Nacht fiel über Gotenhafen

West German war film with Sonja Ziemann and Erik Schumann

Director Frank Wisbar (1899-1967) was an exception in the West German film industry. After starting out in the legendary German film company UFA, he emigrated to the USA with his wife after Kristallnacht. There he became a major television producer. In the mid-1950s he returned to West Germany and began making war films. "HAIE UND KLEINE FISCHE" (1957) was a huge success. This production by Deutsche Film-Hansa, which premiered in Hanover on February 25, 1960, was basically the female counterpart to his Stalingrad film "HUNDE, WOLLT IHR EWIG LEBEN?" A war film from the perspective of the women remaining on the "home front".

Before the start of World War II, Maria Reiser (Sonja Ziemann) goes on vacation with her husband Kurt (Gunnar Möller) on the KdF ship "Wilhelm Gustloff". The attractive woman does not go unnoticed, as the good-looking officer Hans Schott (Erik Schumann) also hovers around her. A few years later - it is already war - Maria happens to meet the philanderer again, who is visiting a mutual friend named Edith (Mady Rahl) in Berlin. On a terrible night of bombing, things happen as they have to: Maria and Hans spend the night together. A short time later, Maria is pregnant, which naturally outrages her in-laws and her husband, who is on vacation in Berlin. Maria follows her friend Edith to East Prussia. There she meets various people (Brigitte Horney as General's widow von Reuss / Dietmar Schönherr as French prisoner of war Gaston) who become close confidants. Soon the Red Army is getting closer and closer. The only option is to flee to the west. In Gotenhafen (today: Gdynia in Poland) the survivors get on the "Gustloff", which has now been converted into a warship, where there is an unexpected reunion of some of those involved. But that's not the end of the story...

Wolfgang Preiss also plays Dr. Beck and Günter Pfitzmann as First Lieutenant Dankel. Horst Frank can be heard as speaker.

Even if this film is not a masterpiece, it still offers a brutal depiction of the nights of bombing and the escape from the Red Army. For a West German film from that time, that was pretty far. The sinking of the "Wilhelm Gustloff" became a symbol of the suffering of the refugees. Four decades later, the Nobel Prize winner for literature Günter Grass (1927-2015) took up this long-forgotten topic again in his novella "Im Krebsgang" (2002).

The film neglects the history and the reasons why this catastrophic situation could arise. You can hold that against him. It is thanks to Frank Wisbar's courage that such war films were even made in the West German film industry.

The filming locations for the elaborate production were Berlin, Bremerhaven, Cuxhaven, the Baltic Sea, the North Sea around Helgoland and Oberzwieselau Castle in the Bavarian Forest. Parts of the "Gustloff" were recreated in the FILM-AUFBAU film studio in Göttingen. The scenes that take place at the East Prussian train station were filmed in beautiful Eichsfeld. However, there is a confusing source of information about this. According to IMDb and Wikipedia, it was filmed at Bilshausen train station. In a book about the "Filmstadt Göttingen" from the 1990s, Rollshausen is listed as the filming location. I'm leaning more towards Rollshausen myself, but I'm not completely sure. Be sure to stay tuned and make corrections if I find out more.

Definitely a film worth seeing with a great Sonja Ziemann, which I wish more viewers with all my heart!

The sinking of the "Wilhelm Gustloff" is the biggest ship catastrophe ever. There were more than 10,000 people aboard - including over 5,000 children; more than 9,000 (!!) died, drowning and freezing to death. It is very odd that this drama is far less known or "popular" as e.g. the "Titanic" desaster, which was a ship of the rich and the super rich.

There are several popular books about the "Gustloff", but up to this day moviewise this is the only "monument" in rememberance of those 9,000 people who were buried alive in the Ostsee.

Most people believe that German cinema during the 50's refused to tackle World War II and instead produced glossy historical romances ('Sissi', 'Ludwig II'), mindless Heimatfilme (the highly enjoyable 'Schwarzwaldmaedel' or 'Der Foerster vom Silbersee') or shrill, often exploitative melodramas (best of the crop: 'Nachtschwester Ingeborg' with Maria Schell's much more talented sister in the lead).

But just watch 'Nacht fiel ueber Gotenhafen' and you understand why. Almost unbearable harrowing at times the film depicts the first month of 1945 when the Russian Red Army broke into the eastern part of Germany and forced millions of civilians to flee in the coldest of winter. While the Russians invaded Ostpreussen hundred of thousands of civilians were evacuated by ships. Gotenhafen was the last open port and ships left the town almost by the minute, overloaded by refugees.

One of the last ships to leave Gotenhafen was the 'Wilhelm Gustloff', a former 'Kraft durch Freude' pleasure cruiser designed for 1000 passengers. Until today it is unknown how many people were on board but it is said to be around 10.000. The ship sunk without a trace and only a handful of people survived this hellish nightmare.

Germany's postwar society found it almost impossible to talk about all the suffering of the people (air raids destroyed each and every town and killed over 600.000 inhabitants, over 2.000.000 died during the last month of the war while fleeing from the Russians and countless were deported to Russia).

'Nacht fiel ueber Gotenhafen' is a very brave film, tactful and true to the facts. Sonja Ziemann is very good but the highest of praise must be given to Brigitte Horney.