In the midst of it, he told the audience: "Let us recall the film, The Fall of Berlin. The Fall of Berlin is a masterful piece of propaganda, complete fantasy packaged as documentary truth. By the end of the year the Soviet flag had flown for the last time. "[35] The film ends with Stalin wishing all peace and happiness. The 1989 wave of revolutions was not over yet. While they are both having a stroll in a wheat field, their town is attacked by the Germans, who invade the Soviet Union. Hitler orders to flood the subway stations as the Soviets approach, drowning thousands of civilians. [36], In 2003, the film was remastered by a company from Toulouse, in a relatively poor quality. He was arrested and condemned to eight years in the Gulag. East Germany ended up closing its border with Czechoslovakia in October to stem the tide. He compared it to the first fiction film to feature the premier, the 1939 Lenin in 1918, which depicted Stalin as Vladimir Lenin's most devout disciple; and to The Vow, in which he is chosen as Lenin's heir and takes an oath to keep his legacy. Fall of Berlin - WW2 Timeline (April 16th - May 2nd, 1945) The Soviet Army held little interest in taking prisoners - which seemingly played well with the German directive of 'fighting to the last'. [34] Slavoj Žižek commented the leader played the part of the "magician and the matchmaker who wisely leads the couple to reunion. Though the Communists retained a quota of seats, Solidarity swept the board wherever it was allowed to stand. On a global level, the fall of the Berlin Wall marked the symbolic end of the Cold War, famously prompting the political scientist Francis Fukuyama to declare it the “end of history.” The fall of Berlin signaled the end of Nazi Germany and its reign of terror in occupied Europe. [4] In the USSR, it was watched by 38.4 million viewers, becoming the third most popular Soviet movie of 1950. This was an exhilarating moment for East Germans. âI feared I would drown in my bedroomâ VideoâI feared I would drown in my bedroomâ, Teenager found in boat drifting for 22 days at sea. He also disapproved of the historical veracity of the Yalta Conference scene,[28] while John Howard Lawson, recently released from prison, praised it as an authentic depiction of events. From the pomp and glitter of the 1936 Olympics to the apocalyptic battle to capture the ruined capital of the Nazi Empire, The Fall of Berlin presents a kaleidoscopic portrait of one of the world's greatest cities caught between the lunacy and cruelty of its leaders and the brutal determination of … A directive of the Soviet Film Export Bureau to halt its screening reached East Germany in July. Natasha faints, and he does not find her. When he meets Stalin, who tends his garden, the leader helps him to understand his emotions and tells him to recite poetry to her. At long last, there was no East or West Germany; there was now one Germany – just as it used to be, before the Allies tore it apart in the name of disagreements and Cold War propaganda. "[3], Chiaureli brought some 10,000 Soviet extras to Berlin for the filming, and also hired many local residents for the tunnel flooding sequence; he was not able to work in the Reichstag as it was located in the British Zone of West Berlin and conducted the photography mainly in the Babelsberg Studios. After Beria was arrested, Chiaureli was instructed by the new rulers to leave Moscow. Gen. Hans Krebs carries the news of Hitler's death to the Red Army and begs for a ceasefire. "[7] A day after, Vsevolod Pudovkin wrote in Soviet Art: "this is an outstanding work of Soviet cinema" that presented "in profound depth and in vast scale... a bold, creative representation of the subject... a lively demonstration of the ever developing genre of Socialist Realism. Alexei's character was not intended to be perceived as an individual,[a 2] but rather, a symbol to the entire Soviet people: he was depicted as an archetypal worker; his date of birth is given as 25 October 1917 by the Julian Calendar, the day of the October Revolution. The final chapter in the destruction of Hitler's Third Reich began on In the heat of August, Hungary opened it borders to Austria in the west, allowing East German refugees an escape. [33], Denise Youngblood wrote that although not the first to portray Stalin as "war hero in chief" – this was already done in pictures like The Battle of Stalingrad – The Fall of Berlin elevated him to a new status: "it deified Stalin. Then, they both have a luncheon with the rest of the Soviet leadership in Stalin's home. [23], The East German political establishment excessively promoted the picture, as well; it was officially classified as a documentary, and all servicemen of the Barracked People's Police were obliged to watch it. With only a handful of guards facing hundreds of angry citizens, force would have been of little use. It starred Mikheil Gelovani as Joseph Stalin. More than 1,000 people were killed in unrest before and after the revolution, setting Romania apart from the largely bloodless events elsewhere. âI feared I would drown in my bedroomâ Video, âI feared I would drown in my bedroomâ, Teenager found in boat drifting for 22 days at sea. [5], As with all films in which his character made an appearance, Stalin took a keen interest in the work on The Fall of Berlin. Years later, in an article he wrote for the Deutsche Filmkunst magazine on 30 October 1959, Sigfried Silbermann – director of the state film distributor Progress Film – attributed this response to the effect years of anti-Soviet propaganda had on the German people. © 2021 BBC. In 2007, it was re-released by the American group International Historical Films. Turkey, which was a neutral country during the war but a rival of the Soviet Union in the Cold War, was portrayed as if it was an Axis state; the Turkish ambassador even greeted Hitler in the name of İsmet İnönü. Padeniye Berlina) is a 1950 Soviet war film and an example of Soviet realism, in two parts separated in the manner of a serial, directed by Mikheil Chiaureli, released by the Mosfilm Studio. "He has a song, `I (Did) It My Way.' The Soviet Minister of Cinema, Ivan Bolshakov, instructed them both to begin work on The Fall of Berlin shortly after the release of The Vow in July 1946. Fall of Berlin – 1945, The Fall of Berlin, or just Berlin is a Soviet documentary film about the Battle of Berlin, titled in Russian Битва за Берлин 1945 г., literally The Battle for Berlin – 1945. The script was written by Pyotr Pavlenko, and the musical score composed by Dmitri Shostakovich. Alexei falls in love with the idealist teacher Natasha, but has difficulties approaching her. [4] However, it continued to be screened in the People's Republic of China, the leadership of which opposed Khrushchev's criticism of Stalin. [4], In 1991, after the dissolution of the Soviet Union, The Fall of Berlin had its first public screening in forty years, during the 48th Venice International Film Festival. Student demonstrators in Prague clashed with police, triggering the Velvet Revolution which overthrew Czechoslovak communism within weeks. Two Attacks. What are they doing, and with what are they engaged? After 1945, his cult returned to the screen with greater intensity than ever before, and he was credited as the sole architect of Germany's defeat. The US magazine Variety described it as "The Russian answer to the many US and UK films about the war... having some contemporary significance, in the light of the tensions between the West and the Soviet Union. With red-faced, awkward enthusiasm, puppeteering two-dimensional figures across a Manichean landscape, it unites concepts of personal fulfillment, national integrity, and the benevolent omniscience of Stalin. They had not intended to open the border up completely. Within the Soviet Union itself, it did, killing 21 pro-independence protesters in the Soviet republic of Georgia. And then on 31 October, the numbers demanding democracy in East Germany swelled to half a million. "People could have been injured or killed even without shots being fired, in scuffles, or if there had been panic among the thousands gathered at the border crossing," he told Der Spiegel. The wall, which stood between 1961 to 1989, came to symbolize the ‘Iron Curtain’ – the ideological split between East and West – that existed across Europe and between the two superpowers, the US and the Soviet Union, and their allies, during the Cold War. But the news was all over television - and East Germans flocked to the border in huge numbers. The Germans in general took three decades to acknowledge that they had done anything wrong! He asks no one for advice. Denise J. Youngblood wrote that shortly afterwards, there remained only three kinds of war heroes: "the dead, the maimed and Stalin. The wall was eventually built in 1961 because East Berlin was haemorrhaging people to the West. [20], On the day of the film's release, Literaturnaya Gazeta published a column by Aleksandr Stein in which he described the film as "wonderful... a truthful portrayal of the relations between the people and the leader... and the love of all people to Stalin. West Berlin became an island surrounded by communist East Germany. VideoA lost whale - 6,000 miles from home, How a 13,000-year-old drink took over the world. The Fall of Berlin Photos View All Photos (9) Movie Info. Initially, Department of State officials and Bush’s foreign policy team were reluctant to speak publicly about German “reunification” due to fear that hard-liners in both the German Democratic Republic (GDR) and the Soviet Union would stymie reform. The USSR had used its military to put down rebellions before. Though East and West Germany were formally reunified on October 3, 1990, the fall of the Berlin Wall served as a symbol of the country’s unification—and, for many, the end of communism in Eastern Europe and the Cold War. In a break with Soviet policy, Mikhail Gorbachev decided against using the threat of military might to quell mass demonstrations and political revolution in neighbouring countries. Notes about the new rules were handed to a spokesman, Günter Schabowski - who had no time to read them before his regular press conference. When he awakes, he is told that Natasha is missing and that the Germans are at the gates of Moscow. … The storyline leaps to the Yalta Conference, where Stalin and his Western Allies debate the future of the war. However, Stalin claimed to have been born on 21 December 1879. First … In the spring of 1945, two Russian armies were approaching the German capital. Stalin orders to accept only an unconditional surrender. Vano Muradeli said that his contribution to The Fall of Berlin and other Stalinist films was the only thing which saved him from persecution by the establishment. The fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 was a pivotal moment, not just in the Cold War but in the history of modern Europe. Mr Krenz flew to Moscow for meetings - he recently told the BBC that he had been assured German reunification was not on the agenda. [1] The premier's character appeared in only two pictures during the war. Berlin (original title) PG-13 | 1h 10min | Documentary, History, War | 27 September 1945 (USA) Over 40 Army cameramen from 1st Belorussian and 1st Ukrainian Fronts' contributed footage of this remarkable documentary of the fall of Berlin, including captured German footage. It was on 9 November 1989, five days after half a million people gathered in East Berlin in a mass protest, that the Berlin Wall dividing communist East Germany from West Germany crumbled. Stalin's stoic calm was stressed out by deliberately contrasting it to the hysterical rage of Hitler, or to the slow wit of Georgy Zhukov, who was portrayed in accordance with his political status in the late 1940s, after he was shunned by Stalin: Zhukov was not even among the generals who received Stalin in Berlin. While the majority of people will applaud The Fall of Berlin. Beside this, most characters – from Natasha to Gerd von Rundstedt – praise him as a great leader. The Fall of Berlin was a bloody affair from any angle - military or civilian. This year marks the 30th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. See the article, Alexei Ivanov served as the third man in the group carrying the, eponymous series of Eastern Front campaigns, speech condemning Stalin's cult of personality, 20th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, "Size Matters: The Ideological Functions of the Length of Soviet Feature Films", "Film Festival Review; A Russian Expatriate Adrift in Berlin", "Mikheil Chiaureli: The Fall of Berlin (Padenie Berlina, two parts, 1949)", Festive Overture in A major for Orchestra, The Tale of the Priest and of His Workman Balda, Seven Romances on Poems by Alexander Blok, Suite on Verses of Michelangelo Buonarroti, The War Symphonies: Shostakovich Against Stalin, I Do Not Care If We Go Down in History as Barbarians, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=The_Fall_of_Berlin_(film)&oldid=1006346562, Cultural depictions of Franklin D. Roosevelt, Articles containing Russian-language text, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, Willi Narloch as SS officer captured by Alexei, Beautiful Day (2:14) [accompanied by a children's chorus singing, Alyosha and Natalia in the Fields / Attack (3:55), The Flooding of the Underground Station (1:11), The Final Battle for the Reichstag / Kostya's Death (4:06), Finale / Stalin's Speech / Alyosha and Natasha Reunited (2:43) [7. and 8. accompanied by a chorus singing, This page was last edited on 12 February 2021, at 11:26. The Germans plan to execute the inmates of the concentration camp in which Natasha is held before the arrival of the Red Army, but Alexei's unit liberates the prisoners before they carry through their design. After nearly four years of intense fighting, Soviet forces finally launched their assault on Berlin on 16 April 1945. The project was only partially fulfilled until Stalin's death. The Fall of Berlin (Russian: Падение Берлина; translit. Read about our approach to external linking. Hardline communists opposed to his reforms pre-empted him, attempting a coup while he was on holiday in Crimea in August 1991 and putting him under house arrest. By August, the revolutionary wave had truly re-ignited on the fringes. Alexei loses his consciousness and sinks into a coma. Advanced embedding details, examples, and help! The Fall Of The Berlin Wall History Essay. Throughout history freedom has been a symbol of self pride and living in prosperity. Their division storms the Reichstag and the three hoist the banner atop of it. By the 1980s, the Soviet Union faced acute economic problems and major food shortages, and when a nuclear reactor at the Chernobyl power station in Ukraine exploded in April 1986, it was a symbolic moment in the impending collapse of the communist bloc. [5] The film was conceived as the Mosfilm studio's gift to Stalin for his official 70th birthday,[a 1] which was to be held on 21 December 1949. Churchill wrote to historian Hugh Trevor-Roper in May, asking about the veracity of the Berlin underground flooding by Hitler, and the latter replied it was "mythologizing" history. Defeated Germany was divided up by the occupying powers - the US, UK, France and the USSR - with the eastern part occupied by the Soviets. Everything is shown to the people in this false light. [13] Soviet actor Artyom Karapetian claimed Chiaureli's wife, actress Veriko Anjaparidze, told him Stalin was so outraged when he heard of this that Lavrentiy Beria – who was standing nearby – reached into his trousers' pocket, "presumably, for his gun. He issues orders in a hall in which there are many empty chairs. The party atmosphere reigned all night in downtown Berlin. [1] Director Mikheil Chiaureli, writer Piotr Pavlenko, cinematographer Leonid Kosmatov, composer Dmitry Shostakovich and actors Mikheil Gelovani, Boris Andreyev and Vladimir Kenigson were all awarded the Stalin Prize, 1st Class for their work. English 10 Research Paper. The Fall of the Berlin Wall. The Nazi sympathies of Vatican ambassador Cesare Orsenigo were emphasized as well. Earlier in '89, Beijing demonstrators in Tiananmen Square who had called for democracy in China were crushed in a major military crackdown. Stalin promptly rejected this. He would not be there long. The film was directed by Yuli Raizman and Yelizaveta Svilova. It was on 9 November 1989, five days after half a million people gathered in East Berlin in a mass protest, that the Berlin Wall dividing communist East Germany from West Germany crumbled. But there was no intention to give way to democracy and Egon Krenz remained head of the Communist Party and the country's de facto leader.