Fritz Bauer Institut · Cinematography of the Holocaust


Jakob der Lügner. D: Beyer [DD, 1974]

ID

FBW001155      Fiction

Country / Year

German Democratic Republic, 1974

Original Title

Jakob der Lügner

Directed by

Frank Beyer

Produced by

DEFA-Studio für Spielfilme, Potsdam-Babelsberg / Fernsehen der DDR, Berlin/Ost; in partnership with Filmové Studio Barrandov, Prag

Staff

Production manager: Herbert Ehler; Location manager: Werner Teichmann, Gerd Zimmermann; Assistent director: Günther Hoffmann; Assistent director: Harald Fischer; Script: Jurek Becker (Film-Szenarium), Frank Beyer; Based on: Jurek Becker (gleichn. Roman); Script supervision: Gerd Gericke; Camera: Günter Marczinkowsky; Assistent cameraman: Dietram Kleist; Still photograpy: Herbert Kroiß; Lighting: Dietrich Tillac; Editing: Rita Hiller; Sound: Horst Mathuschek; Sound, var: Gerhard Ribbeck (Mischung); Art direction: Alfred Hirschmeier; Set construction: Willi Schäfer, Gisela Schultze; Props: Kurt Pentzien; Costumes: Joachim Dittrich; Makeup: Günther Hermstein, Inge Merten, Monika Mörke; Music: Joachim Werzlau; Musiv, var: Siegfried Krause (Solovioline); Narration: Horst Preusker (Nachrichten); Voice: Norbert Christian (Deutsche Stimme von Vlastimil Brodský), Wolfgang Dehler (Deutsche Stimme von Dezsö Garas), Ruth Kommerell (Deutsche Stimme von Zsuzsa Gordon), Gerda-Luise Thiele (Deutsche Stimme von Margit Bara)

Cast

Vlastimil Brodský; Erwin Geschonneck; Manuela Simon; Henry Hübschen; Blanche Kommerell; Dezsö Garas; Friedrich Richter; Margit Bara; Reimar Joh. Baur; Armin Mueller-Stahl; Hermann Beyer; Klaus Brasch; Jürgen Hilbecht; Zsuzsa Gordon; Paul Lewitt; Friedrich Links; Edwin Marian; Hans-Peter Reinecke; Helmut Schellhardt; Peter Sturm; Klausjürgen Steinmann; Erich Petraschk; Fred Ludwig; Jarmila Karlwská; Wilfried Zander; Gabriele Gysi; Josef Englicki; Julius Kornstreicher; Peter Pauli; Alfred Lux; Josef Koci; Harry Lehnert; Harald Fischer; Eckard Bilz; Rudolf Schindler; Joachim Lukas; Harald Henke; Henry Zschoge; Peter Bausch; Bernhard Schauder; Otto Horstmann; Wilhelm Jordan; Gerhard Brieger; Pavel Vancura; Karel Kalita

Length

2743 m / 104'

Format

35mm/farbe

Dates

- 22 Dec 1974: Premiere, TV, Fernsehen der DDR
- 17 Apr 1975: Release date, Berlin/Ost (Kosmos)

Abstract

1944 in an East European Ghetto. Jakob wants to give hope to his followers because of the advancing of the red army he heard of at the room of the Gestapo. He then lies, telling he possesses a radio which he listens to secretly and invents good news. The suicides in the Ghetto stop and everybody await the liberation. To keep the hope, he needs to lie. One day, a little girl finds out that Jacob does not have a radio and everything was a lie. The Ghetto-people are about to be deportated, but the people are more likely to believe Jacob’s lies.

Subject Terms

1940-1949; Deportations; Secret State Police; Ghettos; Concentration camps; War; Red Army; SS; Hiding-places; Forced labor

Bibliography

- Pollatschek, Constanze: "Jungfer", "Jakob", "Stunde Null", Filmspiegel (Berlin/Ost), Nr. 9 1970
- Wischnewski, Klaus: "Über Jakob und andere.Werkstattgespräch" [Interview mit Frank Beyer], in: Film und Fernsehen (Berlin/Ost), Nr. 2, 1975
- "Wie es zu 'Jakob dem Lügner' kam", in: Theorie und Praxis des Films Nr. 1 1976
- Behn, Manfred / Bock, Hans Michael: "Frank Beyer - Regisseur", Cinegraph. Lexikon zum deutschsprachigen Film, Lieferung Nr. 22; Bock, Hans Michael (Hg.), München: Text + Kritik, 1993
- Koerber, Martin / Bock, Hans Michael: "Jureck Becker - Autor", Cinegraph. Lexikon zum deutschsprachigen Film, Lieferung Nr. 29, Bock; Hans Michael (Hg.), München: Text + Kritik, 1997