The Ninth Day

The Ninth Day
Directed by Volker Schlöndorff
Produced by Jürgen Haase
Wolfgang Plehn
Jean-Claude Schlim
Written by Eberhard Görner
Andreas Pflüger
Starring Ulrich Matthes
August Diehl
Bibiana Beglau
Distributed by Kino International
Release dates
 Germany: 11 November 2004
United States: 27 May 2005
Running time
 90 minutes
Country Germany
Luxembourg
Czech Republic
Language German

The Ninth Day is a German film, made in 2004 and directed by Volker Schlöndorff. It was released by Kino International.

The film is about a Catholic priest from Luxembourg who is imprisoned in Dachau concentration camp, but released for nine days. The story is based on a portion of Pfarrerblock 25487 (ISBN 2-87963-286-2), the diary of Father Jean Bernard (1907–1994), which was translated into English by Deborah Lucas Schneider as Priestblock 25487: A Memoir of Dachau (ISBN 978-0972598170) and released in 2007.

Plot

Henri Kremer, a Catholic priest from Luxemburg, is imprisoned in Dachau. He experiences the horrors of the camps, including the crucifixion of some of his fellow prisoners, when one day he is given an unexpected leave of nine days. He returns to his native city, where the young SS officer Gebhardt tells him that he should convince his bishop to cooperate with the Nazis. Gebhardt, himself a former candidate for the priesthood, tries to convince the priest that the role of Judas is just what God wants from him. Kremer is confronted with a hard decision: Should he betray his Church or should he return to the concentration camp?

External links