[2] From his extensive theatrical work, his role as "Mackie Messer" ("Mack the Knife") in the world premiere of Bertolt Brecht's The Threepenny Opera is particularly noteworthy.

In 1938 Harald Paulsen became director of the Theater am Nollendorfplatz in Berlin, where mainly operettas were performed at that time.

[3] Shortly after Adolf Hitler seized power, he became a fervent National Socialist and carried the Flag of Nazi Germany for the student representatives at the May Day rally in Tempelhof.

[2] The Viennese actor Rolf Kutschera reported in his memoirs that Paulsen was notorious among his colleagues as an informant to Nazi authorities.

[4] Harald Paulsen died on 4 August 1954, aged 58, in the general hospital in the Hamburg borough of Altona after suffering from a stroke.