The Final Solution: The Wannsee Conference (TV 1984)
"Die Wannseekonferenz" (original title)

A precise, real-time (exactly 85 minutes - the length of the actual event) reenactment of the infamous Wannsee Conference, a meeting called in January, 1942 to map out the implementation of... See full summary »

Director:

Heinz Schirk

Writer:

Paul Mommertz

Stars:

Robert Atzorn, Friedrich G. Beckhaus, Gerd Böckmann

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Robert Atzorn	...	Otto Hofmann
Friedrich G. Beckhaus	...	Heinrich Müller (as Friedrich Beckhaus)
Gerd Böckmann	...	Adolf Eichmann
Jochen Busse	...	Georg Leibbrandt
Hans-Werner Bussinger	...	Martin Luther (as Hans W. Bussinger)
Harald Dietl	...	Alfred Meyer
Peter Fitz	...	Wilhelm Stuckart
Reinhard Glemnitz	...	Josef Bühler
Dieter Groest	...	Erich Neumann
Martin Lüttge	...	Rudolf Lange
Anita Mally	...	The Secretary
Dietrich Mattausch	...	Reinhard Heydrich
Gerd Rigauer	...	Karl Schöngarth
Franz Rudnick	...	Friedrich Wilhelm Kritzinger
Günter Spörrle	...	Gerhard Klopfer

Storyline

A precise, real-time (exactly 85 minutes - the length of the actual event) reenactment of the infamous Wannsee Conference, a meeting called in January, 1942 to map out the implementation of the Final Solution to the Jewish Question.

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Plot Keywords:

conference | real time | final solution | meeting | ss | 

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Genres:

Drama | History

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Details

Country:

Austria West Germany

Language:

German

Release Date:

19 December 1984 (West Germany)

Also Known As:

Hitler's Final Solution: The Wannsee Conference

Filming Locations:

Berlin, Germany

Company Credits

Production Co:

Bayerischer Rundfunk (BR), Infafilm GmbH, Österreichischer Rundfunk (ORF)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

87 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Most of the conversations at the beginning of the film, in particular the small talk between offices, the dialogue between the SS and the secretaries, and the emergency phone call regarding a transport of Jews in the east, is entirely dramatic license. The actual minutes for the conference begin after Heydrich convened the meeting - exactly what the Nazi officers were doing before Heydrich arrived is not historically known and is dependent on second hand testimony and speculation.

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Quotes

Reinhard Heydrich: It's dishonorable to be weaklings, which we in the SS are not.

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Connections

Version of Conspiracy (2001)

User Reviews

A blueprint for genocide

It was inspired programme planning on the part of BBC's Knowledge channel to preface Heinz Schirk's dramatised documentary with Alain Resnais's chilling piece of actuality footage "Nuit et Brouillard" made twenty years earlier. It is just possible that, without it, the more recent film might have lost something of its awesome impact. However, by preceding it with the most harrowing account of the consequences of that fateful meeting, there was no escaping the obscenity of what we were watching. The scene was one of glamour with smartly dressed high ranking Nazi officials being served refreshments by spotlessly groomed white uniformed young male waiters. With minutes detailing the planned murder of millions being taken by an attractive female stenographer with the calm impassivity of one recording an average business meeting, the underlying horror and grotesque irony of the occasion was complete. A masterly historical reconstruction.