Crisis(1939)

Who was Hitler(de)

Hitler's biography told like never before. Besides brief historical localizations by a narrator, only contemporaries and Hitler himself speak: no interviews, no reenactment, no illustrative graphics and no technical gadgets. The testimonies from diaries, letters, speeches and autobiographies are assembled with new, often unpublished archive material. Hitler's life and work are thus reflected in a unique way in interaction with the image of the society in the years 1889 to 1945.

Poland 1939: When German Soldiers Became War Criminals(de)

September 1st, 1939. Nazi Germany invades Poland. The campaign is fast, cruel and ruthless. In these circumstances, how is it that ordinary German soldiers suddenly became vicious killers, terrorizing the local population? Did everyone turn into something worse than wild animals? The true story of the first World War II offensive that marks in the history of infamy the beginning of a carnage and a historical tragedy.

Fascism in Colour(en)

After the World War I, Mussolini's perspective on life is severely altered; once a willful socialist reformer, now obsessed with the idea of power, he founds the National Fascist Party in 1921 and assumes political power in 1922, becoming the Duce, dictator of Italy. His success encourages Hitler to take power in Germany in 1933, opening the dark road to World War II. (Originally released as a two-part miniseries. Includes colorized archival footage.)

Code Name Lucy: Spies Against Nazis(fr)

The greatest secret of the Second World War has remained a mystery for the last 80 years: a Jewish Communist, Sandor Rado, led a spy network that proved essential to the victory of Allied Forces. Rado received details of strictly confidential strategies from the highest echelons of the Nazi State through Rudolf Roessler, a dedicated anti-Nazi he'd only known as code name "Lucy." Aided by key German industry leaders, Roessler transmitted timely information from high-ranking collaborators within the German army headquarters. Despite their achievement, Rado, Roessler and their sources remained unacknowledged heroes until today. Thanks to the recent declassification of secret archives, we are now able to step behind the scenes of this incredible story.

Himmlerin kanteleensoittaja(fi)

"Himmlers Kantele Player" - about Finnish student, who decides to leave University of Sorbonne and walk from Paris to Helsinki in the spring of 1935. On his way, in Germany, he meets Heinrich Himmler, who is attracted by a traditional Finnish instrument, kantele. Himmler employs Yrjö as researcher to the Ahnenerbe institute to find the Aryan roots from the runic singing culture of Finnish Carelia.

Frank mezi námi(cs)

St. Louis(de)

Hamburg, Germany, 1939. Getting a passage aboard the passenger liner St. Louis seems to be the last hope of salvation for more than nine hundred German Jews who, desperate to escape the atrocious persecution to which they are subjected by the Nazi regime, intend to emigrate to Cuba.

One Day in Soviet Russia(ru)

On August 24th of 1940 a group of cameramen cross the immense territory of the Soviet Union before it was attacked by Nazi Germany, and capture multiple aspects of life in this new world.

Od Mnichova k 15. březnu(cs)

Repetitioner(sv)

The theatre 7:3 project was conducted at the Tidaholm prison 1998-1999. What started as an artistic experiment, ended up in police killings at Malexander. The process in the prison were filmed during 6 months.

Hitler: The Comedy Years(en)

A documentary about the portrayal of Adolf Hitler in popular culture.

Murder in Malexander(sv)

Depicts the controversial double police murder, involving neo-nazism and a theatre project by one of Scandinavia's most celebrated playwrights. The film traces a complex and fascinating chain of events leading up to the fatal climax in the picturesque small town of Malexander, Sweden.

The Dead Nation(ro)

A documentary-essay which shows Costică Axinte's stunning collection of pictures depicting a Romanian small town in the thirties and forties. The narration, composed mostly from excerpts taken from the diary of a Jewish doctor from the same era, tells the rising of the antisemitism and eventually a harrowing depiction of the Romanian Holocaust.

Avant la catastrophe - La Chute de la République de Weimar (1930-1933)(fr)

Forbidden Films(de)

Between 1933 and 1945 roughly 1200 films were made in Germany, of which 300 were banned by the Allied forces. Today, around 40 films, called "Vorbehaltsfilme", are locked away from the public with an uncertain future. Should they be re-released, destroyed, or continue to be neglected? Verbotene Filme takes a closer look at some of these forbidden films.

Sintomático(pt)

Stalin and the Katyn Massacre(fr)

The Katyn massacre, carried out by the Soviet NKVD in 1940, was only one of many unspeakable crimes committed by Stalin's ruthless executioners over three decades. The mass murder of thousands of Polish officers was part of a relentless purge, the secrets and details of which have only recently been partially revealed.

Berlin - Paris: Die Geschichte der Beate Klarsfeld(de)

With her slap of the Federal Chancellor Kurt Georg Kiesinger in 1968, Beate Klarsfeld abruptly got known worldwide. The film highlights the significance of this act and its background. Beate Klarsfeld, born in Berlin in 1939 as Beate Künzel, is primarily known to people as "the woman with the slap" and as the Nazi hunter. In 1960 she went to Paris and met her future husband Serge Klarsfeld, whose father was deported to Auschwitz and murdered there. She was confronted with the darkest part of German history, about which she had learned nothing at school. Serge gave her books to read and made her actively deal with them. Since then, she has not let go of dealing with the crimes of the Nazi era. For them, it was always about "responsibility, not guilt".

100 Years of the UFA(de)

The intricate history of UFA, a film production company founded in 1917 that has survived the Weimar Republic, the Nazi regime, the Adenauer era and the many and tumultuous events of contemporary Germany, and has always been the epicenter of the German film industry.

Le Temps des assassins(fr)