The Axe of Wandsbek (1951 film)

The Axe of Wandsbek
Directed by Falk Harnack
Produced by Kurt Hahne
Written by Hans-Robert Bortfeldt, Falk Harnack, Wolfgang Staudte
Starring Erwin Geschonneck
Music by Ernst Roters
Cinematography Robert Baberske
Editing by Hilde Tegener
Studio DEFA
Distributed by PROGRESS-Film Verleih
Release date(s) 11 May 1951
Running time 111 minutes
Country East Germany
Language German

The Axe of Wandsbek (German: Das Beil von Wandsbek) is an 1951 East German film, directed by Falk Harnack.

Contents

Plot

1934, Hamburg. Adolf Hitler is about to visit the city. Hamburg's executioner falls ill, and is unable to deliver the sentence of four communists who are awaiting capital punishment in jail. Fearing that this would spoil Hitler's visit, SS leader Footh offers a local bankrupt butcher, Albert Teetjen, 2000 Mark in order to carry out the verdict. The broke Teetjen agrees and follows suit. When his neighbors hear of the execution, they shun him. His wife cannot tolerate her husband's deed and puts an end to her life. Eventually, Teetjen also commits suicide.

Cast

Production

The film's script was adapted by Wolfgang Staudte from Arnold Zweig's novel by the same name, which the author wrote at 1943, while in exile in the British Mandate of Palestine. Director Falk Harnack, whose own brother Arvid was executed by the NSDAP regime and who defected from the 999th Division to the Greek Resistance during World War II, decided to film Staudte's work at 1950.[1][2]

Reception

The Axe of Wandsbek was viewed by 800,000 people in the first three weeks after its release,[3] and received positive reviews.[2]

The East German political establishment and the Soviet representatives in the country disapproved of the film, which they viewed as promoting sympathy to the perpetrators of Nazi atrocities. The SED politburo denounced it, proclaiming that "it did not present the proletariat resistance as heroes, but rather, their executioners."[4] The film was banned after less than a month, although Zweig himself, who wielded considerable influence as the President of the GDR's Academy of Arts, resisted the move.[5] Bertolt Brecht offered to write an alternate version, but was rejected.[6] The Axe of Wandsbek was DEFA's first film to be banned.[4] This happened closely after the establishment of the DEFA commission by the government to regulate the studio and provide political control.[6] Shortly afterwards, Harnack left to West Germany, abandoning his position as DEFA's artistic director. The studio came under the control of party functionary Sepp Schwab.[7]

The film was allowed to be screened again in 1962, in honor of Zweig's 75th birthday. The authorized version was twenty minutes shorter than the original.[8]

References

  1. ^ Ingrid Poss. Spur der Filme: Zeitzeugen über die DEFA. ISBN 978-3861534013. Pages 79.
  2. ^ a b Seán Allan, John Sandford. DEFA: East German cinema, 1946-1992. ISBN 978-1571817532. Pages 68-69.
  3. ^ Ralf Schenk, Erika Richter. Apropos Film 2003. Das Jahrbuch der DEFA-Stiftung. Bertz Fischer (2003). ISBN 978-3929470284. Page 159.
  4. ^ a b Stephen Brockmann. A Critical History of German Film. Camden House (2010). ISBN 9781571134684. Pages 221.
  5. ^ Matthias Braun. Kulturinsel und Machtinstrument: Die Akademie der Kunste, die Partei und die Staatssicherheit. ISBN 978-3525350492. Page 53.
  6. ^ a b Dagmar Schittly. Zwischen Regie und Regime. Die Filmpolitik der SED im Spiegel der DEFA-Produktionen. ISBN 978-3861532620. Pages 45.
  7. ^ Joshua Feinstein. The Triumph of the Ordinary: Depictions of Daily Life in the East German Cinema, 1949-1989. ISBN 978-0807853856. Page 274.
  8. ^ Miera Liehm, Antonin J. Liehm . The Most Important Art: Soviet and Eastern European Film After 1945. ISBN 0-520-04128-3. Page 92.

External links