Released in 2003, this film is great for anyone who is interested in the history of World War II. It is the story of Christian women in Germany whose Jewish husbands were detained apart from them during the war. We start in the present day as a family gathers for a wake. We watch the family learn more about their widowed mother as we flash back to her childhood.
Our main star is Katja Riemann – one of my favourite actresses! She keeps a busy schedule, acting in a variety of films. She’s been in Fack ju, Göhte (1, 2, and 3), Er ist wieder da, Bibi Blocksberg, Agnes und seine Brüder, Harmonists, Der bewegte Mann, and so much more.
Maria Schader is also a popular actress. Most recently of note, she’s been in Deutschland 83 and Deutschland 86.
Jürgen Vogel joins the cast as well. He has played Jews in other WWII films, but in this one, he is in the German military. For more films starring Vogel, simply click the search at the top right corner and type his name.
Not only is this a great movie on the war, it’s also a reminder that we don’t understand why people are how they are until we understand their personal history. It’s rated PG-13 in the U.S., so it is appropriate in most high school classrooms, and there are already several sets of materials written and published for it.