''Rosenstraße'' is a 2003 film directed by

Margarethe von Trotta Margarethe von Trotta (; born 21 February 1942) is a German film director, screenwriter, and actress. She has been referred to as a "leading force" of the New German Cinema movement.

, starring

Maria Schrader Maria Schrader (born 27 September 1965) is a German actress, screenwriter, and director. She directed the award-winning 2007 film ''Love Life'' and the 2020 Netflix miniseries '' Unorthodox'', for which she won the Primetime Emmy Award for O ...

and

Katja Riemann Katja Hannchen Leni Riemann (, born 1 November 1963) is a German actress. The daughter of two teachers, Riemann grew up in Weyhe, near Bremen. After high school she went to Hamburg to study music and theater. She is the mother of actress Paula ...

. It deals with the

Rosenstrasse protest Rosenstrasse (or Rosenstraße) is a street in Berlin. It may more specifically refer to: * Rosenstrasse protests, street protests, Berlin, 1943 * ''Rosenstrasse'' (film), 2003 film by Margarethe von Trotta {{disambiguation ...

of 1943.

Plot

In the present day, a widow mourns the death of her husband. She covers up the TV set and all the mirrors in the house. Her grown children are baffled by this behavior, asking why their mother has suddenly become

Orthodox Jewish Orthodox Judaism is the collective term for the traditionalist and theologically conservative branches of contemporary Judaism. Theologically, it is chiefly defined by regarding the Torah, both Written and Oral, as revealed by God to Moses on ...

. The mother will not discuss her past, but her daughter wants to know what happened. Learning of a woman (Lena) who "saved" her mother during the war, she goes to Germany to learn the whole story. She finds Lena, who willingly reminisces about

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 World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

, about her situation and the mother's childhood as a

Jew 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""T ...

growing up in Nazi Germany during the war. Lena herself is a German woman whose Jewish husband was persecuted by the Nazis while the little girl (the widow mother) loses her own mother to 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 ...

concentration camps 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 ...

. The principal focus of the film addresses what happened to those who were in a mixed marriage ("

Aryan Aryan or Arya (, Indo-Iranian *''arya'') is a term originally used as an ethnocultural self-designation by Indo-Iranians in ancient times, in contrast to the nearby outsiders known as 'non-Aryan' (*''an-arya''). In Ancient India, the term ...

"/Jewish). Amid constant flashbacks, the film pieces together the story of the

, where the women waited for seven days and nights outside of a Nazi jail for their Jewish husbands. The

protests A protest (also called a demonstration, remonstration or remonstrance) is a public expression of objection, disapproval or dissent towards an idea or action, typically a political one. Protests can be thought of as acts of coopera ...

took place in

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 constitu ...

during the winter of 1943.

Production

''Rosenstraße'' was Margarethe von Trotta's first film since 1995. Due to funding problems, she had to choose between retreating to academia (as some of her colleagues did) or doing more TV production work.

Accolades

The film won a David at the David di Donatello Awards. Franz Rath won for Best Cinematography at the Bavarian Film Awards and the UNICEF Award at the

Venice Film Festival The Venice Film Festival or Venice International Film Festival ( it, Mostra Internazionale d'Arte Cinematografica della Biennale di Venezia, "International Exhibition of Cinematographic Art of the Venice Biennale") is an annual film festival h ...

Reception

Rosenstraße received notable criticism from film critics and historians alike. In particular, the film's explicit claim to give an accurate account of the Rosenstraße protest has caused historians to point out not only a number of minor flaws in the logic of the film, but also some major points where ''Rosenstraße'' did not stick to the facts. Among others, historian Beate Meyer compared fact and fiction in a detailed treatment,Beate Meyer, ''Geschichte im Film: Judenverfolgung, Mischehen und der Protest in der Rosenstraße 1943.'' In ''Zeitschrift für Geschichtsforschung'' 52 (2004), Pp 23-36 and came to the conclusion that ''Rosenstraße'' was a projection of contemporary hopes and myths on history, resulting in a utopia. The audience would inevitably come to wonder how the holocaust could occur "if only seven days of steadfastness would have sufficed to prevent it from happening."

References

External links

* {{Margarethe von Trotta 2003 films 2003 drama films German war drama films 2000s German-language films German World War II films 2000s war drama films Films about the aftermath of the Holocaust Films directed by Margarethe von Trotta Films scored by Loek Dikker Films about the German Resistance Films set in Berlin 2000s German films