Nacht über Berlin (2013)

The Jewish doctor Albert Goldmann, who lives in Berlin and sits in the Reichstag for the SPD, treats his seriously ill brother Edwin. Goldmann has made a special trip to Denmark for this. Edwin asks his brother to smuggle documents into Germany for him. When Goldmann says he wants nothing to do with his brother’s activities, Edwin assures him that they are not about weapons but escape plans. Goldmann therefore does not refuse his brother’s request. On the return journey, he meets the singer Henny Dallgow on the ship. She comes from a wealthy family. Goldmann suffers from motion sickness, and Henny looks after him. The next time they meet, they are standing in a queue and soon board a train together. During their conversation, Henny tells Goldmann that he does not look like a member of the Reichstag, adding that she thinks the Reichstag is full of crackpots. Suddenly, two officials appear and order Goldmann to go with them. They pay no attention to his protest that he is a member of the German Reichstag and therefore enjoys immunity. He is accused of having visited his brother in Denmark the previous day, and of his brother wanting to smuggle propaganda material into Germany. Goldmann’s cap is left behind on the train with Henny Dallgow. As Henny notices, a small envelope has been sewn into it. Back at her apartment, the young woman examines it and realizes how explosive its contents are. When Goldmann turns up at Henny’s, she is angry and tells him that even she could see that the plan involved smuggling weapons and hand grenades. Goldmann insists that his brother swore to him it was only about escape plans. Henny tells him that she threw the documents away and asks him to leave. Soon afterward, his brother’s accomplices intercept him and ask about the documents. He tells them that he threw them into the sea in time and that the Prussian secret police searched him when he arrived. Henny Dallgow has an argument with her uncle, who manages the family’s extensive real estate holdings for her. She is a singer at the Ballhaus and would like to buy the venue. Her uncle thinks there is not enough available capital at the moment. A little later, Albert Goldmann gives a speech in parliament, repeatedly interrupted by heckling from NSDAP members. The parliament is full of men in Nazi uniforms. Although Goldmann has not yet run out of speaking time, President Göring eventually cuts him off. Henny, who is also among the spectators, asks Albert to visit her that evening in her world at the Ballhaus, since she has visited him in his world. The Ballhaus’s current owner, Matze Belzig, also appears there. He is a good friend and mentor to Henny. Belzig, a Jew, recognized the signs of the times early and wants to emigrate to America, so he is selling the club. Goldmann, who has accepted Henny’s invitation, also notices many men in brown uniforms at the Ballhaus. That night, Edwin Goldmann’s fellow ideologues ambush Henny outside her apartment and threaten her. They want to know where the packet of documents is. If she goes to the police, they will come back, and both she and her entire family will regret it. Then they beat her brutally. Henny goes to see Goldmann and accuses him of siccing his thugs on her, then collapses. Goldmann, who had earlier shouted at her in the club because Nazis had congratulated her on her singing, takes care of Henny. At the same time, the young woman returns. She belongs to the same communist cell as Goldmann’s brother Edwin and was among the attackers. She had seen Henny’s motorcycle outside the building and wants to speak with her. Goldmann makes it unmistakably clear that he sides with Henny and tells the young woman that he will turn her and her fellow ideologues in to the police if they do not leave Henny alone. Once they are alone again, Henny thanks Goldmann, and the two share their first tentative kiss. A few days later, Henny wants to celebrate with Goldmann the purchase of the Ballhaus, which has now finally gone through. They go for a motorcycle ride together and later make love in a small boat. When Henny asks Goldmann to come to the Ballhaus later, he says he does not belong there and asks whether she has never heard how the Nazis who frequent the Ballhaus in droves talk about Jews. Henny casually replies that they do not really mean it. While Goldmann is still working, his brother Edwin arrives at his surgery with several fellow ideologues and a young woman who is bleeding. Although Goldmann is far from pleased, he helps the young woman. He implores his brother to stop at last, saying he is the only family Goldmann has left. Shortly afterward, Henny arrives. When she asks what happened there, she realizes Goldmann is lying to her. After thinking for a moment, Goldmann tells her what happened nine years earlier. The police had suddenly been in his house; then two shots rang out, and his wife and son were shot dead. The next evening, Henny thanks Matze Belzig at the Ballhaus as he says his farewell. She assures her friend that there will always be a place for him at the Ballhaus. Later, as Henny dances with Goldmann, a Nazi official who is a regular at the Ballhaus asks who she is dancing with, then says sardonically, “Well, well—a Jew.” In the washroom vestibule, Goldmann talks with Belzig, who says he should put a brave face on things. Goldmann replies that he does not understand why someone’s religion has suddenly become such a big deal; religion has never mattered in his life before. Henny’s dream is for the Ballhaus to be, and remain, a place where people can escape reality and enjoy themselves without a care. Being able to offer people such a place and preserve it is what she can do in these times. It may not be as important as what Goldmann does as a doctor, she says, but it is her dream. A few days later, Goldmann helps an old man who is being beaten by two Nazis. The policeman who had previously looked the other way tries to arrest Goldmann instead of the Nazis who are beating the man. A confrontation breaks out, and other brave citizens join in, pushing the National Socialists back. A few days later, Erhart von Kühn and Henny’s cousin Uta celebrate their engagement. Goldmann and Henny are guests as well. Von Kühn attacks Goldmann, and none of the others at the table take his side. Goldmann leaves, and Henny follows him. Later, on Henny’s rooftop terrace, Goldmann tells her what really happened at the surgery and stresses that if his brother turned up at his door, he would help him again: Edwin is his family. Henny understands perfectly what he means. The next day, as Henny walks through her building, she sees Ruth Fraenkel wiping graffiti such as “Jew” off her front door. Furious, Henny threatens the Nazis who have also rented a floor in her building with eviction unless they stop immediately. The backlash comes quickly: Nazis rampage through the Ballhaus, and only the intervention of Erhart von Kühn—whom she turns to, and who admires her and may also love her—prevents the venue from suffering even worse damage. Lanz, a giant of a man and a Nazi leader, introduces himself and makes her confirm that Nazis are welcome guests at the Ballhaus, which Henny is forced to do. The Ballhaus NEUE WELT in Zwickau served as a film set. Gunda, Henny’s loyal employee and friend, bluntly tells her that she is pregnant. Henny says she does not know whether she should tell Goldmann; she never expected anything like this. Her dream had always been the Ballhaus. Gunda tells her to think about it for a few more days. Just as Henny has made up her mind, there is a knock at the door and members of the communist cell arrive with the badly injured Edwin Goldmann, who is screaming in pain. Goldmann tries to take him to the hospital immediately, but fails. Edwin dies in Goldmann’s arms in the middle of the street. Albert is devastated. By then, Henny has decided to visit a backstreet abortionist so as not to burden Goldmann with her pregnancy as well. But when she sees a woman leaving the surgery with a face contorted in pain, she changes her mind and tells Goldmann everything. Goldmann brushes aside her fears about the future, saying that she, he, and the baby are now a family, and that is all that matters. A few days later, Erhart von Kühn tells Henny in private that Hitler will probably win the upcoming election. There are already purge lists prepared in case he does, and Goldmann is quite near the top. It would therefore be better for him to leave Germany. Henny is unsure what to make of this. Her attempt to persuade Goldmann to do so fails, however, because he is firmly convinced Hitler has no chance of winning the election. He says this is just their way of intimidating people; they see it as their only chance. He also suggests that perhaps von Kühn told her this to get the Ballhaus cheaply. Soon afterward, a fierce brawl breaks out between Nazis and protesting citizens. Goldmann gives them refuge in his surgery, where SA members also force their way in and continue beating people, completely out of control. Goldmann has learned from his patient Marinus van der Lubbe that he intends to do something about the conditions in power and wants to set the Reichstag on fire. The doctor is determined to stop him, since that would only play into the NSDAP’s hands and help them in the election. While trying to prevent van der Lubbe from carrying out his plan, Goldmann is put in danger and only just manages to escape from the burning part of the building. The fire brigade arrives. Just as Goldmann is about to leave the Reichstag, Nazis spot him and order him to stop. He cannot get away from them. Henny, who has ridden her motorcycle to the Reichstag on an instinct, sees Goldmann being led away. Marinus van der Lubbe, who has also been arrested, insists during questioning that he set the fire entirely on his own and that nobody helped him. Goldmann, meanwhile, is interrogated by a Mr. Klein of the political police, who wants to prove his complicity in the Reichstag fire. Goldmann realizes that nobody is interested in the truth. Henny tries to speak with Commissioner Fraenkel, but is prevented from doing so. Goldmann continues to be tortured with extreme brutality, while Erhart von Kühn insists that Henny renounce Goldmann, telling her that as the lover of a Jew she has no future in Germany. During the interrogation, a young Nazi loses patience, draws his pistol, and shoots the helpless doctor, who is strapped to a chair. Klein then yells at him that dead, Goldmann is no use to them, and his body is thrown into the river. Leo Fraenkel brings Henny the news of Goldmann’s death. The young woman says a grief-stricken farewell at his bier. Later, she sits on her rooftop terrace, weeping and crying out her grief. Eventually, Henny has no more tears to shed.