It happened on July 20th
The semi-documentary film Es Happened on July 20 (alternative title: Three Steps to Destiny ) from 1955 is the first film to deal with the failed assassination attempt on Adolf Hitler on July 20, 1944 . At the same time, the film is a thematic continuation of Georg W. Pabst's war film The Last Act , which also deals with the Third Reich .
action
The film begins on the morning of July 20th when the German Colonel Claus Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg flies with his adjutant Werner von Haeften in the direction of East Prussia . In the Wolf's Lair , so their plan, they want to ignite a bomb to murder with the intention of Hitler. Although the bomb detonated, Hitler survived the attack.
In Berlin , however, their co-conspirators have already proclaimed Valkyrie in order to gain control of the Nazi state. Soon after, Stauffenberg arrives in Berlin, unable to believe what Keitel is reporting from the Fuehrer's headquarters - Hitler is alive.
This orders the brutal smashing of the coup, which Stauffenberg and Haeften also fell victim to on the night of July 21 in the Bendler block .
Background information
The production facilities for the film were the Bavaria Film studio in Geiselgasteig and the Carlton studio in Munich's Tulbeckstrasse . The film, shot in black and white , whose exterior shots were taken in Pullach im Isartal and Coburg , reconstructs the assassination and its consequences in great detail, but the production design in many places suggests that only ten years after the end of the Second World War one was very careful with it Wanted to avoid Nazi symbols. For example, external shots of centers of power are shown, such as the Reich Propaganda Ministry , on which, however, no swastika flags are attached.
As in the film July 20, Stauffenberg visits a church before the attack in It happened on July 20 . A Messner sees Stauffenberg and says: “I'll never forget the face. He had something to do with our Lord! ”A voice-over speaks the final sentence of the film:“ Now it's up to us whether this sacrifice has been in vain. ”
The movie premiered on June 19, 1955. Two days later, the film was July 20 as part of the Berlin International Film Festival 1955 premiere.
Before It happened on July 20, the year before (1954), Pabst made the film The Last Act , which tells of Hitler's last days in the Führerbunker.
The resistance fighter Ewald-Heinrich von Kleist (1922–2013) provided historical advice .
Reviews
- Lexicon of the international film : “ GW Pabst reconstructs the events chronologically and meticulously, up to the standing execution of the Colonel, shows himself to make an honest effort to historical accuracy, but loses over the many external details the various concerns of the resistance movement, especially those with the assassination related conflicts of conscience, out of sight. "
- Die Zeit , June 30, 1955: For viewers who are used to evaluating all actions in their everyday life according to their usefulness, ... no matter how meticulously precise, source-based, however reliable reconstruction of events ... as such, historical object lesson can offer only for the external occurrence, but not for the understanding of the supporting motives.
literature
- Drehli Robnik: Aesthetics of History and Affect Politics. Stauffenberg and July 20 in the film 1948–2008. Turia + Kant, Vienna 2009, ISBN 978-3-85132-557-7 .
- Tobias Temming: Resistance in German and Dutch feature films. Historical images and culture of remembrance (1943–1963) . De Gruyter, Berlin / Boston 2016. ISBN 978-3-11-045631-8 .
- July 20: With quickie methods - article in Spiegel from June 29, 1955.
Web links
- http://www.cine-holocaust.de/cgi-bin/gdq?efw00fbw002017.gd (with bibliography)
- It happened on July 20 in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- It happened on July 20th at Filmportal.de
- Spiegel article from 1955 on the making of the film (also available as PDF there)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Dr. Alfred Bauer: German feature film Almanach. Volume 2: 1946-1955 , p. 501
- ↑ It happened on July 20th. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed March 24, 2017 .
- ↑ CEL: Twice July 20th . In: The time . June 30, 1955 ( online [accessed March 24, 2017]).