''Ware für Katalonien '' (English-language title: ''Goods For Catalonia'') 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 Richard Groschopp. It was released in 1959.

Plot

At 1959, the People's Police notices a strange occurrence: the local demand for optical instruments increases, while the orders from abroad sharply decrease. Several detectives launch an investigation, revealing that a West German criminal named Hasso Teschendorf has been forging documents and using them to illegally obtain the goods, which he sold to the Spanish Army and to customers in

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

. After a long hunt, the smuggler is arrested just before he manages to flee to West Berlin.

Cast

* Wilfried Ortmann as Hasso Teschendorf *

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 Gerner *

Werner Dissel Werner Friedrich Dissel (26 August 1912 – 22 January 2003) was a Germans, German actor, director, and German resistance to Nazism, resistance fighter against the Nazi regime. Biography Dissel's began working as a newspaper photographer in the ...

as doorman *

Peter Sturm Josef Michel Dischel (24 August 1909 – 11 May 1984), known by his adopted stage name Peter Sturm, was an Austrian and an East German actor. Biography Early life Dischel was born into a religious Jewish family in Vienna. His father was a tailor, ...

as Mr. Dupont *

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 businessman *

Manfred Krug Manfred Krug (; 8 February 1937 – 21 October 2016) was a German actor, singer and author. Life and work Born in Duisburg, Krug moved to East Germany at the age of 13, and worked at a steel plant before beginning his acting career on the stage a ...

as smuggler *

Eva-Maria Hagen Eva-Maria Hagen (; ; 19 October 1934 – 16 August 2022) was a German actress and singer. She was known as the "Brigitte Bardot of the GDR" but was banned from performance for political reasons. Life Hagen was born Eva-Maria Buchholz in Köl ...

as Marion Stöckel * Hanna Rimkus as Sabine Falk * Hartmut Reck as Schellenberg * Heinz-Dieter Knaup as Hasselbach * Ivan Malré as Bob Georgi * Carola Braunbock as Charlotte Gansauge * Dom de Beern as inspector * Albert Garbe as Bachmann * Herbert Grünbaum as Rösli * Hubert Hoelzke as customer *

Walter Jupé Walter Jupé (6 April 1916 – 16 November 1985) was a German actor, screenwriter and dramaturg. Life After his acting training with Helene Lackner, Jupé made his debut 1943 on a stage in Oldenburg, played then in Weimar, before shifting to ...

as Erwin

Production

At 1957, the West German criminal Hasso Schützendorf organized a complex fraud: his partners, using forged documents, managed to take possession on the entire stock of optical instruments produced by the

Zeiss Zeiss or Zeiß may refer to: People *Carl Zeiss (1816–1888), German optician and entrepreneur *Emil Zeiß (1833–1910), German Protestant minister and painter Companies *Carl Zeiss AG, German manufacturer of optics, industrial measurem ...

factory in

Jena Jena () is a German city and the second largest city in Thuringia. Together with the nearby cities of Erfurt and Weimar, it forms the central metropolitan area of Thuringia with approximately 500,000 inhabitants, while the city itself has a popu ...

, East Germany. He sold them to clients in

. Schützendorf managed to escape justice, settling in Spain, where he lived as a rich man until his death at 2003. The film ''Ware fur Katalonien'' was loosely based on this incident, although the villain "Hasso Teschendorf" was caught in the end.

Reception

Director Richard Groschopp was awarded the

Art Prize of the German Democratic Republic The Art Prize of the German Democratic Republic (German: ''Kunstpreis der Deutschen Demokratischen Republik'') was an East German state award bestowed on individuals for contributions in various fields of art. History The Art Prize was annually a ...

in 1959 for his work on the film. He later received a letter from Schützendorf, who wrote him "Dear Groschopp, please be more realistic next time... Arresting me just before reaching the

Brandenburg Gate The Brandenburg Gate (german: Brandenburger Tor ) is an 18th-century neoclassical monument in Berlin, built on the orders of Prussian king Frederick William II after restoring the Orangist power by suppressing the Dutch popular unrest. One ...

? Are you that deluded?" The German film lexicon described the picture as "a well-made crime film, with notably good acting."''Ware für Katalonien''
on zweitausendeins.de.

References

External links

* 1959 films 1959 crime films German crime films East German films 1950s German-language films Films set in Berlin German black-and-white films Films directed by Richard Groschopp 1950s German films {{1950s-Germany-film-stub