ZDF will broadcast the elaborately produced historical television drama Die Gustloff at 20:15 on Sunday, 2 March and Monday, 3 March 2008.
The two-part film is set against the tragic sinking of the refugee ship Wilhelm Gustloff on 30 January 1945. More than 9,000 people died in the freezing Baltic Sea, most of them women and children.
Joseph Vilsmaier’s antiwar drama features Kai Wiesinger, Valerie Niehaus, Heiner Lauterbach, Dana Vávrová, Detlev Buck, Ulrike Kriener, Michael Mendl, Karl Markovics, Alexander Held, and Francis Fulton-Smith.
Although the characters are fictional, the film is based on historical facts and eyewitness testimony. Dr. Rainer Berg wrote the screenplay, with survivor Heinz Schön serving as a permanent adviser.
The story begins three days before the Gustloff leaves Gotenhafen, now Gdynia, and ends the day after the sinking.
It is told from the perspective of young civilian captain Hellmut Kehding, played by Kai Wiesinger, who is tasked with bringing the Wilhelm Gustloff, carrying around 1,500 members of the Wehrmacht and almost 9,000 refugees, safely to Kiel.
In Gotenhafen, Kehding encounters his great love Erika Galetschky, played by Valerie Niehaus, who works as a naval auxiliary in refugee reception under the strict leadership of Berta Burkat, played by Ulrike Kriener.
The refugees include Lilli Simoneit, played by Dana Vávrová; her 16-year-old son Kalli, played by Willi Gerk; and the heavily pregnant Marianne, played by Anja Knauer. Like thousands of others, they hope to reach safety aboard the Gustloff.
Norbert Sauer and Cornelia Wecker of UFA Filmproduktion GmbH produced the drama. Klaus Bassiner and Elke Müller handled editorial responsibility at ZDF.
The project received support from Filmstiftung NRW, Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg, Mitteldeutsche Medienförderung, and FilmFernsehFonds Bayern.
Alongside Die Gustloff and a two-part documentary from ZDF’s contemporary-history department, the broadcaster offers extensive background information at http://www.gustloff.zdf.de. The documentary airs at 22:05 on 2 March and 21:45 on 3 March.
