''Marriage in the Shadows'' (German: ''Ehe im Schatten'') is 1947 German

melodrama A modern melodrama is a dramatic work in which the plot, typically sensationalized and for a strong emotional appeal, takes precedence over detailed characterization. Melodramas typically concentrate on dialogue that is often bombastic or exces ...

film A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmosphere ...

directed by

Kurt Maetzig Kurt Maetzig (25 January 1911 – 8 August 2012) was a German film director who had a significant effect on the film industry in East Germany. He was one of the most respected filmmakers of the GDR. After his retirement he lived in Wildkuh ...

and starring

Paul Klinger Paul Karl Heinrich Klinksik (14 June 1907, Essen – 14 November 1971, Munich) was a German stage and film actor who also worked in radio drama and soundtrack dubbing. Family life His father, a civil engineer, was Karl Heinrich Klinksik; his moth ...

Ilse Steppat Ilse Paula Steppat (30 November 1917 – 21 December 1969) was a German actress. Her husband was noted actor and director Max Nosseck. Biography She began her cinematic career at the age of 15 playing Joan of Arc. Steppat appeared regularly on ...

and

Alfred Balthoff Alfred Balthoff (1905 – 1989) was a German stage, film and television actor. He also worked as a voice actor, dubbing foreign releases for the German-speaking market. Of Jewish background, he spent the final years of the Nazi era in hiding.No ...

. It was produced in the Soviet zone in what later became

East Germany East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In these years the state ...

and was released by

DEFA DEFA (''Deutsche Film-Aktiengesellschaft'') was the state-owned film studio of the German Democratic Republic (East Germany) throughout the country's existence. Since 2019, DEFA's film heritage has been made accessible and licensable on the PRO ...

. The film was described as an "attempt to confront the German people about the morals of the past", being the first film to confront the people about the

persecution of the Jews The persecution of Jews has been a major event in Jewish history, prompting shifting waves of refugees and the formation of diaspora communities. As early as 605 BCE, Jews who lived in the Neo-Babylonian Empire were persecuted and deported. A ...

and the atrocities conducted during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

Plot

Actor Hans Wieland refuses to divorce his actress wife, Elisabeth, who is

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

, even as extreme pressure is applied on him by the

Nazi Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...

authorities. He even takes her to a premiere of one of his films where she is unwittingly introduced to a high Nazi Party official. Upon later discovering that the charming woman at the premiere was in fact Jewish, he orders her arrest. Hans Wieland is given an

ultimatum An ultimatum (; ) is a demand whose fulfillment is requested in a specified period of time and which is backed up by a threat to be followed through in case of noncompliance (open loop). An ultimatum is generally the final demand in a series o ...

by his former friend Herbert Blohm, now a

official at the Reichskulturministerium (culture ministry), to save himself by divorcing his wife. Knowing that his wife will die in a

concentration camp Internment is the imprisonment of people, commonly in large groups, without charges or intent to file charges. The term is especially used for the confinement "of enemy citizens in wartime or of terrorism suspects". Thus, while it can simply ...

, Hans Wieland returns home and they drink

poison Poison is a chemical substance that has a detrimental effect to life. The term is used in a wide range of scientific fields and industries, where it is often specifically defined. It may also be applied colloquially or figuratively, with a broa ...

in coffee whilst reciting the closing scene of

Friedrich Schiller Johann Christoph Friedrich von Schiller (, short: ; 10 November 17599 May 1805) was a German playwright, poet, and philosopher. During the last seventeen years of his life (1788–1805), Schiller developed a productive, if complicated, friends ...

's tragic play ''

Kabale und Liebe ''Intrigue and Love'', sometimes ''Love and Intrigue'', ''Love and Politics'' or ''Luise Miller'' (german: Kabale und Liebe, ; literally "''Cabal and Love''") is a five-act play written by the German dramatist Friedrich Schiller. His third play, ...

'' together. The film ends with a dedication to the real-life actor

Joachim Gottschalk Joachim Gottschalk (10 April 1904 – 6 November 1941) was a German stage and film actor during the late 1930s, a romantic lead in the style of Leslie Howard. Life and work Gottschalk, the son of a physician, was born in the small town of Ca ...

who committed

suicide Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Mental disorders (including depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, personality disorders, anxiety disorders), physical disorders (such as chronic fatigue syndrome), and s ...

with his Jewish wife

Meta Wolff Meta (from the Greek μετά, ''meta'', meaning "after" or "beyond") is a prefix meaning "more comprehensive" or "transcending". In modern nomenclature, ''meta''- can also serve as a prefix meaning self-referential, as a field of study or endea ...

and their nine-year-old son Michael.

Cast

Production

The screenplay was based on the life and suicide of actor

and his family in 1941. However, Kurt Maetzig said of the film, "almost everything in the film is based on what I myself, or my family and friends, have experienced." Indeed, the character of Kurt Bernstein, portrayed by Alfred Balthoff, is strongly based on Maetzig. Maetzig's mother had committed suicide to avoid being caught by the

Gestapo The (), abbreviated Gestapo (; ), was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and in German-occupied Europe. The force was created by Hermann Göring in 1933 by combining the various political police agencies of Prussia into one organi ...

. It is Kurt Maetzig's first feature film as director. The film was shot at the

Johannisthal Studios The Johannisthal Studios were film studios located in the Berlin area of Johannisthal. Founded in 1920 on the site of a former airfield, they were a centre of production during the Weimar and Nazi eras. Nearly four hundred films were made at Johan ...

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

and on location around the city. The film's sets were designed by the

art director Art director is the title for a variety of similar job functions in theater, advertising, marketing, publishing, fashion, film industry, film and television, the Internet, and video games. It is the charge of a sole art director to supervise and ...

s Otto Erdmann and

Kurt Herlth Kurt Herlth (1896–1966) was a German art director known for his designs of film sets. His brother Robert Herlth was also an art director active in the German film industry, and the two men worked together a number of times.Bock & Bergfelder p.1 ...

Reception

''Ehe im Schatten'' was the only film to be released simultaneously in all the sectors of occupied Berlin, on 3 October 1947, becoming the most successful film produced in the first post-war years and is widely considered one of the best German films of this period. The picture sold 12,888,153 tickets.List of the 50 highest-grossing DEFA films.
/ref> Maetzig and cinematographer Friedl Behn-Grund received the

National Prize of East Germany The National Prize of the German Democratic Republic (East Germany) (german: Nationalpreis der Deutschen Demokratischen Republik) was an award of the German Democratic Republic (GDR) given out in three different classes for scientific, artistic, ...

Second Class for their work. The director was also awarded the first ever Bambi Prize, in 1948.

References

External links

* {{Authority control 1947 films East German films 1940s German-language films Films directed by Kurt Maetzig 1947 drama films Films about Nazi Germany Holocaust films Films set in Berlin German black-and-white films German drama films Films shot at Johannisthal Studios Films shot in Berlin