The murder that never expires

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Movie
Original title The murder that never expires
Country of production GDR
original language German
Publishing year 1968
length 107 minutes
Rod
Director Wolfgang Luderer
script Wolfgang Luderer
Friedrich Karl Hartmann
Walter Jupé
production DEFA , KAG "Babelsberg"
music Wolfgang Pietsch
camera Otto Hanisch
cut Use Peters
occupation

The murder, which never expires is a German feature film from 1968 from the DEFA studio for feature films by Wolfgang Luderer .

action

The trainee lawyer Lautenberg entered the lay judge's court in Berlin-Mitte in 1929 to begin his training. The public prosecutor's council responsible for him has just taken over the prosecution in a matter that, according to him, is anything but nice. He represents the Reich attorney Paul Jörns as a joint plaintiff against the publisher of the magazine Das Tage-Buch , who is charged here with insult and defamation. In an article in the magazine, Jörn's suitability for the office of Reich Attorney was questioned because, as a judge- martial in the Guard Cavalry Rifle Division in 1919, he favored the murderers in investigating the murders of Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Liebknecht .

In retrospect, the film shows what happened in 1919. The Berlin Hotel Eden on Kurfürstendamm is the headquarters of the Guard Cavalry Rifle Division under the command of Lieutenant General Heinrich von Hofmann . On January 15, 1919, First General Staff Officer Waldemar Pabst entered his room to inform him that Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Liebknecht had been arrested in Berlin-Wilmersdorf and were on their way to the hotel. Captain Pabst is ordered to designate the officers who, as transport leaders, are to take the prisoners to the prisons, whereby they must be prevented from arriving there alive. Captain Horst von Pflugk-Harttung and Lieutenant Rudolf Liepmann drive with Karl Liebknecht, who is seriously injured with a rifle butt by the hunter Otto Runge at the hotel exit, to the zoo , where Liebknecht is allegedly shot by Lieutenant Liepmann while fleeing. Lieutenant Kurt Vogel takes over the transport of Rosa Luxemburg, who is also beaten up with the rifle butt by Otto Runge. While still in the car, she was shot at close range and then thrown into the Landwehr Canal.

During the trial, the testimony of witnesses succeeded in proving that Reich Attorney Jörns was responsible for preventing the investigation into the murders of the two communists. It begins with the questioning of the former judge-martial of the Guard Cavalry Rifle Division Dr. Kurtzig, who was relieved of his position ten years earlier and replaced by Jörns. Kurtzig noticed several inconsistencies in working through the case, which is why he issues arrest warrants against Lieutenant Vogel and Lieutenant von Pflugk-Harttung. Therefore, he loses the responsibility for this case and Jörn's first official act is to have the two prisoners released. The witnesses Wegmann and Ruch, who in 1919 were also assigned as assessors to the judge martial Jörns by the executive council of the workers 'and soldiers' council in Greater Berlin , confirm how they were only hindered by Jörns in the clarification of the case.

The trainee lawyer Lautenberg gets more and more doubts about the fair execution of the negotiation. The talks between Jörns and the public prosecutor's council, which he can attend from time to time, also contribute to this. So he also hears the ways in which the hunter Otto Runge is hidden from the clutches of the judiciary in order not to be available for any statements. On the basis of Lautenberg's initiative, however, Otto Runge, who now lives under a different name, manages to find him and persuade him to testify before the court. His testimony confirms the assumption that he received an order from a higher authority to seriously injure Liebknecht and Luxemburg with the rifle and that there were no masses of the people who inflicted the injuries on them. He admits that all of his statements at the 1919 trial were incorrect. Lieutenant Liepmann is also heard as a witness and confirms that he shot Karl Liebknecht on orders.

The defendant Bornstein from the magazine Das Tage-Buch is acquitted because the allegations against the Reich lawyer Jörns mentioned in the article do not constitute insults or defamation. The trainee lawyer Lautenberg is dismissed from the judicial service.

Production and publication

The lawyer and co-author of the screenplay Friedrich Karl Kaul is portrayed in the film as a young trainee lawyer Lautenberg and was present in the described case himself.

The murder, which was never statute-barred , was shot as a black and white film in total vision by the artistic working group “Babelsberg” under the working title Der Fall Jörns and had its celebratory premiere on January 11, 1968 at the Berlin Kino International . The film was broadcast on German television on January 15, 1969 in the first program.

Reviews

In New Germany Elvira Mollenschott wrote:

“The truth about the murders of Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Liebknecht, as Paul Levi revealed in the course of the trial, the plot of Noske and the military, their interaction with Jörns, the wrongdoer, all of this becomes clear and memorable in an abundance of flashbacks Act shown. More than if one had limited oneself only to the reproduction of the testimony and pleadings in a piece of the trial, the story itself comes to life, the processes become transparent. "

In the Neue Zeit , HU says:

“The factuality of what is depicted is one thing, its convincing artistic implementation is another. And here the film has some weaknesses. Individual violations of the logic of the film dramaturgy and a number of awkward scenic arrangements cannot be overlooked; yes, they even have the effect that processes of indubitable authenticity begin to appear somewhat improbable. The eminently historical value of the film is not always accompanied by the corresponding aesthetic quality. "

Günter Sobe remarked in the Berliner Zeitung :

“In terms of the dramaturgical structure, the film, which was shot in Totalvision, adheres very precisely to the practices successfully used in the television Pitaval series. It remains questionable whether this should be adopted for the cinema to such an extent that one even appends the final commentary sentences here. "

The lexicon of international film writes that it is a well-played, historically and politically informative film that transports its material primarily through dialogues.

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Neues Deutschland from January 13, 1968, p. 10
  2. ↑ Neue Zeit of January 14, 1968, p. 5
  3. ↑ Berliner Zeitung of January 16, 1968, p. 7
  4. ↑ The murder that never expires. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed January 8, 2019 .Template: LdiF / Maintenance / Access used