I was able to watch the terrific remake of Nackt unter Wölfen ("Naked Among Wolves") on the ARD Mediathek Portal. This was a remake of the 1963 GDR film Nackt unter Wölfen directed by Frank Beyer which achieved international acclaim. That film, in turn, was based on the 1958 novel of the same title by Bruno Apitz, based on his experience as a prisoner on the Buchenwald concentration camp. Aptiz's novel was required reading by all high school students in the GDR. The film (and novel) cover the final days and liberation of the camp in April 1945. The American forces are quickly advancing from the west and the SS officers in charge of the camp of roughly 25,000 prisoners - mostly Jews, but also communist party members - are weighing their options. Do they evacuate the camp? Or simply murder all the prisoners and try to hide the evidence of their crime? Meanwhile, a 3-year old Jewish boy from Poland has been smuggled into the camp, and the inmates deliberate on what to do with the child. The boy becomes a symbol of hope and resistance - he must be protected, kept alive and hidden from the SS at all cost.
In the 1963 version of Nackt unter Wölfen (which I haven't seen) the communist inmates organize a prisoner revolt with smuggled weapons and liberate the camp themselves. In the final scene the communist leader exhorts the inmate to storm the camp gate, which they do, joyfully singing the Internationale. In the 2015 version - which is more accurate historically - the SS abandoned the camp ahead of the advancing Americans. The head Kapo - in an almost hushed, reticent tone - informs the prisoners over the loudspeaker that they are free. One by one- zombie-like - the traumatized inmates stagger into the daylight. The newer ARD version also doesn't hold back on scenes of human degradation, inhuman brutality and torture (parental guidance strongly suggested for younger viewers).
I do hope that a version with English subtitles will soon be available in the US on Netflix, just as we now can watch the made for German television series Unsere Mütter, unsere Väter.
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