Max Wood. A German lesson
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| Original title | Max Wood. A German lesson |
| Country of production | Germany |
| original language | German |
| Publishing year | 1972 |
| length | 85 minutes |
| Rod | |
| Director | Rudolf Nussgruber |
| script | Michael Mansfeld |
| production | Aurora-Television Produktions GmbH, Hamburg , on behalf of ZDF |
| music | unknown |
| camera | Bert master |
| occupation | |
| |
Max Wood. A German lesson is a German television film from 1972 and thematizes the revolutionary actions of Max Hölz during the March fighting in Central Germany in 1921. The contemporary background of the production was the activities of the RAF in the Federal Republic of Germany in the early 1970s. The world premiere took place on July 12, 1972 on ZDF .
content
Exposure
March 1921. A speaker from the off explains the domestic political situation at the beginning of the 1920s in front of a map of Germany. The existence of the Weimar Republic is threatened by communist and German national forces.
Hölz in the Central German uprising
Max Hölz is marching with a column of rebels on a railway line near Eisleben . When they come across a marshal with two Prussian police officers, he chases them away with a hand grenade . A journalist interviews the chief president of the Prussian province of Saxony , Otto Hörsing .
Hölz appears in a workers' meeting and calls for revolutionary actions. Participants who urge careful action are yelled down. In the meantime, units of the security police have set up their headquarters in the teachers' seminar in Eisleben. The state of emergency has not yet been imposed. Police Major Torture explains the situation to his officers. Participants in the meeting at which Hölz spoke ambushed three police officers and took their weapons from them. The journalist interviewing a criminal commissioner that refers the previous career of Hölz.
Josef Schneider is the editor-in-chief of the editorial staff of the Mansfeld Volkszeitung , its editor is Blattner. Schneider and Blattner argue about the possibilities and prospects of an armed communist uprising . Blattner has strongest concerns about the KPD instructions on the uprising from Berlin, which come from Hugo Eberlein (Blattner: "Hugo with the fuse?"). Suddenly Hölz appears in the editorial office and criticizes Blattner's concerns in the sharpest possible way.
In Eisleben, Major Folte explains to plant director Heinhold that he has no mandate to take action against the workers as long as they do not commit criminal offenses . Torture warns Heinhold urgently against the deployment of his works security , as this would trigger the civil war . A reporter reports on the attack on the three police officers, two of whom were kidnapped . Police captain Krux receives an order from Torture to free the abductees.
Hölz raids the police headquarters in Eisleben. But Major Folte hesitantly fights and waits: the revolutionaries should calmly use their scarce ammunition. Hölz is completely outraged by the bully's “cowardly” behavior and instead attacks a district savings bank in order to top up the rebels' war chest.
In Folte's headquarters, a lieutenant from the police officer receives the order to secure trucks in the Otto shaft of the Leunawerke . Bad news arrives from all sides during torture . Hölz blew up a railway line on which police police reinforcements from Halle were supposed to arrive. A small police force marches to the Otto-Schacht, however, contrary to the instructions of Torture, they proceed carelessly and are attacked by Hölz's men. The lieutenant is captured, a policeman is killed in action, the rest are fleeing.
In an entrepreneur's villa , Hölz extorts money. In the villa of another entrepreneur, the "Doctor", Hölz also tries to blackmail himself, but the manufacturer does not allow himself to be bluffed and claims that the safe only contains the precisely counted wages of his workers. He tries to persuade Hölz to face the authorities, but the rebel declares him crazy.
Police Colonel Count Poninski, Major Folte's immediate superior, has appeared in the office of Chief President Hörsing . Hörsing calls the incoming reports tartare news and considers the overall situation to be stable. In the editorial office of the Mansfeld People's Newspaper , Hölz again meets Blattner, who has returned from the Leuna factory and reports that part of the workforce has called a general strike , but that there are not enough weapons available for an uprising. The armored train built by the Leuna workers consists only of sheet metal . Allegedly, Josef Schneider's wife was taken hostage by the police officer .
Thereupon Schneider pretends to be wood in a villa and blackmails the manufacturer. Hölz himself appears in the villa of General Doctor Dr. Evers extorts money under threat of being shot, the villa is blown up, Evers is taken hostage. Hölz also wants to requisition in a pastor's house . He explains to the clergyman that he detests violence and only threatens it to achieve his goals. He was previously a member of the White Cross and the Christian Association of Young Men . A battle breaks out between the insurgents and the police officer . After a false report, Hölz fell in battle.
The reporter interviews a doctor who has just examined the bodies of civilians . The men were apparently mistreated and killed by the police because they were denounced as communists by other citizens . The reporter asks the police colonel to explain the incident; Count Poninski promises an investigation . Hölz and Schneider want to fight together with the Leuna workers; Hölz attacks a police department and waits for reinforcements from Leuna. While Blattner was killed in action, Schneider fled, taking the war chest with him.
In a morgue, the reporter sees the bodies of three police officers. The officers were apparently mistreated and killed by insurgents. Hölz and his men want to commandeer Hess from the landlord, but Hess fled. Shots are fired. The reporter interviews the police superintendent again. Hölz was arrested because of a denunciation by Schneider. The public prosecutor's office tries to prove that Hölz had murdered the landowner Hess.
Berlin, June 1921. The trial against Hölz
June 13, 1921, a courtroom in Berlin-Moabit . District judge Braun leads the trial against Hölz. The defendant explains that his statements such as "slaughter" and "killing" were not meant seriously. The reporter interviews the Hörsing present, who emphasizes the correctness of his defensive approach. You didn't want to provoke the workers. All those involved, including the KPD itself, were surprised by Hölz's appearance.
The reporter also interviews Dr. Paul Levi , the former chairman of the KPD, who resigned from the party because of the March uprising. Levi sharply criticizes the radical course of the KPD, which incited the workers. Hölz admits the requisitions, but the explosions were only a tactical means.
The reporter also interviews Dr. Heinhold, who accuses the police of inactivity; he would have considered the use of the Reichswehr to be the right thing to do, his own security under the leadership of a former officer failed completely. The "doctor" appears. He explains to the reporter the social background of the situation in the strike area and advocates the emancipation of workers. In the trial room, Hölz admits the mistreatment of hostages, but explains that the threats with shooting were not meant seriously.
The reporter questions the police colonel. He considers the police in the province of Saxony to be poorly trained. Major torture joins; it is a completely different view: Hölz have the first in Germany guerrilla warfare and guerrilla warfare practiced this could only be won with the people and not against them. In the trial room, Hölz denies the murder of the landowner Hess and regrets his death. The widow Hess is questioned.
The reporter interviews the judge. Ms. Hess's statements are contradictory: sometimes there was talk of guns with which her husband was supposed to have been shot, then of pistols. In the trial room, the public prosecutor for Hölz demands the death penalty for Hoelz. Hölz denies the murder of Hess and has a speech duel with the chairman.
The reporter interviews Hörsing again. He argues that the term “ Red Army ” was brought into play by “interested parties” from the right in order to benefit from a communist uprising themselves. The KPD took up this term and believed in it itself. The destruction of the Weimar Republic was planned equally by left and right. In the trial room, Hölz was sentenced to life imprisonment .
epilogue
The narrator talks about Hölz's further résumé from the off, while scenes from the courtroom are shown without sound. On July 28, 1928, Hölz was released from prison due to a general amnesty . He travels to Moscow and is later deported to the Russian provinces . According to official reports , he died there in a swimming accident on September 16, 1933 , but his body had serious head injuries.
criticism
"... But 'a German didactic piece', as the subtitle suggested, didn't make the matter. History was dealt with too generously - and therefore rather confusing -, too superficially, especially since the dialogue was trimmed to topicality; much seemed completely unambitiously downed, and the dramaturgical joints creaked like a rusty cellar door. (For example, the 'trick' of catching up on time coloring by an anonymous reporter who questioned important people or people involved in the game was worthy of a dramatic proseminar.) ... "
literature
- Wolf Donner : Left-wing extremists from Mainz . In: Die Zeit , No. 29/1972
Web links
- Max Wood. A German lesson at filmportal.de
- Max Wood. A German lesson in the Internet Movie Database (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Wolf Donner : Left-wing extremists from Mainz . In: Die Zeit , No. 29/1972