''Im Sonderauftrag'' (English-language title: ''Special Mission'') is an

East German 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 ...

black-and-white film Black-and-white (B&W or B/W) images combine black and white in a continuous spectrum, producing a grayscale, range of shades of gray, shades of grey. Media The history of various visual media began with black and white, and as technology imp ...

directed by Heinz Thiel. It was released in 1959.

Plot

In 1958, somewhere in the

Baltic Sea The Baltic Sea is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that is enclosed by Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Sweden and the North and Central European Plain. The sea stretches from 53°N to 66°N latitude and from ...

, a People's Navy minesweeper commanded by Captain Fischer encounters a foreign boat. Its skipper is a man named Arendt, who has served with Fischer in the

Kriegsmarine The (, ) was the navy of Germany from 1935 to 1945. It superseded the Imperial German Navy of the German Empire (1871–1918) and the inter-war (1919–1935) of the Weimar Republic. The was one of three official branches, along with the a ...

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 ...

. Fischer recalls how, in 1943, his superior Captain Lieutenant Wegner planned to defect to the Danish resistance and join the communists, but was arrested and sentenced to death. Fischer realizes that Arendt, one of the few who knew of Wegner's plans, was actually a

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 ...

agent and betrayed him. Now, he understands that Arendt works for

West Germany West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...

and intends to gather intelligence in the German Democratic Republic. Fischer foils his plans and the minesweeper returns to its mission.

Cast

*Hans-Peter Minetti as Captain Lieutenant Fischer *

Rolf Ludwig Rolf Ludwig (28 July 1925 – 27 March 1999) was a German actor. He appeared in more than one hundred films from 1952 to 1997. Selected filmography References External links * 1925 births 1999 deaths Male actors from Stockholm Germ ...

as Arendt *

Fritz Diez Fritz Diez (27 February 1901 – 19 October 1979) was a German actor, producer, director and theater manager. Biography Early life Diez's mother was a servant, and raised her three children alone. To support his family, the child began working a ...

as Captain Lieutenant Wegner *

Gerd Michael Henneberg Gerd Michael Henneberg (14 July 1922 – 1 January 2011) was a German actor and theater director. Biography Gerd Henneberg's father, Richard, was a theater director. After the young Heeneberg took private acting classes, he debuted on stage at a ...

as harbor commandant *Günther Grabbert as Lieutenant Hermann *Wolfgang Hübner as Lieutenant Berger *Wilhelm Koch-Hooge as Petersen *Herbert Körbs, as military judge *

Horst Kube Horst Kube (1920–1976) was a German actor. Selected filmography * ''Ernst Thälmann - Führer seiner Klasse'' (1955) * ''A Berlin Romance'' (1956) * ''Der Fackelträger'' (1957) * '' Schlösser und Katen'' (1957) * ''Don't Forget My Little Trau ...

as corporal Lutz *Werner Lierck as Sergeant Kohl *Katharina Matz as Ike *Dieter Perlwitz as Jens Dahl *Gustav Püttjer as Ole *Albert Zahn as Thielicke *Manfred Borges as Staff Sergeant Schneider

Production

Of the 500 feature films created 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 ...

from 1956, the year in which the

National People's Army The National People's Army (german: Nationale Volksarmee, ; NVA ) were the armed forces of the German Democratic Republic (GDR) from 1956 to 1990. The NVA was organized into four branches: the (Ground Forces), the (Navy), the (Air Force) an ...

was founded, until its dismantlement during 1990, only five had their plot dealing explicitly with the East German armed forces - although many pictures were set in historical military formations, like the Wehrmacht, and DEFA produced many documentaries and news bulletins about the NVA. Of the five films, the first to be made was ''Im Sonderauftrag.'' It was also the only one among them to portray the People's Navy.

Reception

The East German ''Cinema and Television Review'' defined ''Im Sonderauftrag'' as a "weak, fable-based" film that "used the anti-fascist theme in a schematic manner." The film was received well in the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

, and gained "considerable success" there. The German Film Lexicon cited ''Im Sonderauftrag'' as "thrilling and with good acting, although highly simplistic and committed to the political narrative of the

Cold War The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because the ...

."
Im Sonderauftrag
' on zweitausendeins.de

References

External links

* {{IMDb title, id=, name=Im Sonderauftrag *
Im Sonderauftrag
' on DEFA Sternstunden. 1959 films East German films 1950s German-language films German black-and-white films Films set in the Baltic Sea