08/15 (film series)

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08/15 is the title of a German feature film series from 1954 and 1955, which is based on the novel trilogy of the same name by Hans Hellmut Kirst .

Movies

background

The novel trilogy by Hans Hellmut Kirst was a bestseller in post-war Germany and was based on his experiences as a soldier in World War II . Kirst was a career officer in the Wehrmacht from 1933 to 1945. After the publication, a public debate developed between compatriots, who shared the experiences described, and former Wehrmacht officers, who saw the book as an attack on their status. The trilogy of novels and their film adaptation wanted to be understood as a statement against German rearmament .

The main actor Joachim Fuchsberger had his first major role in the film trilogy. The first film was released in 1954, the following year the two sequels were shot under the title 08/15 in the war (2nd part) and 08/15 in the homeland . Here, too, Paul May directed. Ernst von Salomon wrote the scripts .

The film title is derived from the phrase "08/15" . The idiom stands for average or outdated standards. "08/15" originally referred to a machine gun MG 08/15 used by the Germans in World War I (developed in 1908 as MG 08, introduced as an improved version under the designation MG 08/15 in 1915).

literature