Falk Harnack

Synopsis: During the Russian campaign, a military pastor was to assist Private Baranowski, who was sentenced to death for his desertion, on his last night. It is also the last night before the departure for Stalingrad that the soldiers know that it means certain death. The pastor leaves his room to a captain so that he can meet his fiancé again. He himself remains in Baranowski’s cell and struggles with his conscience and emotion – even more than when he learns that the young doomed man fled for love. But the execution is carried out, and a member of the firing squad finds only cynical words for the fate of the soldier.Read More »

Germany 1934: The Nazi authorities in Hamburg need an executioner to put a group of political prisoners to death, otherwise Hitler won’t visit their town. Teetjen, the butcher, facing bankruptcy, agrees to do the dirty deed.
Adapted from the novel by German-Jewish author Arnold Zweig and co-scripted by Wolfgang Staudte (director of The Murderers Are Among Us, Rotation and The Kaiser’s Lackey) this important classic was directed by a former anti-Nazi resistance fighter, Falk Harnack.
Ironically the film, which starred concentration camp survivor Erwin Geschonneck in the lead role, was withdrawn after its release because its nuanced portrait of a Nazi perpetrator was considered too sympathetic.Read More »