Stab:

 

Regie: Veit Harlan
Drehbuch: Veit Harlan
Alfred Braun
Thea von Harbou
Produktion: Wilhelm Sperber
(Universum Film AG (Ufa), Berlin)
Musik: Norbert Schultze
Kamera: Bruno Mondi
Schnitt: Wolfgang Schleif

Besetzung:

Heinrich George: Joachim Nettelbeck
Kristina Söderbaum: Maria
Horst Caspar: Gneisenau
Gustav Diessl: Schill
Paul Wegener: Loucadou
Otto Wernicke: Bauer Werner
Charles Schauten: Kaiser Napoleon
Claus Clausen: Friedrich Wilhelm III.
Irene von Meyendorff: Königin Luise
Heinz Lausch: Friedrich Werner
Kurt Meisel: Claus Werner
Paul Bildt: Rektor
Jakob Tiedtke: Reeder
Hans Hermann Schaufuß: Zaufke
Franz Schafheitlin: Fanselow
Herbert Klatt: Bürger Kolbergs
Theo Shall: General Loison
André Saint-Germain: französischer Offizier
Margarete Schön
Inge Drexel
Paul Henckels: Major in Königsberg
Greta Schröder: Frau von Voss
Otz Tollen: Adjutant Loucadous
Jaspar von Oertzen: Prinz Louis Ferdinand
Franz Herterich: Kaiser Franz II.
Josef Dahmen: Franz
Werner Scharf: General Teuliè
Fritz Hoopts: Timm
 

Handlung:

 

Im Herbst 1806 belagern Napoleons Truppen nach einem erfolgreichen Feldzug in Deutschland die Festung Kolberg. Die Franzosen haben Berlin besetzt, und der Ortskommandant Loucadou will kapitulieren.

 

Doch der couragierte Bürgerrepräsentant Nettelbeck gibt nicht auf, organisiert Bürgerwehren und versucht, die gesamte Bevölkerung zum Kampf zu mobilisieren. Der aufopferungsvolle Bauer Werner brennt aus strategischen Gründen den eigenen Hof nieder.[1] Werners Tochter Maria verliebt sich in den heldenhaften Rittmeister Schill, muss aber schließlich auf ihn verzichten, da er neue Aufgaben vor sich hat.

 

Der junge Major Gneisenau wird neuer Stadtkommandant und feuert die Bevölkerung zum heldenhaften Kampf an. Daher beschießt die französische Armee die Festung mit Artillerie. Doch die Bevölkerung gibt nicht auf; am Ende geht sie schließlich als Sieger aus dem Kampf hervor, als die französischen Generäle untereinander in Streit geraten.

 

Um die Belagerung Kolbergs als historisches Beispiel für einen erfolgreichen Endkampf zu deuten, wurde eine Rahmenhandlung (zu Beginn und am Ende des Films) in das Jahr 1813 gelegt. Darin überzeugt Gneisenau den preußischen König Friedrich Wilhelm III. durch die Schilderung der Rettung Kolbergs davon, mit dem Aufruf An Mein Volk den Kampf gegen Napoleon im Sinne der Einheit von Volk und Armee zu beginnen.

 

Plot

 

The film begins in 1813 after the phase of the Napoleonic Wars known in German as the Befreiungskriege (War of Liberation). The opening scenes show Prussian Landwehr and volunteers marching down the streets of Breslau through enthusiastic crowds. This is followed by a dialogue between King Frederick William III of Prussia and Count August von Gneisenau, in which Gneisenau explains that the siege of Kolberg taught the importance of citizen armies. Ending with the admonition that kings who cannot lead must abdicate, the scene switches to Vienna in 1806 to show the abdication of the last Holy Roman Emperor, Francis II of Austria, whom the script has Gneisenau call „an Emperor who abandoned the German people in their hour of need“.

 

The scene set, the film moves to 1806 and a Kolberg not yet affected by war, where the inhabitants are shown enjoying life, and the town’s leaders, Nettelbeck chief among them, discuss Napoleon’s proclamations, and what it will mean to them. Some see the French victories as a good thing, some wonder whether to leave. Nettelbeck alone is set on resisting the French. The film continues in this vein, with Nettelbeck struggling against cowardice, lethargy and the old-fashioned ideas of the garrison commander, to defend his city against the approaching French. Nettelbeck creates a citizen militia, in spite of the best efforts of the regular army, has supplies collected, and strongly opposes the idea of surrender.

 

Finally, having been threatened with execution, and convinced that Kolberg can only be saved if a great leader can be found, Nettelbeck sends Maria on the dangerous journey to Königsberg whither the Court of Prussia has retreated, to meet with the King and with Queen Louise, who was described by Napoleon as „the only man in Prussia“. Maria’s journey leads to the energetic and charismatic Gneisenau being sent to Kolberg. After an initial confrontation with Nettelbeck, in order to show that there is only one leader in Kolberg, and that Gneisenau is that leader, the two work together with the army and the citizens to save the city from the French. After Kolberg is (unhistorically) saved, the film returns to 1813 after the Convention of Tauroggen, a time when Napoleon was defeated in Russia, and Prussian leaders wonder whether it is time to turn openly against him. Frederick William is convinced by Gneisenau to do so, and sits down to write the proclamation An Mein Volk („To my People“) announcing the War of Liberation.

 

Production:

 

The film is based on the autobiography of Joachim Nettelbeck, mayor of Kolberg. Dr. Joseph Goebbels explicitly ordered the use of the historical events for a film, which he regarded as highly suitable for the circumstances Germany faced.

 

Kolberg entered production in 1943, and was made in Agfacolor with high production values. At a cost of more than eight million marks, it was the most expensive German film of the second World War, with the actual cost suppressed to avoid public reaction. At a time when the war was turning against Germany, thousands of soldiers were used in the film.

 

Principal cinematography took place from 22 October 1943 to August 1944. The exteriors were shot in Kolberg and environs, Königsberg, Berlin and environs, Seeburg and Neustettin.

 

To film scenes with snow during summer, 100 railway wagons brought salt to the set in Pomerania. The film was finally completed at the Babelsberg Studios at Potsdam while the town and nearby Berlin were being steadily bombed by the Allies. Two extras were killed during the making of the film when an explosive charge went off too early.

 

Release:

 

The film opened on 30 January 1945 in a temporary cinema (U.T. Alexanderplatz) and at Tauentzien-Palast in Berlin, and ran under constant threat of air raids until the fall of Berlin in May. Simultaneously with the opening in Berlin it was shown to the crew of the naval base at La Rochelle at the Théâtre de la Ville. It was also screened in the Reich chancellery after the broadcast of Hitler’s last radio address on 30 January. One of the last films of the Third Reich, it never went into general release.

 

Kolberg was declared a ‘Festung’ (fortress-town), and Soviet forces neared the town on 24 February. Within a month of the film’s opening Kolberg was under full siege (sometimes called the ‘second Siege’, or ‘second Battle’, of Kolberg), with around 70,000 trapped civilians and military. House-to-house fighting caused devastation. Kolberg fell to Soviet and Polish forces on 18 March. Many civilians escaped by sea, and those who survived were permanently expelled along with all Germans in east Pomerania. The ruined town of Kolberg became part of Poland and is now known as Kołobrzeg.