You are free, Dr. Korczak

Movie
Original title	You are free, Dr. Korczak
Country of production	Federal Republic of Germany ; Israel
original language	German
Publishing year	1974
length	99 minutes
Age rating	FSK 12
Rod
Director	Aleksander Ford
script	Ben Barzman , ; Alexander Ramati
production	Artur Brauner for CCC, ZDF and Bar Kochba
music	Moshe Wilenski
camera	Jerzy Lipman
cut	Carl Otto Bartning
occupation
	Leo Genn : Dr. Janusz Korczak ; Orna Porat : Stefa; Efrat Lavi : Ruth; Ohad Kaplan : Jacob; Carlos Werner : Newerly; Jürgen Lier . Landau; Albert Bessler : Stanislav; Hans E. Schons : Farmer; Volker Brandt : beggars; Walter Tschernich : Katz; Jean-Pierre Zola : Czerniakow; Elisabeth Ried : Mrs. Katz; Eva Lissa : Madame; Birch Bruck : Sarah; Benjamin Völz : Michael; Heinz Lieven : Stroop ; Jürgen Wegener : Menashe; Doron Geldman : Nathan; John Newman : Meir; Freddi Fromberg : Aaron; Rivka Hadar : Lea; Yanir Farber : David;

You are free, Dr. Korczak is a German-Israeli feature film from 1973. Directed by Aleksander Ford , the British actor Leo Genn played the title character . The film is also known under the working title The Martyr .

action

Poland at the time of German occupation. In 1942, on orders from the SS , around half a million Jews were crammed into the Warsaw Ghetto . The Polish Jewish doctor and educator Dr. Korczak about 200 orphans. The physician, who is extremely active and concerned about the well-being of the children entrusted to him, succeeds time and again in saving many of the children from the long-ordered death. But at the beginning of August 1942, the order came from the German occupiers to evacuate the ghetto. This order also applies to Korczak's orphanage.

The children are supposed to march to the loading dock and climb into cattle wagons to be deported to the Treblinka extermination camp . On the highest instructions from the Germans, Dr. Korczak allowed him to stay behind and thus ensure his survival. But Korczak decides differently: he does not want to leave the wards entrusted to him to their fate and decides to accompany them on their way to the gas chambers . In order to relieve them of fear, he told the boys and girls that they would go on a "trip to the country". Korczak eventually dies with "his" children.

Historical background and production

The film, based on the actual events in 1942, is based on the last phase of the life of the Polish doctor Janusz Korczak (1878 / 79–1942) and his tireless efforts for Jewish orphans in the Warsaw ghetto .

The shooting took place between June 25th and August 13th 1973 in Berlin and Israel. The FSK examination took place on March 19, 1974. The Israeli premiere took place in October 1974 in Tel Aviv , the German premiere was on April 10, 1975 in Bonn . In June 1976 the film (under the title The Martyr ) was finally shown for the first time in the USA.

For the Polish film director Aleksander Ford, who was living in exile in Israel at the time, this was his last feature film.

In 1990 the Polish director Andrzej Wajda also released a film biography about the pediatrician and orphanage director under the title Korczak .

Award

The film received the rating “particularly valuable”.

criticism

Kay Wenigers The film's large personal lexicon called Korczak “Leo Genn's most poignant role” and praised Aleksander Ford's direction: “With the remarkable production commissioned by Berlin producer Artur Brauner about an anecdote from the Warsaw ghetto,“ You are free, Dr . Korczak ”, Ford achieved a worthy end to his directing career. In very quiet and all the more haunted tones, the film told - a moving plea for humanity and moral courage - of the steadfastness of the doctor and orphanage director Janusz Korczak - brilliantly played by the Briton Leo Genn - who prefers to choose instead of the freedom offered to him to go to the children entrusted to him to the gas chambers in Treblinka. "

The lexicon of the international film praised: "An unpathetic plea for the worth of human beings and against the madness of racist thinking, connected with pictures from the Warsaw ghetto."

Web links

You are free, Dr. Korczak in the Internet Movie Database (English)
You are free, Dr. Korczak at filmportal.de

(with photo gallery)

Individual evidence

↑ Kay Less : The film's great personal dictionary . The actors, directors, cameramen, producers, composers, screenwriters, film architects, outfitters, costume designers, editors, sound engineers, make-up artists and special effects designers of the 20th century. Volume 3: F - H. Barry Fitzgerald - Ernst Hofbauer. Schwarzkopf & Schwarzkopf, Berlin 2001, ISBN 3-89602-340-3 , p. 223.
↑ Kay Less : The film's great personal dictionary . The actors, directors, cameramen, producers, composers, screenwriters, film architects, outfitters, costume designers, editors, sound engineers, make-up artists and special effects designers of the 20th century. Volume 3: F - H. Barry Fitzgerald - Ernst Hofbauer. Schwarzkopf & Schwarzkopf, Berlin 2001, ISBN 3-89602-340-3 , p. 44.
↑ You are free, Dr. Korczak. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed January 6, 2017 .

[1] Kay Less : The film's great personal dictionary . The actors, directors, cameramen, producers, composers, screenwriters, film architects, outfitters, costume designers, editors, sound engineers, make-up artists and special effects designers of the 20th century. Volume 3: F - H. Barry Fitzgerald - Ernst Hofbauer. Schwarzkopf & Schwarzkopf, Berlin 2001, ISBN 3-89602-340-3 , p. 223.

[2] Kay Less : The film's great personal dictionary . The actors, directors, cameramen, producers, composers, screenwriters, film architects, outfitters, costume designers, editors, sound engineers, make-up artists and special effects designers of the 20th century. Volume 3: F - H. Barry Fitzgerald - Ernst Hofbauer. Schwarzkopf & Schwarzkopf, Berlin 2001, ISBN 3-89602-340-3 , p. 44.

[3] You are free, Dr. Korczak. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed January 6, 2017 .