Hans Kratzert (3 February 1940 – 15 August 2023) was a German screenwriter and film director. Kratzert was born in

Heerwegen Polkowice (german: Polkwitz) is a town in south-western Poland. It is situated in Lower Silesian Voivodeship. The town is the seat of Polkowice County and of Gmina Polkowice. Geography Polkowice is located in historic Lower Silesia, about nort ...

in the

Province of Silesia The Province of Silesia (german: Provinz Schlesien; pl, Prowincja Śląska; szl, Prowincyjŏ Ślōnskŏ) was a province of Prussia from 1815 to 1919. The Silesia region was part of the Prussian realm since 1740 and established as an official p ...

during the

Second World War 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 ...

. He was part of the mass emigration of Germans westward following

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...

's defeat during the war. Kratzert's family settled in the Soviet-occupied territory that 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 ...

, where he grew up. After military service, Kratzert began working at

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 state-owned East German film company. After making his directorial debut in 1968, Kratzert went on to direct a further thirteen films up to 1989. He made a number of

family films A children's film, or family film, is a film genre that contains children or relates to them in the context of home and family. Children's films are made specifically for children and not necessarily for a general audience, while family films are ...

, and in 1972 directed the

Red Western The Ostern (Eastern; , ''Istern''; or остерн) or Red Western was a film genre created in the Soviet Union and Eastern Bloc as a variation of the Western films that originated in the United States. The word "Ostern" is a portmanteau derived ...

Tecumseh Tecumseh ( ; October 5, 1813) was a Shawnee chief and warrior who promoted resistance to the expansion of the United States onto Native American lands. A persuasive orator, Tecumseh traveled widely, forming a Native American confederacy and ...

'' (1972), a biopic of the Native American leader of the same name. The

fall of the Berlin Wall The fall of the Berlin Wall (german: Mauerfall) on 9 November 1989, during the Peaceful Revolution, was a pivotal event in world history which marked the destruction of the Berlin Wall and the figurative Iron Curtain and one of the series of eve ...

and the closure of DEFA effectively ended his career as a film director. Kratzert died on 15 August 2023, at the age of 83.

Selected filmography

* ''

'' (1972)

References

Bibliography

* Berghahn, Daniela. ''Hollywood Behind the Wall: The Cinema of East Germany''. Manchester University Press, 2005.

External links

* 1940 births 2023 deaths People from Polkowice People from the Province of Silesia German film directors 20th-century German screenwriters German male screenwriters {{Germany-film-bio-stub