Dr. Vitus Werdegast is a fictional character portrayed by Bela Lugosi in the 1934 Universal horror film, The Black Cat. A Hungarian psychiatrist and World War I veteran Werdegast served at Fort Marmorus under the command of Hjalmar Poelzig. Poelzig betrayed the fort to the Russians, leading to the deaths of thousands and Werdegast’s 15-year imprisonment in a brutal Siberian prison camp. A distinctive trait of the character is his extreme ailurophobia (fear of cats). Poelzig uses a black cat to psychologically torment him throughout their confrontation. Unlike many of his other roles, Lugosi's Werdegast functions more as a tragic anti-hero and protector to the film's younger protagonists.