The documentary is called Berlin 1945: Diary of a Metropolis. It depicts a historic year of 80 years ago.
We watched it and photographed it from Amazon Prime. It is a remarkable film which uses all primary sources including diaries, movies , photographs, interviews, letters and other sources.
The Russians sent in many combat photographers and filmmakers to document the battle. Hitler said that the war would be over if Berlin falls. The film covers life in Berlin from before, during and after the capitulation of that huge city.
By the time of the formal surrender of Berlin, the city had been demolished, and it was said that Berlin has practically ceased to exist.
Mostly it is about the victory of the Russian army over this German capital. Before the war Berlin was a beautiful, sophisticated and cultured place. But by the new year of 1945, the carpet bombing of the city had begun, and a fog of fear, devastation, and death had set upon the populace.
Blogfinger has selected a handful of still images from Berlin 1945 obtained by Paul Goldfinger, Editor Blogfinger.net,from the documentary. Click once to enlarge the photo stills from Blogfinger.
This 16 year old German boy, Deiter Borokowsky, was forced to join an army made of teens and old men for the 1945 defense of Berlin. Taken from the documentary “BERLIN 1945.” His description of what happened joins the voices of many who were there.
Berlin is turned to rubble by horrendous Allied bombing almost every day. Survivors try to escape to the west. The Russians are coming from the east.
Paul Goldfinger still image from BERLIN 1945.
Devastation everywhere throughout the city of Berlin. 1945. PG photo.
Citizens try to be helpful, but they know that the 3rd Reich is doomed. Paul Goldfinger still image.
Allied bomber explodes due to direct hit.
Searching through the detritus. Berlin 1945. Paul Goldfinger still image.
By Paul Goldfinger, MD, Editor Blogfinger.net. Documentary Berlin 1945 was released in Germany 11/5/20. Director Volker Heise.:
After laying waste to most of the great cities of Europe, the people of Berlin found themselves in 1945 in a city of ruins.
In this German capital, the Allies were carpet bombing daily, and each day the city was turned more and more into a vast unrecognizable pile of rubble. The people were short on food and shelter, and were getting a taste of what their military inflicted on others as Hitler pursued his 3rd Reich world domination.
They spent their 1945 New Year scrounging for food, safety, and a way to escape. They now mostly recognized that defeat was imminent. There were many deaths in this proud German city, but it is estimated that the 3rd Reich was responsible for 50-85 million deaths throughout the world, the largest such number in the history of the planet.
Due to shortages in manpower, Hitler ordered teenagers and old men to become soldiers and help defend Berlin against the impending arrival of a furious Russian army thirsting for revenge. Russian and German soldiers are quoted in this film along with slave laborers from other countries, Berlin citizens, resistance fighters, refugees, Holocaust victims, and Jews who were hiding from the Nazis in attics and basements.
This story of what it was like for those who were living in Berlin during 1945 is mesmerizing and can be found on Amazon Prime: “Berlin 1945”. The makers of this documentary used a wide variety of immediate sources to create this remarkable film which covers the era before, during and after the Berlin battle.
The quality of the photography in this film is extraordinary.
GUSTAV MAHLER: “Leider’—— “Songs of a Wayfarer.”
The Nazis did not like Mahler’s music. Hitler preferred Wagner, but he liked how Mahler conducted Wagner.
However Mahler’s music speaks to the world-famous musical culture of which the Germans were very proud, and playing it here on Blogfinger today illustrates the irony of German “culture” in the Nazi era.