||||
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Verbotene Liebe character | |||||||||||||||||||||||
Portrayed by | Miriam Lahnstein | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Duration | 1995–1998, 2001, 2004–2015 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
First appearance |
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Last appearance |
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Classification | Series regular | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Created by | Rasi Levinas | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Introduced by | Ariane Krampe | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Spin-off appearances | Verbotene Liebe: Next Generation (2021) | ||||||||||||||||||||||
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Tanja von Lahnstein (née Wittkamp, formerly von Anstetten) is a fictional character from the German soap opera Verbotene Liebe (Forbidden Love) on Das Erste, portrayed by actress Miriam Lahnstein from 1995 to 1998, in 2001, and again from 2004 to 2015. Lahnstein reprised the role in the 2020–2021 TVNOW revival series, Verbotene Liebe: Next Generation.
From the beginning, Tanja emerges as an enemy of the wealthy and aristocratic Clarissa von Anstetten (Isa Jank). When Tanja fakes a pregnancy to trap Clarissa's stepson, Henning von Anstetten (Markus Hoffmann), into marriage, but Clarissa exposes her as a fraud and a golddigger. Tanja vows revenge on the entire Anstetten family, and Clarissa's total destruction. When her first husband, Henning's uncle Ben von Anstetten (Andreas Jung) is poisoned and dies, she marries murders his illegitimate son Rajan Rai (Sascha Zaglauer) to inherit his fortune, and then kidnaps Clarissa. Tanja murders pregnant Cleo Winter (Dinah Alice Schilffarth) to cover her tracks before leaving town in 1998. Tanja is held captive for three years by her ex-lover, Tim Sander (Roland Pfaus), for killing Cleo. She kills Tim and escapes in 2001, returning with another plan to marry and then murder Henning (now portrayed by Patrik Fichte) to inherit his fortune. The scheme fails, and Tanja and Clarissa are subsequently presumed dead in a plane crash together. Tanja returns in 2004, her criminal record mysteriously expunged. She ultimately marries Ansgar von Lahnstein (Wolfram Grandezka) and later his cousin, Sebastian von Lahnstein (Sebastian Schlemmer), having a child with each.