Breakthrough locomotive 234

Movie
Original title	Breakthrough locomotive 234
Country of production	Germany
original language	German
Publishing year	1963
length	85 minutes
Rod
Director	Frank Wisbar
script	Gerhard T. Buchholz
production	Profil-Filmgesellschaft mbH Berlin in association with Gerhard T. Buchholz
music	Peter Laurin
camera	Bert master
occupation
Eva Fiebig : Grandma Dölling Maria Körber : Ilse Dölling Erik Schumann : Harry Dölling Helmut Oeser : Max Schober Ingo Eggers : Helmut Dölling Olaf Eggers : Dieter Dölling Rainer Eggers : Arno Dölling Joseph Offenbach : Krause Katharina Mayberg : Mrs. Mielke Karl-Heinz Gerdesmann : Mr. Mielke Georg Lehn : bird Herbert Fleischmann : Dr. Konetzki Hans Paetsch : Professor Pollnow Heidrun Kussin: Alice

Breakthrough Lok 234 is the title of a German feature film from 1963 directed by Frank Wisbar , which, after an actual event, deals with the escape of GDR citizens to West Berlin with the help of a passenger train pulled by a steam locomotive . The first performance was on October 24, 1963.

action

The train driver Harry Dölling lives with his wife Ilse and his sons Arno, Hellmut and Dieter in Oranienburg north of Berlin. When Harry's eldest son denounced a friend's father in response to a question from his teacher, Dölling saw no future for himself and his family in the East. He developed the plan to break through the border behind the Albrechtshof station with a passenger train . This is the border station over which another track leads to West Berlin. He signs up for extra shifts and is actually assigned to the route due to a lack of staff. But there is little time left for preparations.

Ilse, his wife, only agrees on the condition that the relatives can also come. On the day of the escape, normal passengers also stand next to those who know about the project. The assigned stoker Krause also wants to go to the West. The tension increases while driving. Railroad workers and transport police are suspicious. But finally the locomotive breaks the border with the passenger train and comes to a stop on the West Berlin side. Harry Dölling and his friends are happy about their successful escape.

backgrounds

Memorial plaque mayor's garden (Falkensee)

The film, shot from April 16 to June 5, 1963 in and around Geesthacht an der Bergedorf-Geesthacht Railway, is based on a true story from December 5, 1961. At that time, a train driver named Harry Deterling and his stoker, together with several families With a steam locomotive and eight passenger cars from Oranienburg on the main line Hamburg – Berlin and after passing through the last scheduled stop (Albrechtshof) shortly before the state border, the escape to West Berlin .

A total of 25 people fled the GDR that evening at around 8:40 p.m. on the train that left Oranienburg at 7:33 p.m. The GDR media then reported that it was a criminal attack on the interzonal train from Hamburg . On the night of December 7, 1961, the line was finally interrupted. Work parties were observed removing rails and gravel 20 meters from the border with West Berlin.

Unlike in the film, in which the Fluchtzug by a steam locomotive of the series 38 (more precisely, the 38 3239) was drawn, it was actually a tender locomotive of the series 78 (the 78,079), which pulled the train.

Originally “Endstation Freiheit” was chosen for the title of the film. Former DEFA actor Dietrich Kerky was intended for the lead role . Barbara Rütting was supposed to portray his wife .

Reviews

“The escape of the train driver Harry Deterling from the GDR, who on December 5, 1961 broke through the only free track to West Berlin with his passenger train, as a template for an action-oriented, richly stenciled script, which is mainly in the drawing of the marginal characters fails. "

- Lexicon of international film

"An attempt at a German time film based on actual occurrences, but which fails due to insufficient motivation, insufficient script and excessive demands on the director and actors and sinks into an adventure that has not been mastered in cinematic terms."

- Protestant film observer

Web links

• Lok breakthrough 234 in the Internet Movie Database (English)
• Breakthrough locomotive 234 at Filmportal.de
• Railway romance, episode 436: "Endstation Freiheit" ("The first documentary on German television" with Harry Deterling, his stoker Hartmut Lichy and other contemporary witnesses, photos and insights into Stasi files, first broadcast: December 2, 2001, 28 minutes, 51 seconds)
• Andreas Conrad: By train under full steam across the GDR border. In: Die Zeit online from December 6, 2011 (On the background and accompanying circumstances of the real escape. Based on memories of the engineer's son M. (* 1953). With a picture of a class 78 locomotive )
• Railway in the film (detailed background information on filming locations, etc.)
• chronik-der-mauer.de: "Successful escape with a steam train" , accessed on July 8, 2017

Individual evidence

1. ^ Breakthrough locomotive 234. In: Lexicon of international films . Film service , accessed December 13, 2016 .  
2. ↑ Bodo Müller: Fascination Freedom - The most spectacular escape stories, 1st edition 2013, Christoph - Links - Verlag GmbH, ISBN 978 - 3 - 86284 - 262 - 9
3. ↑ Note from Eisenbahn im Film , accessed on July 8, 2017
4. ^ Lexicon of international film (CD-ROM edition), Systhema, Munich 1997
5. ↑ Published by the Evangelical Press Association in Munich, Critique No. 623/1963