Fritz Bauer Institut · Cinematography of the Holocaust


Ostatni etap. D: Jakubowska [PL, 1948]

ID

FBW000924      Fiction

Country / Year

Poland, 1948

Original Title

Ostatni etap

Other Title(s)

Die letzte Etappe (German)
Ostatni etap - Osicim / The Last Stage / The Last Stop / La Dernière ètape

Directed by

Wanda Jakubowska

Produced by

Film Polski, Warschau

Staff

Producer: Wanda Jakubowska; Production manager: Mieczyslaw Wajnberger; Location manager: Wilhelm Holender; Assistent director: Jerzy Kawalerowicz, Zbigniew Niemczynowski; Script: Wanda Jakubowska, Gerda Schneider; Camera: Borys Monastyrsky; Cameraman: Karol Chodura, Andrzej Ancuta; Editing: Róza Pstrokonska; Sound: Jan Radlicz, Leonard Ksiezak; Art direction: Roman Mann, Czeslav Piaskowski; Set decoration: Jan Rybkowski; Music: Roman Palester; Musical direction: Zdzislaw Górczynski

Cast

Barbara Drapinska (Marta Weiss); Tatiana Górecka (Eugenia, Ärztin, Häftling); Antonina Górecka (Anna, Krankenschwester, Häftling); Wanda Bartówna (Helena, junger Häftling); Huguette Faget (Michele, französischer Häftling); Mariya Vinogradova (Nadja, Hilfsschwester); Barbara Fijewska (Anielka); Anna Redlichówna (Urszulka, Häftling); Alina Janowska (Dessa, Krankenschwester, Häftling); Zofia Mrozowska (Zigeunerin, Häftling); Stanislaw Zaczyk (Tadek); Stefan Sródka (Bronek); Elzbieta Labunska (Häftling); Jadwiga Chojnacka (Häftling); Ewa Kunina (Häftling); Helena Gluszkówna (Dirigentin des Orchesters); Barbara Rachwalska (Elza, Blockälteste); Roma Rudecka (Kapo); Zofia Niwinska (Laura, Blockwärterin); Halina Drohocka (Lalunia); Aleksandra Slaska (Mandl, Oberaufseherin im Frauenblock); Maria Kaniewska (Drechsel, Rapportführerin); Janina Morrisowna (Aufseherin im Frauenblock); Wladyslaw Brochwicz (Kramer, Kommandant in Auschwitz); Edward Dziewonski (Lagerarzt in Auschwitz); Kazimierz Pawlowski (Chef der Gestapo); Zygmunt Chmielewski (Offizier); Anna Jaraczówna (Frieda, Kapo)

Length

120'

Format

16mm/sw/1:1,37

Dates

- 28 Mar 1948: Premiere, Lodz
- 00 Dec 1948: First run, GDR, Berlin/Ost
- 26 Aug 1949: Release date, GDR
- 26 Jan 1980: First broadcast, GDR, 2. Kanal

Further Remarks

- Länge, DDR: 3044 m / 111'15''
- Orchester: Großes Symphonieorchester Polski Radio

Abstract

Film drama, depicting Auschwitz, in an almost documentary manner, centers around the women's camp and the conditions under which they lived. Martha Weiss, a Jew, is sent to Auschwitz with her family. On the first day of their arrival Martha is, by a coincidence, chosen as an interpreter, but her entire family is killed. Martha, who sees the brutal crimes, the sham of clean-up for the Red Cross, tries to escape under orders from the underground. Captured, she is tortured and dies as Allied planes fly overhead. The two Polish women who wrote and directed this film were themselves prisoners in the Birkenau women's camp at Auschwitz.

Subject Terms

Auschwitz (Entire camp complex); Deportations; Kapo; Roma (Volk); Selektion; Sinti; Perpetrators; Extermination camps; Resistance

Holdings

- Bundesarchiv - Filmarchiv, Berlin: 3044 m / 111'15''; 35mm; OmdtU

Bibliography

- Lubinski (Lubinsky), Kurt (als: k.l.): "Auschwitz im Film. 'The Last Stop' - World Theatre", in: Aufbau (New York, NY), Jg. 15, Nr. 12, 25.03.1949
- P.: , in: Berliner Zeitung am Abend (Berlin/Ost), 29.08.1949
- chen: , in: Der Telegraf (Berlin/West), 23.07.1957
- Karcz, Danuta: Wanda Jakubowska, Theater und Film, Bd. 12, Berlin/Ost: Henschel, 1967
- Toeplitz, Jerzy: Geschichte des Films. 1945-1953, Bd. 5, München: Rogner & Bernhard, 1991
- Hoberman, J.: Bridge of Light. Yiddish Film Between Two Worlds. New York, NY: Schocken, 1991
- Liebman, Stuart: "Pages from the Past. Wanda Jakubowska's 'The Last Stop' (Ostatni Etap)'", in: East European Performance. Drama, Theatre, Film (New York, NY), Vol. 16, Nr. 3, Herbst 1996
- Liebman, Stuart: "Lost and Found. Wanda Jakubowska's The Last Stop", in: Cineaste (New York, NY), Vol. 22, Nr. 4, März 1997
- Konigsberg, Ira: "Our Children and the Limits of Cinema", in: Film Quarterly (Berkeley, CA), Herbst 1998
- Mazierska, Ewa: "Wanda Jakubowska's Cinema of Commitment", in: The European Journal of Women's Studies, (Thousand Oaks, CA), Vol. 8, Nr.2, 01.05.2001
- Loewy, Hanno: "The Mother of all Holocaust Films. Wanda Jakubowska's Auschwitz Trilogy", in: Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television, Vol. 24, Nr. 2, Juni, 01.06.2004
- Loewy, Hanno: "Traum und Trauma - Schatten und Unschuld. Béla Balázs' Suche nach metaphorischer Kindheit im Exil und danach", in: Filmexil (Berlin / München), Nr. 19, Juni, 01.06.2004