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Axe of Wandsbek, The (1951) 

(c) Deutsches Filminstitut
(Das Beil von Wandsbek)
(c) Deutsches Filminstitut 


Director: Falk Harnack, b/w, 110 mins
Germany 1951

Teetjen makes the biggest mistake of his life when he joins the Nazi party and accepts getting paid for serving as a civic executioner: The moral accusation of his community drives him to a disastrous end. Director Falk Harnack portrays a social climate of inconsistency and accusations: He shows how easily citizens could become monstrous murderers in Nazi-Germany. 

Category Feature
Language German, Engl. subtitles
Director Falk Harnack
Screenplay Hans Robert Bortfeld, Erich Conradi (based on the novel by Arnold Zweig)
Cast Erwin Geschonneck, Käthe Braun, Willy A. Kleinau
Production NDR/WDR
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