Das Beil von Wandsbek

Das Beil von Wandsbek is a truthful portrayal of abhorrent nazi times. Falk Harnack's primary goal was to reveal the fact that scores of abominable murders were committed by ordinary people like Teetjen acting on other people's orders.His film shows how owing to penury an ordinary citizen is forced to slaughter fellow human beings.Teetjen makes the biggest mistake of his life when he joins the Nazi party.His plight is further exacerbated when he is made a scapegoat by his ex comrade Footh.Nazi thugs hoodwink him till the very end by promising him financial support.It is a bitter truth that all sincere works of art are never free of controversies.Das Beil von Wandsbek was no exception to this rule.After its premiere it was withdrawn from German cinemas as the cultural authorities misinterpreted its artistic merit.They believed that it neglected the role of working classes and roused sympathy for the butcher.It was re-released in 1962 under a new revised version devoid of pivotal suicide scene.It was only in 1981 that the original print was made available for general public viewing.

One often watches historical films, because they are historic. This one is actually interesting.

I kept thinking of the similarity to Fallada's Jeder stirbt fuer sich allein. In both stories, there are some committed nazis and a few brave heroes, but mostly just people getting by.

Upon seeing the Poster on the left for the first time, I was vilely repulsed. My God! It looks like a recruitment poster for an SS Death Squad! Whose idea of a sick joke was this, anyway? But the image kept ricocheting around in my brain non-stop.

Hmmm...1951, after the war. It's got to be ANTI-Nazi, for sure, I thought. Many of us spend time searching for "hidden gems". "The Axe of Wandsbek" is, unequivocally, my best find to date, bar none! It is a truly misunderstood masterpiece, of great cinematic, social and historic import.

Director Falk Harnak was a member of the German resistance during the war, as was his brother and most of his extended family. Harnak's brother and most of his relatives were German Gentiles who died in Nazi death camps. Harnak himself narrowly escaped death at Dachau. After the war, the ("We Love Freedom") Americans REFUSED to grant him permission to make this film. He was forced to ask the Russians, in control of East Germany, and they gave him the green light. AXE played to packed houses in the East until the Russians, after 3 weeks, pulled the plug on its continued presentation and kept it out of East German release for over 30 years! (They had their own agenda, of course, and claimed AXE painted an unrealistically sympathetic portrait of the Nazis!)

Harnak's film speaks a truth that has been yearning to be told for decades! "For ye shall know the TRUTH...and the TRUTH shall set you FREE!" Before viewing, it is indispensable that you watch University of Massachusetts Historian Dr. Allen's explanation of the great social and historical significance of AXE. At 30 minutes it's a bit long, but worth it! Dr. Allen adds that in 1951 Germans seemed anathema to any forum in search of collective catharsis. All background info mentioned here comes from her interview. BTW, AXE is exquisitely made! 10*********, but recommended only for History, Sociolgy, Poly-Sci or classic foreign cinema enthusiasts!

ENJOY! / DISFRUTELA!

And alas, another masterpiece from the late GDR/DDR, edited in marvelous quality by the Institute for German Studies of the University of Massachussetts at Amherst! Thank you for this forgotten jewel! And look at the crew, there are actors inside that you could not seen anymore since the Silent Time and that you probably hear for the first time speaking - unless you had the chance to watch some of these movies in the former GDR/DDR.

I consider Dr. Falk Harnack's "Das Beil Von Wandsbek", together with "Obchod Na Korze/The Shop On Main Street" by Jan Kadar, and "Der Verlorene" by and with Peter Lorre as a Triptychon of the best World War II movies. Watch all the three, although the latter is still not available on international DVD (but you may order it from Germany and watch it on your computer or get one of the rare VHS editions edited by New Yorker Release some fifteen or so years ago).

Whoever has seen the scene where the newly "elected" headsman Teetjen (Erwin Geschonnek, who passed away not long ago, 100 years old, forgotten, in an assistant living home close to Leipzig) stands in his borrowed mask and mantel with his ax before the mirror and exercises, will never forget this picture even when he lies on his death-bed. This movie belongs without doubt to the greatest rediscoveries in film history. After having watched it, you will not be the same anymore. R.W. Fassbinder said that what makes a good movie is, that it continues playing in the heads of the watchers when they leave the cinema. Et Voici!