Bengt von zur Mühlen

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Bengt von zur Mühlen (born January 24, 1932 in Tartu , Estonia , † June 30, 2016 in Berlin ) was a German film producer , author of contemporary history and founder of Chronos Film . His documentaries and publications deal primarily with German history from the 20th century to the post-war years, with a focus on the Third Reich and resistance to National Socialism .

Bengt von zur Mühlen (right) with his wife Irmgard von zur Mühlen and Federal President Richard von Weizsäcker

Live and act

Bengt von zur Mühlen comes from the Baltic noble family von zur Mühlen . His father Arthur von zur Mühlen (1885–1959) was a farmer and businessman, his twin brother Max (* 1932) worked in the Federal Statistical Office of Canada and was then a lecturer in Riga.

Born in the Estonian town of Dorpat (Tartu), Bengt von zur Mühlen was relocated to the Warthegau in 1941 and fled from there to Berlin in 1945. 1948–1949 he was at the Carl Hunnius boarding school in Wyk auf Föhr . In 1953 he emigrated to Canada. There he completed a Bachelor of Arts at the University of Western Ontario , and from 1958 he studied at Columbia University in New York. In 1961 he founded the film production company Chronos Film in Berlin . His most successful productions include the documentary films Battle for Berlin and The Yellow Star - The Persecution of the Jews 1933–1945 , each of which was nominated for an Oscar . In addition to film production, he and his wife, the Berlin-born director Irmgard von zur Mühlen (* 1936), built up an extensive private film archive over the following decades.

From the 1990s onwards, Bengt von zur Mühlen published several history books through Chronos Verlag, including books accompanying films. In 2014 he published two non-fiction books about the Battle of Berlin and about the resistance fighter Fritz Lindemann in Bucher Verlag .

Bengt von zur Mühlen died after a long illness at the age of 84.

Awards (selection)

Publications (selection)

  • The agony of the imperial capital. Chronos, Berlin-Kleinmachnow 1994.
  • with Irmgard von zur Mühlen: Secret archives - restricted areas: with the camera on the trail of history. Chronos, Berlin-Kleinmachnow 1995, ISBN 3-931054-04-7 .
  • Cecilienhof Palace and the Potsdam Conference, Chronos, Berlin-Kleinmachnow 1994, ISBN 3-931054-02-0
  • July 20, 1944 in Paris: course - main participants - eyewitnesses. Chronos, Berlin-Kleinmachnow 1995, ISBN 3-931054-03-9 .
  • They gave their lives: unknown victims of July 20, 1944; General Fritz Lindemann and his escape helpers. Chronos, Berlin-Kleinmachnow 1995, ISBN 3-931054-01-2 .
  • The 12 Nuremberg Follow-up Trials. Chronos, Berlin-Kleinmachnow 2000, ISBN 3-931054-05-5 .
  • The defendants of July 20 before the People's Court. Chronos, Berlin-Kleinmachnow 2001, ISBN 3-931054-06-3 .
  • Berlin 1945: Contemporary witness reports from the last battle of the Third Reich. Bucher, Munich 2014, ISBN 978-3-7658-2032-8 .
  • The forgotten conspirator: General Fritz Lindemann and July 20, 1944. Bucher, Munich 2014, ISBN 978-3-7658-1851-6 .

Filmography (selection)

  • 1969: Albania. Land of the Red Skipetars (short documentary film)
  • 1970: Aachen '44 (short documentary film)
  • 1972: Olympia - Olympia (documentary film)
  • 1973: Battle of Berlin (documentary film)
  • 1979: Secret Reichssache (documentary film)
  • 1979: What color is gray? (Documentary)
  • 1980: The Yellow Star - The Persecution of the Jews 1933–1945 (documentary film)
  • 1981: Adolph Menzel - chronicler with pen and brush (short documentary film)
  • 1982: Thalia under rubble - the Berlin theater of the post-war period 1945–1951
  • 1983: Bombs on Berlin - Life between Fear and Hope (Documentary)
  • 1985: It's Up to Us to Keep That Spirit Alive (TV Documentary)
  • 1986: Berlin during the imperial era - splendor and misery of an era (documentary film)
  • 1986: Majdanek 1944 - victim and perpetrator (documentary)
  • 1986: The Liberation of Auschwitz (Documentary)
  • 1987: Berlin under the swastika (documentary film)
  • 1988: Berlin under the Allies 1945–1949 (documentary)
  • 1989: The Babi Yar Trial (documentary)
  • 1990: The Woman at the Brandenburg Gate (TV movie)
  • 1991: Dorpat - city of students
  • 1991: Berlin during the Cold War - The Road to Split 1949–1961 (Documentary)
  • 1993: The Katyn Lie (documentary)
  • 1995: What color is the war? (TV documentary series)
  • 1995: The agony of the Reich capital (documentary film)
  • 1996: The Nuremberg Trial (documentary)
  • 1996: If They Just Let Me Play (TV Documentary)
  • 1998: Curtain up - applause (TV movie)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Film producer Bengt von zur Mühlen died on tt.com, accessed on March 6, 2020
  2. ↑ Franz Menges:  zur Mühlen, from. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 18, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1997, ISBN 3-428-00199-0 , p. 276 ( digitized version ).
  3. ↑ a b biography bucher-verlag, accessed on January 8, 2014.
  4. ^ Winner of the Bavarian Film Prize goethe.de, accessed on January 8, 2014.
personal data
SURNAME Mills, Bengt von zur
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German film producer and author
DATE OF BIRTH January 24, 1932
PLACE OF BIRTH Tartu , Estonia
DATE OF DEATH June 30, 2016
Place of death Berlin