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Downfall (film)
Encyclopedia
Downfall is a 2004 German/Italian/Austrian epic
war film
directed by Oliver Hirschbiegel
, depicting the final ten days of Adolf Hitler
's life in his Berlin bunker
and Nazi Germany
in 1945.
The film was written by Bernd Eichinger
, and based upon the books Inside Hitler's Bunker
, by historian Joachim Fest
; Until the Final Hour
, the memoirs of Traudl Junge
, one of Hitler's secretaries (co-written with Melissa Müller
); Albert Speer
's memoirs, Inside the Third Reich
; Hitler's Last Days: An Eye–Witness Account, by Gerhardt Boldt
; Das Notlazarett Unter Der Reichskanzlei: Ein Arzt Erlebt Hitlers Ende in Berlin by Doctor Ernst-Günther Schenck
; and Siegfried Knappe
's memoirs, Soldat: Reflections of a German Soldier, 1936–1949.
The film was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film
.
's (Bruno Ganz
) compound at the Wolf's Lair in East Prussia. After dictating to her for a moment and despite multiple mistakes, Hitler selects Traudl Humps
(Alexandra Maria Lara
) to be one of his personal secretaries.
The scene shifts to Hitler's 56th birthday on April 20, 1945. Secretary Traudl Humps (now Traudl Junge
) is awakened in the Führerbunker
by the sound of Soviet artillery. Later, Generals Wilhelm Burgdorf
and Karl Koller
confirm to a surprised Hitler that the Red Army
is just 12 kilometres from the city centre. Later, at his birthday reception, Reichsführer-SS
Heinrich Himmler
(Ulrich Noethen
) and his SS adjutant Hermann Fegelein
(Thomas Kretschmann
) plead with Hitler to allow himself to be evacuated from the city. Instead, Hitler declares, "I will defeat them in Berlin, or face my downfall". Himmler leaves Berlin with the intention of negotiating surrender terms with the Western Allies behind Hitler's back.
In another part of the city, a group of Hitler Youth
members continue to build up defenses for the defense of Berlin. Peter, a boy in the group, is vainly urged by his father to desert and flee the city. Later, Peter's unit is part of a group which is awarded the Iron Cross
by Hitler.
Meanwhile, SS Dr. Ernst-Gunther Schenck
(Christian Berkel
) is ordered by the high command to evacuate Berlin, as part of "Operation Clausewitz
". Schenck pleads with an SS general to be permitted to remain in order to look after the wounded and starving. The general grudgingly agrees to permit this. Schenck is requested by Brigadeführer
Wilhelm Mohnke
(André Hennicke
) to bring all the medical supplies he can obtain to the Reich Chancellery
. While doing this, Schenck and his adjutant go to a hospital in search of medical supplies. They approach a tank position where a panzer commander informs them that everyone has left the hospital, and to be careful of the Russian troops in the area. Inside the hospital, Schenck finds the basement filled with elderly and infirm patients. After retrieving what medical supplies are available, Schenck and his adjutant try without success to prevent the summary execution
of two old men by Feldgendarmerie
(military police).
In the bunker, Hitler discusses his new scorched earth
policy
with his favourite architect and trusted friend, Albert Speer
. The latter pleads for mercy for the German people, saying that Hitler's plans will return them to the Middle Ages
. Unmoved, Hitler retorts that the German people have shown themselves weak and therefore do not deserve to survive. Speer confesses to Hitler that he has sometimes disobeyed orders but is nonetheless allowed to leave the city. Eva Braun
(Juliane Köhler
) ignores Fegelein's pleas to leave Berlin and holds a party for the bunker inhabitants up in the Reich Chancellery, but Soviet artillery shells end the party early.
The next day, General Helmuth Weidling
is mistakenly thought to have ordered a retreat to the West and ordered to the bunker. Believing he is about to be executed Weidling explains himself to Burgdorf and Hans Krebs
, only to find himself appointed commander of the Berlin Defense Area, much to his dismay. In the briefing room at the bunker, Hitler is informed about the disintegrating defenses of Berlin. Unmoved, he announces that Waffen SS General Felix Steiner
will soon arrive and drive the Red Army out of the city. However, he is then informed that Steiner couldn't mobilize enough men. Visibly shaken, Hitler dismisses all except Joseph Goebbels
, Martin Bormann
and Generals Wilhelm Keitel
, Alfred Jodl
, Krebs, and Burgdorf.
Throwing a massive tantrum, which is heard clearly by those outside the room, Hitler furiously accuses the Wehrmacht
and even the SS of sabotaging him from day one. He screams that the soldiers are all cowards and traitors, despite a rebuke of that position by Burgdorf, and that the generals are "the scum of the German people." He expresses regret at not executing the entire officer corps, like Joseph Stalin
did during the Great Purge
. At last, however, Hitler sinks into his chair and acknowledges that the war is lost. "If you think that this means I'll be abandoning Berlin", he snarls, "I'd rather shoot a bullet through my head."
Brigadeführer Mohnke is shown fighting on the front lines with his troops when he observes a group of civilian volunteers running to their deaths in the streets. Mohnke asks one of his adjutants for a situation report. The officer informs him that the civilians are members of the Volkssturm
, and they are under Goebbels' direct command. Disgusted, Mohnke orders the officer to get the Volkssturm out of the line of fire, and states he will take responsibility for doing so.
Mohnke makes his way back to the Reich Chancellery
to confront Goebbels about the Volkssturm
. Goebbels is in the bunker communications room talking to his wife Magda. Goebbels tells her to bring the children to the bunker and not to bring many toys or nightclothes, which are no longer necessary. Thereafter, Mohnke tells Goebbels that the Volkssturm are nothing but cannon fodder
for the Russians. In response, Goebbels bristles and informs Mohnke that their belief in "final victory
" makes up for their lack of weapons and combat experience. Mohnke tells Goebbels that if these men do not have weapons their deaths are pointless. Goebbels informs Mohnke that he has no pity for them, adding, "The German people chose their fate and now their little throats are being cut."
Later Hitler, Eva, Traudl Junge, and Gerda discuss various means of suicide whilst (in another area of the bunker) Krebs, Burgdorf and other military staff sit around getting drunk. Hitler proposes shooting through the mouth, while Braun mentions taking cyanide
. Hitler gives Gerda and Traudl one cyanide capsule each. Eva Braun and Magda Goebbels
type goodbye letters: Eva to her sister Gretl Braun
and Goebbels to her adult son (from her former marriage) Harald Quandt
. The child soldiers fight in the streets of Berlin, but to no avail. Peter witnesses the death of all his squad mates and flees home to his parents.
Meanwhile, Hitler has lost his sense of reality. Field Marshal Keitel is ordered to find Admiral Karl Dönitz
, who Hitler believes is gathering troops in the north, and help him plan an offensive to recover the Romanian oilfields. Oberscharführer
Rochus Misch
, Hitler's radio operator, receives a telegram
from Hermann Göring
, head of the Luftwaffe
and Hitler's designated successor. Bormann reads the telegram to Hitler, in which Göring asks permission to assume command of the Reich and asks for acknowledgment by 10:00 pm, at which time he will assume authority in the absence of a response. Walther Hewel
tries to justify his actions but Bormann and Goebbels declare Göring's actions to be high treason
; Hitler orders Göring's arrest and removal from office.
Hitler summons General Robert Ritter von Greim
(Dietrich Hollinderbäumer) and his mistress, ace pilot Hanna Reitsch
, to the bunker. He appoints von Greim to be Commander-in-Chief of the Luftwaffe
, ordering him to rebuild it. During dinner, Hitler receives a report informing him that Himmler has just attempted to negotiate a separate peace
settlement with the Western Allies. Betrayed by the one man he trusted, Hitler explodes in another tearful outburst. He then orders von Greim and Reitsch to leave Berlin, rendezvous with Dönitz, who he is convinced is rallying troops and preparing a massive pincer strike alongside Field Marshal Albert Kesselring
, and ensure that Himmler is dealt with.
Reichsphysician SS Ernst-Robert Grawitz
, whose earlier request to leave Berlin had been denied, returns to his apartment and kills himself and his family with grenades.
Hitler wishes to speak to Fegelein with regards to Himmler's treachery but Fegelein has deserted the bunker and plans to flee the country. He is tracked down to his apartment by SS troops and arrested. Despite a tearful plea from Eva Braun to spare her brother-in-law's life, Hitler is unmoved and denounces him as a traitor. Fegelein is promptly executed by a firing squad.
General Weidling
reports that the Russians have broken through everywhere. There are no reserves and air support has ceased. Mohnke reports that the Red Army
is only 300 to 400 meters from the Reich Chancellery and that defending forces can hold out for a day or two at most. Before leaving, Hitler reassures the officers that General Walther Wenck
will save them all. After he leaves the conference room, Weidling asks the other generals if it is truly possible for Wenck to attack; they all agree it is unlikely, even impossible, that Wenck will succeed, but do not wish to surrender.
The following day, Hitler dictates his personal statement to Traudl Junge before marrying Eva Braun. Hitler has ordered Joseph Goebbels to leave Berlin, but Goebbels intends to ignore the order. When Hitler's adjutant Otto Günsche
later brings a reply from Keitel that Wenck's army is encircled or cannot continue its assault on Berlin, Hitler states that he will never surrender. He also forbids all officers to surrender on pain of summary execution
. Upon leaving the conference room Hitler gives Günsche the order to cremate his body and that of Eva Braun.
Schenck, Dr. Werner Haase
, (Matthias Habich
) and a nurse are summoned to the bunker and Haase tells Hitler the best method for suicide as well as administering poison to Blondi
which Schenck witnesses. Waffen SS soldiers carrying the gasoline to burn Hitler's and Braun's corpse arrive soon after.
Eva affectionately gives Traudl one of her best coats and makes her promise to flee the Bunker. Hitler eats his final meal in silence with Constanze Manziarly
and his secretaries. He bids farewell to the bunker staff, gives Magda his Golden Party Badge (marking original members of the NSDAP from February 27, 1925 to November 9, 1933, with numbers 1 to 100,000), and retires to his room with Eva. Although Magda pleads with him to change his mind, Hitler states, "Tomorrow, millions of people will curse me, but fate has taken its course."
Hitler and Eva retreat into their rooms and commit suicide. The bodies of Hitler and Eva Braun are carried up the stairs to ground level and through the bunker's emergency exit, doused in petrol and set alight in the Reich Chancellery
garden outside the bunker. From the bunker entrance, surrounding officers give one final Nazi salute
over the flames. General Krebs leads a small delegation through the Russian lines and tries to negotiate peace terms with General Vasily Chuikov
. Chuikov says that the Soviets will only accept unconditional surrender but Krebs does not have the authority to grant this so he returns to the bunker empty-handed. Unable to comprehend a world without National Socialism, Magda Goebbels poisons her six children while her husband waits. Together they leave the bunker complex. Goebbels shoots his wife before shooting himself.
The people remaining in the bunker agree that they must try to break out of the Soviet encirclement. Krebs and Burgdorf commit suicide as the rest begin to evacuate. Most of the bunker survivors attempt to escape, but die at the hands of Red Army
infantrymen. Weidling then goes out and broadcasts to the soldiers and civilians in Berlin that the Führer is dead. He has called for a ceasefire
with Lieutenant-General Vasily Chuikov
as every further hour of battle will merely postpone the inevitable.
Meanwhile, Schenck and Hewel stay with Mohnke and his remaining SS troops, who debate on what to do once the Soviet troops arrive. Schenck tries to talk sense into Hewel, who promised Hitler that he would kill himself. When news reaches the officers that Berlin has been surrendered, Hewel and several of the SS officers promptly shoot themselves, as they had promised, to Schenck's dismay.
In the chaos of the city's fall, Traudl Junge is able to make her way through the Russian lines, escaping from Berlin by bicycle along with the child soldier Peter. The subsequent fates of the surviving characters are superimposed and the credits roll.
s by its depiction of Adolf Hitler in a central role by a German speaking actor (as opposed to using actual film footage of Hitler). Ganz did four months of research to prepare for the role, studying a ten minute recording of Hitler in private conversation with Finnish Field Marshal Mannerheim
, in order to properly mimic Hitler's conversational voice, and distinct Austrian accent.
The film's impending release in 2004 provoked a debate in German film magazines and newspapers. The tabloid Bild asked "Are we allowed to show the monster as a human being?"
Concern about the film's depiction of Hitler led New Yorker
film critic David Denby to note:
With respect to German uneasiness about "humanizing" Hitler, Denby said:
After previewing the film, Hitler biographer Sir Ian Kershaw
wrote in The Guardian
:
Addressing other critics like Denby, Chicago Sun-Times
film critic Roger Ebert
wrote:
Hirschbiegel confirmed that the film's makers sought to give Hitler a three-dimensional personality.
The film was nominated for the 2005 Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film
in the 77th Academy Awards
. The film also won the 2005 BBC Four
World Cinema competition.
The film is set mostly in and around the Führerbunker
. Hirschbiegel made an effort to accurately reconstruct the look and atmosphere of the bunker through eyewitness accounts, survivors' memoirs and other historical sources. According to his commentary on the DVD, Der Untergang was filmed in Berlin, Munich
, and in a district of Saint Petersburg
, Russia, which, with its many buildings designed by German architects, was said to resemble many parts of 1940s Berlin. The film was ranked number 48 in Empire
magazines "The 100 Best Films Of World Cinema" in 2010.
As of October 2010, Rotten Tomatoes
reports that 91% of critics have given the film a positive review, with an average score of 8 out of 10. The site's consenus is: "Downfall is an illuminating, thoughtful and detailed account of Hitler's last days".
and Ernst-Günther Schenck
. Mohnke was rumored, but never proven, to have ordered the execution of a group of British P.O.W.s in the Wormhoudt massacre
near Dunkirk in 1940, while Schenck's experiments with medicinal plants in 1938 allegedly led to the deaths of a number of concentration camp prisoners. In answer to this criticism, the film's director, in the DVD commentary, stated he did his own research and did not find the allegations as to Schenck to be convincing. Furthermore, Mohnke strongly denied the accusations against him, telling author Thomas Fischer, "I issued no orders not to take English prisoners or to execute prisoners."
Wim Wenders
called the filmmakers' collaboration with a history professor "a strategic move to compile cultural capital and move the film beyond the reach of reprehensibility, challenge, or contradiction by writers or critics unwilling to engage the material other than by pointing out historical inaccuracies." He felt that the film said: "Wir wissen, wovon wir reden" ("We know what we're talking about"). Further, Wenders argued that Der Untergang presented an uncritical viewpoint toward the barbarism of its subject matter, and accused the filmmakers of Verharmlosung (rendering harmlessness). Wenders supported this observation with close readings of the film's first scene, and of Hitler's final scene, suggesting that in each case a particular set of cinematographic and editorial choices left each scene emotionally charged, resulting in a glorifying effect.
s. In these videos, the original audio of Ganz's voice is retained, but new subtitles are added so that he now seems to be reacting instead to some setback in present-day politics, sports, popular culture, or everyday life. Other scenes from various portions of the film have been parodied in the same manner, notably the scenes where Hitler orders Otto Günsche to find Gruppenfuhrer Hermann Fegelein, and where Hitler discusses a counterattack against advancing Soviet forces with his generals. By 2010, there were thousands of such parodies, including many in which a self-aware
Hitler is incensed that people keep making Downfall parodies.
The film's director, Oliver Hirschbiegel
, spoke positively about these parodies in a 2010 interview with New York
magazine, saying that many of them were funny and they were a fitting extension of the film's purpose: "The point of the film was to kick these terrible people off the throne that made them demons, making them real and their actions into reality. I think it's only fair if now it's taken as part of our history, and used for whatever purposes people like." Nevertheless, Constantin Films has taken an "ambivalent" view of the parodies, and has asked video sites to remove many of them. On April 21, 2010, the producers initiated a removal of parody videos on YouTube
. There was then a resurgence of the videos on the site.
In October 2010, YouTube stopped blocking any Downfall-derived parodies, and is now placing advertisements on some of them. Corynne McSherry, an attorney specializing in intellectual property and free speech issues for the Electronic Frontier Foundation
, stated, "All the [Downfall parody videos] that I've seen are very strong fair use
cases and so they're not infringing, and they shouldn't be taken down."
Epic film
An epic is a genre of film that emphasizes human drama on a grand scale. Epics are more ambitious in scope than other film genres, and their ambitious nature helps to differentiate them from similar genres such as the period piece or adventure film...
war film
War film
War films are a film genre concerned with warfare, usually about naval, air or land battles, sometimes focusing instead on prisoners of war, covert operations, military training or other related subjects. At times war films focus on daily military or civilian life in wartime without depicting battles...
directed by Oliver Hirschbiegel
Oliver Hirschbiegel
Oliver Hirschbiegel is a German film director. His works include Das Experiment and the Oscar nominated Der Untergang.- Career :...
, depicting the final ten days of Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...
's life in his Berlin bunker
Führerbunker
The Führerbunker was located beneath Hitler's New Reich Chancellery in Berlin, Germany. It was part of a subterranean bunker complex which was constructed in two major phases, one part in 1936 and the other in 1943...
and Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
in 1945.
The film was written by Bernd Eichinger
Bernd Eichinger
Bernd Eichinger was a German film producer and director.- Life and career :Eichinger was born in Neuburg an der Donau. He attended the University of Television and Film Munich in the 1970s, and bought a stake in the fledgling studio company Neue Constantin Film in 1979, becoming its executive...
, and based upon the books Inside Hitler's Bunker
Inside Hitler's Bunker
Inside Hitler's Bunker: The Last Days of the Third Reich is a book by historian Joachim Fest about the last days of the life of Adolf Hitler, in his Führerbunker in 1945....
, by historian Joachim Fest
Joachim Fest
Joachim Clemens Fest was a German historian, journalist, critic and editor, best known for his writings and public commentary on Nazi Germany, including an important biography of Adolf Hitler and books about Albert Speer and the German Resistance...
; Until the Final Hour
Until the Final Hour
Until the Final Hour is a memoir of the last days of Hitler's government, written by Traudl Junge. The book was part of the basis for the film Der Untergang in 2004.-Synopsis:...
, the memoirs of Traudl Junge
Traudl Junge
Traudl Junge was Adolf Hitler's youngest personal private secretary, from December 1942 to April 1945.-Early life:...
, one of Hitler's secretaries (co-written with Melissa Müller
Melissa Müller
Melissa Müller is an Austrian journalist and author.After working as an au pair for some time in London, Müller decided first for a study of the management economics and German Studies, afterwards she worked for different restaurant editorships and magazines.In the mid-1990s she decided to write...
); Albert Speer
Albert Speer
Albert Speer, born Berthold Konrad Hermann Albert Speer, was a German architect who was, for a part of World War II, Minister of Armaments and War Production for the Third Reich. Speer was Adolf Hitler's chief architect before assuming ministerial office...
's memoirs, Inside the Third Reich
Inside the Third Reich
Inside the Third Reich is a memoir written by Albert Speer, the Nazi Minister of Armaments from 1942 to 1945, serving as Hitler's main architect before this period...
; Hitler's Last Days: An Eye–Witness Account, by Gerhardt Boldt
Gerhardt Boldt
Gerhard Boldt was an officer in the German Army who wrote about his experiences during World War II.-World War II:...
; Das Notlazarett Unter Der Reichskanzlei: Ein Arzt Erlebt Hitlers Ende in Berlin by Doctor Ernst-Günther Schenck
Ernst-Günther Schenck
Prof. Dr. Ernst-Günther Schenck was a German Standartenführer and doctor who joined the SS in 1933. Because of a chance encounter with Adolf Hitler during the closing days of World War II, his memoirs proved historically valuable. His accounts of this period influenced the accounts of Joachim...
; and Siegfried Knappe
Siegfried Knappe
Siegfried Knappe was an officer in the German Army during World War II. Towards the end of the war, Knappe was stationed in Berlin, where he gave daily briefings at the Führerbunker.- Biography :...
's memoirs, Soldat: Reflections of a German Soldier, 1936–1949.
The film was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film
Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film
The Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film is one of the Academy Awards of Merit, popularly known as the Oscars, handed out annually by the U.S.-based Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences...
.
Plot
In 1942, a group of German secretaries are escorted to Adolf HitlerAdolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...
's (Bruno Ganz
Bruno Ganz
Bruno Ganz is a Swiss actor, known for his roles as Damiel in Wings of Desire and Adolf Hitler in Downfall.- Early life :Bruno Ganz was born in Zürich to a Swiss mechanic father and a northern Italian mother. He had decided to pursue an acting career by the time he entered university...
) compound at the Wolf's Lair in East Prussia. After dictating to her for a moment and despite multiple mistakes, Hitler selects Traudl Humps
Traudl Junge
Traudl Junge was Adolf Hitler's youngest personal private secretary, from December 1942 to April 1945.-Early life:...
(Alexandra Maria Lara
Alexandra Maria Lara
Alexandra Maria Lara is a Romanian-born German actress. She performs predominantly in leading roles in a variety of historical and crime films...
) to be one of his personal secretaries.
The scene shifts to Hitler's 56th birthday on April 20, 1945. Secretary Traudl Humps (now Traudl Junge
Traudl Junge
Traudl Junge was Adolf Hitler's youngest personal private secretary, from December 1942 to April 1945.-Early life:...
) is awakened in the Führerbunker
Führerbunker
The Führerbunker was located beneath Hitler's New Reich Chancellery in Berlin, Germany. It was part of a subterranean bunker complex which was constructed in two major phases, one part in 1936 and the other in 1943...
by the sound of Soviet artillery. Later, Generals Wilhelm Burgdorf
Wilhelm Burgdorf
Wilhelm Burgdorf was a German general. Born in Fürstenwalde, Burgdorf served as a commander and staff officer in the German Army during World War II.- Military career :...
and Karl Koller
Karl Koller (general)
Karl Koller was a German General der Flieger and the Chief of the General Staff of Nazi Germany's Luftwaffe during World War II....
confirm to a surprised Hitler that the Red Army
Red Army
The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army started out as the Soviet Union's revolutionary communist combat groups during the Russian Civil War of 1918-1922. It grew into the national army of the Soviet Union. By the 1930s the Red Army was among the largest armies in history.The "Red Army" name refers to...
is just 12 kilometres from the city centre. Later, at his birthday reception, Reichsführer-SS
Reichsführer-SS
was a special SS rank that existed between the years of 1925 and 1945. Reichsführer-SS was a title from 1925 to 1933 and, after 1934, the highest rank of the German Schutzstaffel .-Definition:...
Heinrich Himmler
Heinrich Himmler
Heinrich Luitpold Himmler was Reichsführer of the SS, a military commander, and a leading member of the Nazi Party. As Chief of the German Police and the Minister of the Interior from 1943, Himmler oversaw all internal and external police and security forces, including the Gestapo...
(Ulrich Noethen
Ulrich Noethen
Ulrich Noethen is a German actor who has appeared in many movies and TV films.He starred in Comedian Harmonists. He also played Heinrich Himmler twice, in Der Untergang and Mein Führer – Die wirklich wahrste Wahrheit über Adolf Hitler.Noethen has won various awards for his acting, including the...
) and his SS adjutant Hermann Fegelein
Hermann Fegelein
SS-Obergruppenführer Hans Georg Otto Hermann Fegelein was a General of the Waffen-SS in Nazi Germany, a member of Adolf Hitler's entourage, brother-in-law to Eva Braun through his marriage to her sister, Gretl, and husband of the sister-in-law to Adolf Hitler through Hitler's marriage to Eva...
(Thomas Kretschmann
Thomas Kretschmann
Thomas Kretschmann is a German actor best known for playing Leutnant Hans Von Witzland in the 1993 film Stalingrad, Hauptmann Wilm Hosenfeld in The Pianist, Hermann Fegelein in Der Untergang, and Captain Englehorn in the 2005 remake of King Kong.-Early life:Kretschmann was born in Dessau, former...
) plead with Hitler to allow himself to be evacuated from the city. Instead, Hitler declares, "I will defeat them in Berlin, or face my downfall". Himmler leaves Berlin with the intention of negotiating surrender terms with the Western Allies behind Hitler's back.
In another part of the city, a group of Hitler Youth
Hitler Youth
The Hitler Youth was a paramilitary organization of the Nazi Party. It existed from 1922 to 1945. The HJ was the second oldest paramilitary Nazi group, founded one year after its adult counterpart, the Sturmabteilung...
members continue to build up defenses for the defense of Berlin. Peter, a boy in the group, is vainly urged by his father to desert and flee the city. Later, Peter's unit is part of a group which is awarded the Iron Cross
Iron Cross
The Iron Cross is a cross symbol typically in black with a white or silver outline that originated after 1219 when the Kingdom of Jerusalem granted the Teutonic Order the right to combine the Teutonic Black Cross placed above a silver Cross of Jerusalem....
by Hitler.
Meanwhile, SS Dr. Ernst-Gunther Schenck
Ernst-Günther Schenck
Prof. Dr. Ernst-Günther Schenck was a German Standartenführer and doctor who joined the SS in 1933. Because of a chance encounter with Adolf Hitler during the closing days of World War II, his memoirs proved historically valuable. His accounts of this period influenced the accounts of Joachim...
(Christian Berkel
Christian Berkel
Christian Berkel is a German actor.Berkel was born in Berlin, Germany. His father was a military doctor.From the age of 14 he lived in Paris where he took drama lessons with Jean-Louis Barrault and Pierre Berlin...
) is ordered by the high command to evacuate Berlin, as part of "Operation Clausewitz
Operation Clausewitz
Operation Clausewitz was part of the defence of Berlin by Nazi Germany during the final stage of the European conflict of World War II. It started on 20 April 1945 and called for a number of thus far unknown actions but which included the evacuation of all Wehrmacht and SS offices in Berlin and...
". Schenck pleads with an SS general to be permitted to remain in order to look after the wounded and starving. The general grudgingly agrees to permit this. Schenck is requested by Brigadeführer
Brigadeführer
SS-Brigadeführer was an SS rank that was used in Nazi Germany between the years of 1932 and 1945. Brigadeführer was also an SA rank....
Wilhelm Mohnke
Wilhelm Mohnke
SS-Brigadeführer Wilhelm Mohnke was one of the original 120 members of the SS-Staff Guard "Berlin" formed in March 1933. From those ranks, Mohnke rose to become one of Adolf Hitler's last remaining generals.Mohnke saw action with the 1st SS Division Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler in France, Poland...
(André Hennicke
André Hennicke
André Hennicke is a German actor.Hennicke was born in Johanngeorgenstadt in Saxony. He was awarded a German television award for his work in Toter Mann in 2002...
) to bring all the medical supplies he can obtain to the Reich Chancellery
Reich Chancellery
The Reich Chancellery was the traditional name of the office of the Chancellor of Germany in the period of the German Reich from 1871 to 1945...
. While doing this, Schenck and his adjutant go to a hospital in search of medical supplies. They approach a tank position where a panzer commander informs them that everyone has left the hospital, and to be careful of the Russian troops in the area. Inside the hospital, Schenck finds the basement filled with elderly and infirm patients. After retrieving what medical supplies are available, Schenck and his adjutant try without success to prevent the summary execution
Summary execution
A summary execution is a variety of execution in which a person is killed on the spot without trial or after a show trial. Summary executions have been practiced by the police, military, and paramilitary organizations and are associated with guerrilla warfare, counter-insurgency, terrorism, and...
of two old men by Feldgendarmerie
Feldgendarmerie
The Feldgendarmerie were the uniformed military police units of the armies of the German Empire from the mid 19th Century until the conclusion of World War II.- Early history :...
(military police).
In the bunker, Hitler discusses his new scorched earth
Scorched earth
A scorched earth policy is a military strategy or operational method which involves destroying anything that might be useful to the enemy while advancing through or withdrawing from an area...
policy
Nero Decree
The Nero Decree was issued by Adolf Hitler on March 19, 1945 ordering the destruction of German infrastructure to prevent their use by Allied forces as they penetrated deep within Germany...
with his favourite architect and trusted friend, Albert Speer
Albert Speer
Albert Speer, born Berthold Konrad Hermann Albert Speer, was a German architect who was, for a part of World War II, Minister of Armaments and War Production for the Third Reich. Speer was Adolf Hitler's chief architect before assuming ministerial office...
. The latter pleads for mercy for the German people, saying that Hitler's plans will return them to the Middle Ages
Middle Ages
The Middle Ages is a periodization of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The Middle Ages follows the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and precedes the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period of a three-period division of Western history: Classic, Medieval and Modern...
. Unmoved, Hitler retorts that the German people have shown themselves weak and therefore do not deserve to survive. Speer confesses to Hitler that he has sometimes disobeyed orders but is nonetheless allowed to leave the city. Eva Braun
Eva Braun
Eva Anna Paula Hitler was the longtime companion of Adolf Hitler and, for less than 40 hours, his wife. Braun met Hitler in Munich, when she was 17 years old, while working as an assistant and model for his personal photographer and began seeing him often about two years later...
(Juliane Köhler
Juliane Köhler
Juliane Köhler is a German theatre, television, and film actress.Köhler was born in Göttingen to a puppeteer. From 1985-88 she studied under Uta Hagen in New York City and attended the HB acting studio. She also received ballet instruction from Daniela Glück in Munich, Bavaria...
) ignores Fegelein's pleas to leave Berlin and holds a party for the bunker inhabitants up in the Reich Chancellery, but Soviet artillery shells end the party early.
The next day, General Helmuth Weidling
Helmuth Weidling
Helmuth Otto Ludwig Weidling was an officer in the German Army before and during World War II...
is mistakenly thought to have ordered a retreat to the West and ordered to the bunker. Believing he is about to be executed Weidling explains himself to Burgdorf and Hans Krebs
Hans Krebs (general)
Hans Krebs was a German Army general of infantry who served during World War II.-Early life:Krebs was born in Helmstedt. He volunteered for service in the Imperial German Army in 1914, was promoted to lieutenant in 1915, and to first lieutenant in 1925...
, only to find himself appointed commander of the Berlin Defense Area, much to his dismay. In the briefing room at the bunker, Hitler is informed about the disintegrating defenses of Berlin. Unmoved, he announces that Waffen SS General Felix Steiner
Felix Steiner
Felix Martin Julius Steiner was a German Reichswehr and Waffen-SS officer who served in both World War I and World War II. He was also a recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves and Swords...
will soon arrive and drive the Red Army out of the city. However, he is then informed that Steiner couldn't mobilize enough men. Visibly shaken, Hitler dismisses all except Joseph Goebbels
Joseph Goebbels
Paul Joseph Goebbels was a German politician and Reich Minister of Propaganda in Nazi Germany from 1933 to 1945. As one of Adolf Hitler's closest associates and most devout followers, he was known for his zealous oratory and anti-Semitism...
, Martin Bormann
Martin Bormann
Martin Ludwig Bormann was a prominent Nazi official. He became head of the Party Chancellery and private secretary to Adolf Hitler...
and Generals Wilhelm Keitel
Wilhelm Keitel
Wilhelm Bodewin Gustav Keitel was a German field marshal . As head of the Oberkommando der Wehrmacht and de facto war minister, he was one of Germany's most senior military leaders during World War II...
, Alfred Jodl
Alfred Jodl
Alfred Josef Ferdinand Jodl was a German military commander, attaining the position of Chief of the Operations Staff of the Armed Forces High Command during World War II, acting as deputy to Wilhelm Keitel...
, Krebs, and Burgdorf.
Throwing a massive tantrum, which is heard clearly by those outside the room, Hitler furiously accuses the Wehrmacht
Wehrmacht
The Wehrmacht – from , to defend and , the might/power) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the Heer , the Kriegsmarine and the Luftwaffe .-Origin and use of the term:...
and even the SS of sabotaging him from day one. He screams that the soldiers are all cowards and traitors, despite a rebuke of that position by Burgdorf, and that the generals are "the scum of the German people." He expresses regret at not executing the entire officer corps, like Joseph Stalin
Joseph Stalin
Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin was the Premier of the Soviet Union from 6 May 1941 to 5 March 1953. He was among the Bolshevik revolutionaries who brought about the October Revolution and had held the position of first General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union's Central Committee...
did during the Great Purge
Great Purge
The Great Purge was a series of campaigns of political repression and persecution in the Soviet Union orchestrated by Joseph Stalin from 1936 to 1938...
. At last, however, Hitler sinks into his chair and acknowledges that the war is lost. "If you think that this means I'll be abandoning Berlin", he snarls, "I'd rather shoot a bullet through my head."
Brigadeführer Mohnke is shown fighting on the front lines with his troops when he observes a group of civilian volunteers running to their deaths in the streets. Mohnke asks one of his adjutants for a situation report. The officer informs him that the civilians are members of the Volkssturm
Volkssturm
The Volkssturm was a German national militia of the last months of World War II. It was founded on Adolf Hitler's orders on October 18, 1944 and conscripted males between the ages of 16 to 60 years who were not already serving in some military unit as part of a German Home Guard.-Origins and...
, and they are under Goebbels' direct command. Disgusted, Mohnke orders the officer to get the Volkssturm out of the line of fire, and states he will take responsibility for doing so.
Mohnke makes his way back to the Reich Chancellery
Reich Chancellery
The Reich Chancellery was the traditional name of the office of the Chancellor of Germany in the period of the German Reich from 1871 to 1945...
to confront Goebbels about the Volkssturm
Volkssturm
The Volkssturm was a German national militia of the last months of World War II. It was founded on Adolf Hitler's orders on October 18, 1944 and conscripted males between the ages of 16 to 60 years who were not already serving in some military unit as part of a German Home Guard.-Origins and...
. Goebbels is in the bunker communications room talking to his wife Magda. Goebbels tells her to bring the children to the bunker and not to bring many toys or nightclothes, which are no longer necessary. Thereafter, Mohnke tells Goebbels that the Volkssturm are nothing but cannon fodder
Cannon fodder
Cannon fodder is an informal, derogatory term for military personnel who are regarded or treated as expendable in the face of enemy fire. The term is generally used in situations where soldiers are forced to deliberately fight against hopeless odds in an effort to achieve a strategic goal...
for the Russians. In response, Goebbels bristles and informs Mohnke that their belief in "final victory
Endsieg
Endsieg is German for "final victory". It is used in the meaning that a victory is taken for granted even though all odds are against it.- Origin and historical usage :The word became commonly used in World War I...
" makes up for their lack of weapons and combat experience. Mohnke tells Goebbels that if these men do not have weapons their deaths are pointless. Goebbels informs Mohnke that he has no pity for them, adding, "The German people chose their fate and now their little throats are being cut."
Later Hitler, Eva, Traudl Junge, and Gerda discuss various means of suicide whilst (in another area of the bunker) Krebs, Burgdorf and other military staff sit around getting drunk. Hitler proposes shooting through the mouth, while Braun mentions taking cyanide
Cyanide
A cyanide is a chemical compound that contains the cyano group, -C≡N, which consists of a carbon atom triple-bonded to a nitrogen atom. Cyanides most commonly refer to salts of the anion CN−. Most cyanides are highly toxic....
. Hitler gives Gerda and Traudl one cyanide capsule each. Eva Braun and Magda Goebbels
Magda Goebbels
Johanna Maria Magdalena "Magda" Goebbels was the wife of Nazi Germany's Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels...
type goodbye letters: Eva to her sister Gretl Braun
Gretl Braun
Margarete “Gretl” Braun was one of the two sisters of Eva Braun. She was a member of the inner social circle of Adolf Hitler at the Berghof and became the sister-in-law of the Nazi dictator following his marriage to Eva hours before they committed suicide together.-Early life:Born in Munich,...
and Goebbels to her adult son (from her former marriage) Harald Quandt
Harald Quandt
Harald Quandt was a German industrialist, stepson of Joseph Goebbels. After World War II, Harald and his half-brother Herbert Quandt ran the industrial empire that was left to them by their father.-Early life:...
. The child soldiers fight in the streets of Berlin, but to no avail. Peter witnesses the death of all his squad mates and flees home to his parents.
Meanwhile, Hitler has lost his sense of reality. Field Marshal Keitel is ordered to find Admiral Karl Dönitz
Karl Dönitz
Karl Dönitz was a German naval commander during World War II. He started his career in the German Navy during World War I. In 1918, while he was in command of , the submarine was sunk by British forces and Dönitz was taken prisoner...
, who Hitler believes is gathering troops in the north, and help him plan an offensive to recover the Romanian oilfields. Oberscharführer
Oberscharführer
Oberscharführer was a Nazi Party paramilitary rank that existed between the years of 1932 and 1945. Translated as “Senior Squad Leader”, Oberscharführer was first used as a rank of the Sturmabteilung and was created due to an expansion of the enlisted positions required by growing SA membership...
Rochus Misch
Rochus Misch
Rochus Misch is a former Oberscharführer in the 1st SS Division Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler during World War II. He served as a courier, bodyguard and telephone operator for German leader Adolf Hitler from 1940 to 1945...
, Hitler's radio operator, receives a telegram
Göring Telegram
The Göring Telegram was a message sent by Adolf Hitler's designated successor—Hermann Göring—asking for permission to assume leadership of the crumbling Third Reich...
from Hermann Göring
Hermann Göring
Hermann Wilhelm Göring, was a German politician, military leader, and a leading member of the Nazi Party. He was a veteran of World War I as an ace fighter pilot, and a recipient of the coveted Pour le Mérite, also known as "The Blue Max"...
, head of the Luftwaffe
Luftwaffe
Luftwaffe is a generic German term for an air force. It is also the official name for two of the four historic German air forces, the Wehrmacht air arm founded in 1935 and disbanded in 1946; and the current Bundeswehr air arm founded in 1956....
and Hitler's designated successor. Bormann reads the telegram to Hitler, in which Göring asks permission to assume command of the Reich and asks for acknowledgment by 10:00 pm, at which time he will assume authority in the absence of a response. Walther Hewel
Walther Hewel
Walther Hewel was a German diplomat before and during World War II, an early and active member of the Nazi Party, and one of German dictator Adolf Hitler's few personal friends.-Early life:...
tries to justify his actions but Bormann and Goebbels declare Göring's actions to be high treason
High treason
High treason is criminal disloyalty to one's government. Participating in a war against one's native country, attempting to overthrow its government, spying on its military, its diplomats, or its secret services for a hostile and foreign power, or attempting to kill its head of state are perhaps...
; Hitler orders Göring's arrest and removal from office.
Hitler summons General Robert Ritter von Greim
Robert Ritter von Greim
Robert Ritter von Greim was a German Field Marshal, pilot, army officer, and the last commander of the Luftwaffe during the Second World War.-Early years:...
(Dietrich Hollinderbäumer) and his mistress, ace pilot Hanna Reitsch
Hanna Reitsch
Hanna Reitsch was a German aviator and the only woman awarded the Iron Cross First Class and the Luftwaffe Combined Pilots-Observation Badge in Gold with Diamonds during World War II...
, to the bunker. He appoints von Greim to be Commander-in-Chief of the Luftwaffe
Luftwaffe
Luftwaffe is a generic German term for an air force. It is also the official name for two of the four historic German air forces, the Wehrmacht air arm founded in 1935 and disbanded in 1946; and the current Bundeswehr air arm founded in 1956....
, ordering him to rebuild it. During dinner, Hitler receives a report informing him that Himmler has just attempted to negotiate a separate peace
Separate peace
The phrase "separate peace" refers to a nation's agreement to cease military hostilities with another, even though the former country had previously entered into a military alliance with other states that remain at war with the latter country...
settlement with the Western Allies. Betrayed by the one man he trusted, Hitler explodes in another tearful outburst. He then orders von Greim and Reitsch to leave Berlin, rendezvous with Dönitz, who he is convinced is rallying troops and preparing a massive pincer strike alongside Field Marshal Albert Kesselring
Albert Kesselring
Albert Kesselring was a German Luftwaffe Generalfeldmarschall during World War II. In a military career that spanned both World Wars, Kesselring became one of Nazi Germany's most skilful commanders, being one of 27 soldiers awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves, Swords...
, and ensure that Himmler is dealt with.
Reichsphysician SS Ernst-Robert Grawitz
Ernst-Robert Grawitz
Ernst-Robert Grawitz was a German physician in Nazi Germany during World War II.- Early life :Grawitz was born in Charlottenburg, in the western part of Berlin, Germany.- Career :...
, whose earlier request to leave Berlin had been denied, returns to his apartment and kills himself and his family with grenades.
Hitler wishes to speak to Fegelein with regards to Himmler's treachery but Fegelein has deserted the bunker and plans to flee the country. He is tracked down to his apartment by SS troops and arrested. Despite a tearful plea from Eva Braun to spare her brother-in-law's life, Hitler is unmoved and denounces him as a traitor. Fegelein is promptly executed by a firing squad.
General Weidling
Helmuth Weidling
Helmuth Otto Ludwig Weidling was an officer in the German Army before and during World War II...
reports that the Russians have broken through everywhere. There are no reserves and air support has ceased. Mohnke reports that the Red Army
Red Army
The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army started out as the Soviet Union's revolutionary communist combat groups during the Russian Civil War of 1918-1922. It grew into the national army of the Soviet Union. By the 1930s the Red Army was among the largest armies in history.The "Red Army" name refers to...
is only 300 to 400 meters from the Reich Chancellery and that defending forces can hold out for a day or two at most. Before leaving, Hitler reassures the officers that General Walther Wenck
Walther Wenck
-Captive, prisoner, and death:Wenck was captured and put in a prisoner of war camp. He was released in 1947. In 1982, Wenck died in a car accident in Bad Rothenfelde.-See also:* Battle of Berlin - 1945* Battle of Halbe - 1945* Hans Krebs, Chief of Staff...
will save them all. After he leaves the conference room, Weidling asks the other generals if it is truly possible for Wenck to attack; they all agree it is unlikely, even impossible, that Wenck will succeed, but do not wish to surrender.
The following day, Hitler dictates his personal statement to Traudl Junge before marrying Eva Braun. Hitler has ordered Joseph Goebbels to leave Berlin, but Goebbels intends to ignore the order. When Hitler's adjutant Otto Günsche
Otto Günsche
Otto Günsche was a Sturmbannführer in the Waffen-SS and a member of 1st SS Division Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler before he became Adolf Hitler's personal adjutant. He was captured by soldiers of the Red Army on 2 May 1945...
later brings a reply from Keitel that Wenck's army is encircled or cannot continue its assault on Berlin, Hitler states that he will never surrender. He also forbids all officers to surrender on pain of summary execution
Summary execution
A summary execution is a variety of execution in which a person is killed on the spot without trial or after a show trial. Summary executions have been practiced by the police, military, and paramilitary organizations and are associated with guerrilla warfare, counter-insurgency, terrorism, and...
. Upon leaving the conference room Hitler gives Günsche the order to cremate his body and that of Eva Braun.
Schenck, Dr. Werner Haase
Werner Haase
Werner Haase was an SS Obersturmbannführer , professor of medicine and one of Adolf Hitler's personal physicians.-Biography:...
, (Matthias Habich
Matthias Habich
Matthias Habich is a German actor.Habich was born in Danzig and lives in Paris. In the 2001 film Enemy at the Gates about Stalingrad, he played the part of General Friedrich Paulus...
) and a nurse are summoned to the bunker and Haase tells Hitler the best method for suicide as well as administering poison to Blondi
Blondi
Blondi was Adolf Hitler's German Shepherd dog, given to him as a gift in 1941 by Martin Bormann. Blondi stayed with Hitler even after his move into the Führerbunker located underneath the garden of the Reich Chancellery on January 16, 1945...
which Schenck witnesses. Waffen SS soldiers carrying the gasoline to burn Hitler's and Braun's corpse arrive soon after.
Eva affectionately gives Traudl one of her best coats and makes her promise to flee the Bunker. Hitler eats his final meal in silence with Constanze Manziarly
Constanze Manziarly
Constanze Manziarly served as a cook/dietitian to Adolf Hitler.Manziarly was born in Innsbruck, Austria. She began working for Hitler from his 1943 stays at the Berghof until his final days in Berlin in 1945...
and his secretaries. He bids farewell to the bunker staff, gives Magda his Golden Party Badge (marking original members of the NSDAP from February 27, 1925 to November 9, 1933, with numbers 1 to 100,000), and retires to his room with Eva. Although Magda pleads with him to change his mind, Hitler states, "Tomorrow, millions of people will curse me, but fate has taken its course."
Hitler and Eva retreat into their rooms and commit suicide. The bodies of Hitler and Eva Braun are carried up the stairs to ground level and through the bunker's emergency exit, doused in petrol and set alight in the Reich Chancellery
Reich Chancellery
The Reich Chancellery was the traditional name of the office of the Chancellor of Germany in the period of the German Reich from 1871 to 1945...
garden outside the bunker. From the bunker entrance, surrounding officers give one final Nazi salute
Nazi salute
The Nazi salute, or Hitler salute , was a gesture of greeting in Nazi Germany usually accompanied by saying, Heil Hitler! ["Hail Hitler!"], Heil, mein Führer ["Hail, my leader!"], or Sieg Heil! ["Hail victory!"]...
over the flames. General Krebs leads a small delegation through the Russian lines and tries to negotiate peace terms with General Vasily Chuikov
Vasily Chuikov
Vasily Ivanovich Chuikov was a Russian lieutenant general in the Red Army during World War II, twice Hero of the Soviet Union , who after the war became a Marshal of the Soviet Union.-Early life and career:Born into a peasant family in the village of Serebryanye Prudy, he joined the Red Army during...
. Chuikov says that the Soviets will only accept unconditional surrender but Krebs does not have the authority to grant this so he returns to the bunker empty-handed. Unable to comprehend a world without National Socialism, Magda Goebbels poisons her six children while her husband waits. Together they leave the bunker complex. Goebbels shoots his wife before shooting himself.
The people remaining in the bunker agree that they must try to break out of the Soviet encirclement. Krebs and Burgdorf commit suicide as the rest begin to evacuate. Most of the bunker survivors attempt to escape, but die at the hands of Red Army
Red Army
The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army started out as the Soviet Union's revolutionary communist combat groups during the Russian Civil War of 1918-1922. It grew into the national army of the Soviet Union. By the 1930s the Red Army was among the largest armies in history.The "Red Army" name refers to...
infantrymen. Weidling then goes out and broadcasts to the soldiers and civilians in Berlin that the Führer is dead. He has called for a ceasefire
Ceasefire
A ceasefire is a temporary stoppage of a war in which each side agrees with the other to suspend aggressive actions. Ceasefires may be declared as part of a formal treaty, but they have also been called as part of an informal understanding between opposing forces...
with Lieutenant-General Vasily Chuikov
Vasily Chuikov
Vasily Ivanovich Chuikov was a Russian lieutenant general in the Red Army during World War II, twice Hero of the Soviet Union , who after the war became a Marshal of the Soviet Union.-Early life and career:Born into a peasant family in the village of Serebryanye Prudy, he joined the Red Army during...
as every further hour of battle will merely postpone the inevitable.
Meanwhile, Schenck and Hewel stay with Mohnke and his remaining SS troops, who debate on what to do once the Soviet troops arrive. Schenck tries to talk sense into Hewel, who promised Hitler that he would kill himself. When news reaches the officers that Berlin has been surrendered, Hewel and several of the SS officers promptly shoot themselves, as they had promised, to Schenck's dismay.
In the chaos of the city's fall, Traudl Junge is able to make her way through the Russian lines, escaping from Berlin by bicycle along with the child soldier Peter. The subsequent fates of the surviving characters are superimposed and the credits roll.
Cast
- Bruno GanzBruno GanzBruno Ganz is a Swiss actor, known for his roles as Damiel in Wings of Desire and Adolf Hitler in Downfall.- Early life :Bruno Ganz was born in Zürich to a Swiss mechanic father and a northern Italian mother. He had decided to pursue an acting career by the time he entered university...
as Adolf HitlerAdolf HitlerAdolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945... - Alexandra Maria LaraAlexandra Maria LaraAlexandra Maria Lara is a Romanian-born German actress. She performs predominantly in leading roles in a variety of historical and crime films...
as Traudl JungeTraudl JungeTraudl Junge was Adolf Hitler's youngest personal private secretary, from December 1942 to April 1945.-Early life:... - Corinna Harfouch as Magda GoebbelsMagda GoebbelsJohanna Maria Magdalena "Magda" Goebbels was the wife of Nazi Germany's Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels...
- Ulrich MatthesUlrich MatthesUlrich Matthes is a German actor.-Life and work:Ulrich Matthes was born in Berlin. He studied acting in the early 1980s in Berlin under Else Bongers. In the 2004 movie Downfall he plays Joseph Goebbels. In the 2004 movie The Ninth Day, he plays Fr. Henri Kremer, a Catholic priest imprisoned at...
as Joseph GoebbelsJoseph GoebbelsPaul Joseph Goebbels was a German politician and Reich Minister of Propaganda in Nazi Germany from 1933 to 1945. As one of Adolf Hitler's closest associates and most devout followers, he was known for his zealous oratory and anti-Semitism... - Juliane KöhlerJuliane KöhlerJuliane Köhler is a German theatre, television, and film actress.Köhler was born in Göttingen to a puppeteer. From 1985-88 she studied under Uta Hagen in New York City and attended the HB acting studio. She also received ballet instruction from Daniela Glück in Munich, Bavaria...
as Eva BraunEva BraunEva Anna Paula Hitler was the longtime companion of Adolf Hitler and, for less than 40 hours, his wife. Braun met Hitler in Munich, when she was 17 years old, while working as an assistant and model for his personal photographer and began seeing him often about two years later... - Thomas KretschmannThomas KretschmannThomas Kretschmann is a German actor best known for playing Leutnant Hans Von Witzland in the 1993 film Stalingrad, Hauptmann Wilm Hosenfeld in The Pianist, Hermann Fegelein in Der Untergang, and Captain Englehorn in the 2005 remake of King Kong.-Early life:Kretschmann was born in Dessau, former...
as SS-Gruppenführer Hermann FegeleinHermann FegeleinSS-Obergruppenführer Hans Georg Otto Hermann Fegelein was a General of the Waffen-SS in Nazi Germany, a member of Adolf Hitler's entourage, brother-in-law to Eva Braun through his marriage to her sister, Gretl, and husband of the sister-in-law to Adolf Hitler through Hitler's marriage to Eva... - Christian Redl as Generaloberst Alfred JodlAlfred JodlAlfred Josef Ferdinand Jodl was a German military commander, attaining the position of Chief of the Operations Staff of the Armed Forces High Command during World War II, acting as deputy to Wilhelm Keitel...
- Heino FerchHeino FerchHeino Ferch is an award-winning German film and television actor.-Life:The son of a cargo vessel skipper, he was on stage for the first time in his life at the age of 15, while he was still attending grammar school...
as Albert SpeerAlbert SpeerAlbert Speer, born Berthold Konrad Hermann Albert Speer, was a German architect who was, for a part of World War II, Minister of Armaments and War Production for the Third Reich. Speer was Adolf Hitler's chief architect before assuming ministerial office... - Götz OttoGötz OttoGötz Otto is a German actor known for his very tall stature. He is 198 cm tall and is often characterised by bleached blonde hair in his films....
as SturmbannführerSturmbannführerSturmbannführer was a paramilitary rank of the Nazi Party equivalent to major, used both in the Sturmabteilung and the Schutzstaffel...
Otto GünscheOtto GünscheOtto Günsche was a Sturmbannführer in the Waffen-SS and a member of 1st SS Division Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler before he became Adolf Hitler's personal adjutant. He was captured by soldiers of the Red Army on 2 May 1945... - André HennickeAndré HennickeAndré Hennicke is a German actor.Hennicke was born in Johanngeorgenstadt in Saxony. He was awarded a German television award for his work in Toter Mann in 2002...
as SS-Brigadeführer Wilhelm MohnkeWilhelm MohnkeSS-Brigadeführer Wilhelm Mohnke was one of the original 120 members of the SS-Staff Guard "Berlin" formed in March 1933. From those ranks, Mohnke rose to become one of Adolf Hitler's last remaining generals.Mohnke saw action with the 1st SS Division Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler in France, Poland... - Ulrich NoethenUlrich NoethenUlrich Noethen is a German actor who has appeared in many movies and TV films.He starred in Comedian Harmonists. He also played Heinrich Himmler twice, in Der Untergang and Mein Führer – Die wirklich wahrste Wahrheit über Adolf Hitler.Noethen has won various awards for his acting, including the...
as Reichsführer SS Heinrich HimmlerHeinrich HimmlerHeinrich Luitpold Himmler was Reichsführer of the SS, a military commander, and a leading member of the Nazi Party. As Chief of the German Police and the Minister of the Interior from 1943, Himmler oversaw all internal and external police and security forces, including the Gestapo... - Christian BerkelChristian BerkelChristian Berkel is a German actor.Berkel was born in Berlin, Germany. His father was a military doctor.From the age of 14 he lived in Paris where he took drama lessons with Jean-Louis Barrault and Pierre Berlin...
as Ernst-Günther SchenckErnst-Günther SchenckProf. Dr. Ernst-Günther Schenck was a German Standartenführer and doctor who joined the SS in 1933. Because of a chance encounter with Adolf Hitler during the closing days of World War II, his memoirs proved historically valuable. His accounts of this period influenced the accounts of Joachim... - Rolf KaniesRolf KaniesRolf Kanies is a German born actor who played many high profile roles on the stage before switching to a career in film and television in 1997. Since then Rolf has specialized in German and international film and television...
as Chief of the Army General Staff Hans KrebsHans Krebs (general)Hans Krebs was a German Army general of infantry who served during World War II.-Early life:Krebs was born in Helmstedt. He volunteered for service in the Imperial German Army in 1914, was promoted to lieutenant in 1915, and to first lieutenant in 1925... - Michael Mendl as General Helmuth WeidlingHelmuth WeidlingHelmuth Otto Ludwig Weidling was an officer in the German Army before and during World War II...
- Matthias HabichMatthias HabichMatthias Habich is a German actor.Habich was born in Danzig and lives in Paris. In the 2001 film Enemy at the Gates about Stalingrad, he played the part of General Friedrich Paulus...
as Prof. Dr. Werner HaaseWerner HaaseWerner Haase was an SS Obersturmbannführer , professor of medicine and one of Adolf Hitler's personal physicians.-Biography:... - Dietrich Hollinderbäumer as GeneralfeldmarschallGeneralfeldmarschallField Marshal or Generalfeldmarschall in German, was a rank in the armies of several German states and the Holy Roman Empire; in the Austrian Empire, the rank Feldmarschall was used...
Robert Ritter von GreimRobert Ritter von GreimRobert Ritter von Greim was a German Field Marshal, pilot, army officer, and the last commander of the Luftwaffe during the Second World War.-Early years:... - Dieter MannDieter MannDieter Mann is a German actor.Mann was born in Berlin. Since 1984 he has belonged to the famous Deutsches Theater Berlin. He portrayed Wilhelm Keitel in Downfall.-References:...
as GeneralfeldmarschallGeneralfeldmarschallField Marshal or Generalfeldmarschall in German, was a rank in the armies of several German states and the Holy Roman Empire; in the Austrian Empire, the rank Feldmarschall was used...
Wilhelm KeitelWilhelm KeitelWilhelm Bodewin Gustav Keitel was a German field marshal . As head of the Oberkommando der Wehrmacht and de facto war minister, he was one of Germany's most senior military leaders during World War II... - Justus von DohnányiJustus von DohnányiJustus von Dohnányi is a German actor. His father is the German conductor, Christoph von Dohnányi and his grandfather was the German jurist and member of the German resistance, Hans von Dohnanyi.-Biographical details:...
as Adolf Hitler's chief adjutant Wilhelm BurgdorfWilhelm BurgdorfWilhelm Burgdorf was a German general. Born in Fürstenwalde, Burgdorf served as a commander and staff officer in the German Army during World War II.- Military career :... - Igor Bubenchikov as Franz SchädleFranz SchädleSS-Obersturmbannführer Franz Schädle was the commander of Adolf Hitler's personal bodyguard , from 5 January 1945 until his death on 1 May 1945, aged 38.-Biography:...
- Gerald Alexander Held as Walther HewelWalther HewelWalther Hewel was a German diplomat before and during World War II, an early and active member of the Nazi Party, and one of German dictator Adolf Hitler's few personal friends.-Early life:...
- Thomas Thieme as Martin BormannMartin BormannMartin Ludwig Bormann was a prominent Nazi official. He became head of the Party Chancellery and private secretary to Adolf Hitler...
- Birgit MinichmayrBirgit MinichmayrBirgit Minichmayr is an Austrian actress and singer born in Linz, Austria. Birgit Minichmayr studied drama at the Max-Reinhardt-Seminar in Vienna.-Career:...
as Gerda ChristianGerda ChristianGerda "Dara" Christian née Daranowski was one of Adolf Hitler's private secretaries during World War II.-Biography:...
Reception
While treatment of the Third Reich was still a sensitive subject among many Germans even 60 years after World War II, the film broke one of the last remaining tabooTaboo
A taboo is a strong social prohibition relating to any area of human activity or social custom that is sacred and or forbidden based on moral judgment, religious beliefs and or scientific consensus. Breaking the taboo is usually considered objectionable or abhorrent by society...
s by its depiction of Adolf Hitler in a central role by a German speaking actor (as opposed to using actual film footage of Hitler). Ganz did four months of research to prepare for the role, studying a ten minute recording of Hitler in private conversation with Finnish Field Marshal Mannerheim
Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim
Baron Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim was the military leader of the Whites in the Finnish Civil War, Commander-in-Chief of Finland's Defence Forces during World War II, Marshal of Finland, and a Finnish statesman. He was Regent of Finland and the sixth President of Finland...
, in order to properly mimic Hitler's conversational voice, and distinct Austrian accent.
The film's impending release in 2004 provoked a debate in German film magazines and newspapers. The tabloid Bild asked "Are we allowed to show the monster as a human being?"
Concern about the film's depiction of Hitler led New Yorker
The New Yorker
The New Yorker is an American magazine of reportage, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons and poetry published by Condé Nast...
film critic David Denby to note:
With respect to German uneasiness about "humanizing" Hitler, Denby said:
After previewing the film, Hitler biographer Sir Ian Kershaw
Ian Kershaw
Sir Ian Kershaw is a British historian of 20th-century Germany whose work has chiefly focused on the period of the Third Reich...
wrote in The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
:
Addressing other critics like Denby, Chicago Sun-Times
Chicago Sun-Times
The Chicago Sun-Times is an American daily newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois. It is the flagship paper of the Sun-Times Media Group.-History:The Chicago Sun-Times is the oldest continuously published daily newspaper in the city...
film critic Roger Ebert
Roger Ebert
Roger Joseph Ebert is an American film critic and screenwriter. He is the first film critic to win a Pulitzer Prize for Criticism.Ebert is known for his film review column and for the television programs Sneak Previews, At the Movies with Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert, and Siskel and Ebert and The...
wrote:
Hirschbiegel confirmed that the film's makers sought to give Hitler a three-dimensional personality.
The film was nominated for the 2005 Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film
Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film
The Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film is one of the Academy Awards of Merit, popularly known as the Oscars, handed out annually by the U.S.-based Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences...
in the 77th Academy Awards
77th Academy Awards
The 77th Academy Awards honored the best films of 2004 and were held on February 27, 2005, at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood, California. They were hosted by comedian Chris Rock.The nominees were announced on January 25, 2005...
. The film also won the 2005 BBC Four
BBC Four
BBC Four is a British television network operated by the British Broadcasting Corporation and available to digital television viewers on Freeview, IPTV, satellite and cable....
World Cinema competition.
The film is set mostly in and around the Führerbunker
Führerbunker
The Führerbunker was located beneath Hitler's New Reich Chancellery in Berlin, Germany. It was part of a subterranean bunker complex which was constructed in two major phases, one part in 1936 and the other in 1943...
. Hirschbiegel made an effort to accurately reconstruct the look and atmosphere of the bunker through eyewitness accounts, survivors' memoirs and other historical sources. According to his commentary on the DVD, Der Untergang was filmed in Berlin, Munich
Munich
Munich The city's motto is "" . Before 2006, it was "Weltstadt mit Herz" . Its native name, , is derived from the Old High German Munichen, meaning "by the monks' place". The city's name derives from the monks of the Benedictine order who founded the city; hence the monk depicted on the city's coat...
, and in a district of Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg is a city and a federal subject of Russia located on the Neva River at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea...
, Russia, which, with its many buildings designed by German architects, was said to resemble many parts of 1940s Berlin. The film was ranked number 48 in Empire
Empire (magazine)
Empire is a British film magazine published monthly by Bauer Consumer Media. From the first issue in July 1989, the magazine was edited by Barry McIlheney and published by Emap. Bauer purchased Emap Consumer Media in early 2008...
magazines "The 100 Best Films Of World Cinema" in 2010.
As of October 2010, Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...
reports that 91% of critics have given the film a positive review, with an average score of 8 out of 10. The site's consenus is: "Downfall is an illuminating, thoughtful and detailed account of Hitler's last days".
Criticism
The author Giles MacDonogh criticized the film for sympathetic portrayals of Wilhelm MohnkeWilhelm Mohnke
SS-Brigadeführer Wilhelm Mohnke was one of the original 120 members of the SS-Staff Guard "Berlin" formed in March 1933. From those ranks, Mohnke rose to become one of Adolf Hitler's last remaining generals.Mohnke saw action with the 1st SS Division Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler in France, Poland...
and Ernst-Günther Schenck
Ernst-Günther Schenck
Prof. Dr. Ernst-Günther Schenck was a German Standartenführer and doctor who joined the SS in 1933. Because of a chance encounter with Adolf Hitler during the closing days of World War II, his memoirs proved historically valuable. His accounts of this period influenced the accounts of Joachim...
. Mohnke was rumored, but never proven, to have ordered the execution of a group of British P.O.W.s in the Wormhoudt massacre
Wormhoudt massacre
The Wormhoudt massacre was the mass murder of 80 British and French POWs by the Waffen SS during the Battle of France in May 1940.-Fighting:...
near Dunkirk in 1940, while Schenck's experiments with medicinal plants in 1938 allegedly led to the deaths of a number of concentration camp prisoners. In answer to this criticism, the film's director, in the DVD commentary, stated he did his own research and did not find the allegations as to Schenck to be convincing. Furthermore, Mohnke strongly denied the accusations against him, telling author Thomas Fischer, "I issued no orders not to take English prisoners or to execute prisoners."
Wim Wenders
Wim Wenders
Ernst Wilhelm "Wim" Wenders is a German film director, playwright, author, photographer and producer.-Early life:Wenders was born in Düsseldorf. He graduated from high school in Oberhausen in the Ruhr area. He then studied medicine and philosophy in Freiburg and Düsseldorf...
called the filmmakers' collaboration with a history professor "a strategic move to compile cultural capital and move the film beyond the reach of reprehensibility, challenge, or contradiction by writers or critics unwilling to engage the material other than by pointing out historical inaccuracies." He felt that the film said: "Wir wissen, wovon wir reden" ("We know what we're talking about"). Further, Wenders argued that Der Untergang presented an uncritical viewpoint toward the barbarism of its subject matter, and accused the filmmakers of Verharmlosung (rendering harmlessness). Wenders supported this observation with close readings of the film's first scene, and of Hitler's final scene, suggesting that in each case a particular set of cinematographic and editorial choices left each scene emotionally charged, resulting in a glorifying effect.
Parodies
One scene in the film, in which Hitler launches into a furious tirade upon finally realizing that the war is truly lost, has become a staple of internet videoVideo
Video is the technology of electronically capturing, recording, processing, storing, transmitting, and reconstructing a sequence of still images representing scenes in motion.- History :...
s. In these videos, the original audio of Ganz's voice is retained, but new subtitles are added so that he now seems to be reacting instead to some setback in present-day politics, sports, popular culture, or everyday life. Other scenes from various portions of the film have been parodied in the same manner, notably the scenes where Hitler orders Otto Günsche to find Gruppenfuhrer Hermann Fegelein, and where Hitler discusses a counterattack against advancing Soviet forces with his generals. By 2010, there were thousands of such parodies, including many in which a self-aware
Self-awareness
Self-awareness is the capacity for introspection and the ability to reconcile oneself as an individual separate from the environment and other individuals...
Hitler is incensed that people keep making Downfall parodies.
The film's director, Oliver Hirschbiegel
Oliver Hirschbiegel
Oliver Hirschbiegel is a German film director. His works include Das Experiment and the Oscar nominated Der Untergang.- Career :...
, spoke positively about these parodies in a 2010 interview with New York
New York (magazine)
New York is a weekly magazine principally concerned with the life, culture, politics, and style of New York City. Founded by Milton Glaser and Clay Felker in 1968 as a competitor to The New Yorker, it was brasher and less polite than that magazine, and established itself as a cradle of New...
magazine, saying that many of them were funny and they were a fitting extension of the film's purpose: "The point of the film was to kick these terrible people off the throne that made them demons, making them real and their actions into reality. I think it's only fair if now it's taken as part of our history, and used for whatever purposes people like." Nevertheless, Constantin Films has taken an "ambivalent" view of the parodies, and has asked video sites to remove many of them. On April 21, 2010, the producers initiated a removal of parody videos on YouTube
YouTube
YouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....
. There was then a resurgence of the videos on the site.
In October 2010, YouTube stopped blocking any Downfall-derived parodies, and is now placing advertisements on some of them. Corynne McSherry, an attorney specializing in intellectual property and free speech issues for the Electronic Frontier Foundation
Electronic Frontier Foundation
The Electronic Frontier Foundation is an international non-profit digital rights advocacy and legal organization based in the United States...
, stated, "All the [Downfall parody videos] that I've seen are very strong fair use
Fair use
Fair use is a limitation and exception to the exclusive right granted by copyright law to the author of a creative work. In United States copyright law, fair use is a doctrine that permits limited use of copyrighted material without acquiring permission from the rights holders...
cases and so they're not infringing, and they shouldn't be taken down."
See also
- Adolf Hitler in popular culture
- Operation ClausewitzOperation ClausewitzOperation Clausewitz was part of the defence of Berlin by Nazi Germany during the final stage of the European conflict of World War II. It started on 20 April 1945 and called for a number of thus far unknown actions but which included the evacuation of all Wehrmacht and SS offices in Berlin and...
- VorbunkerVorbunkerThe Vorbunker or "forward bunker" was located behind the large reception hall that was added onto the old Reich Chancellery, in Berlin, Germany. It was meant to be a temporary air-raid shelter for Adolf Hitler, his guards, and servants...