Chronicle of a Murder
(Chronik eines Mordes)
Chronik eines Mordes © DEFA-Stiftung, Herbert Kroiss
| Hasler, Joachim |
| Wagenstein, Angel |
| Zanka, Walter |
| Tegener, Hildegard |
| Hasler, Joachim |
| Tolle, Alfred |
| Schmidt, Luise |
| Natschinski, Gerd |
| Domröse, Angelica |
| Flörchinger, Martin |
| Klering, Hans |
| Ruge, Antje |
| Schreiber, Helmut |
| Schwabe, Willi |
| Šmída, Bohumil |
| Thein, Ulrich |
| Vrstála, Jirí |
| Weiß, Siegfried |
| Wyzniewski, Arno |
Synopsis
Ruth Bodenheim returns to West Germany a broken woman from the war. As a seventeen-year-old Jewish woman, the Nazis sent her to a brothel in Poland and her parents to a concentration camp. Her former fiancée, Dr. Martin, marries her when she returns, and his love and patience help her heal.
However, political events make it apparent that the horrors she experienced are not buried deep and Ruth finds her voice. When the former mayor responsible for her and her family’s deportation is elected to office again, she kills him and exposes incriminating evidence of his deeds. Despite the townspeople’s efforts to ignore and silence the story she has to tell, she demands a trial and finds an ally with the attorney Hoffmann.
Press comments
“Elegantly shot, the film enriches the decadence of West [Germany] with glamorous dresses, nightclub scenes and jazz.” —Retrospective Jüdisches Leben nach 1945, Münchner Stadtmuseum
“Two years ago, when the Bulgarian author Angel Wagenstein wrote the screenplay based on the novel by Leonard Frank, focusing on the story of the Jewish girl Ruth Bodenheim, no one could have foreseen the burning topicality this film would have when it was shown. Wagenstein did not touch the political and philosophical message of the novel. However, he was primarily interested in exposing the absurdity of "reparations" even more strongly where Nazi criminals and SS beasts have re-entered the political arena and are throwing anti-fascists into prison.” —Neues Deutschland, 1965
