This film could have been great, if only someone had made the effort to pay attention to details, and make the dialogue a little more realistic.
First of all, the existence and purpose of Auschwitz, Birkenau, and Treblinka were top secret, and even the average German was unaware of them.
Absolutely no one knew anything about any gas chambers or crematoriums, not at that time.
So, how could the Krautzenbergs boldly discuss such matters with Heinrich Himmler and Adolph Eichmann?
Furthermore, the petulant accusations by Rachel Krautzenberg (or any Jew - - - or German) would have elicited immediate fatal retribution from any Nazi.
When the show began, I did wonder why the Nazis didn't just seize the Krautzenberg property and kill the Krautzenbergs, but when they mentioned the necessary cooperation of international banking, the plot made a little more sense.
Another unbelievable bit of dialogue was the German soldier confiding to a fellow soldier that he would refuse an assignment to the Russian Front.
First of all, making such a defeatist statement would cost him his life, if it were reported, so he would never dare utter it.
Second, I suspect the demoralizing problems at the Russian Front may also have been kept secret from the common soldier at that time.
I do not believe a German soldier would commit suicide because he thought Jews were being executed, even if the Jewess reminded him of his own wife, and the child they were having.
In the scene where Heinrich Himmler is putting the wedding ring on Ingrid Vassman's finger, he's using the wrong hand.
In Germany, the wedding ring goes on the ring finger of the right hand.
Wearing the wedding ring on the left hand is an American custom, not done in Europe at that time.
AUTHOR'S NOTE: I was an American soldier stationed in Germany.
In another scene, the German soldier is armed with a Russian machine gun.
The aircraft that flew the Jews to Switzerland was a Douglas DC-3 "Dakota" (a.k.a., the military C-47 "Skytrain"), painted to look like a Luftwaffe aircraft.
Realistically, would a German officer shoot another German officer, in order to permit two Jews to escape, in full public view, with an array of armed German soldiers standing right there?
What became of the German officer who was arrested after arranging the escape of the Vassmans?
I'm sorry, but what could have been a very good movie turned out rather poorly.
First of all, the existence and purpose of Auschwitz, Birkenau, and Treblinka were top secret, and even the average German was unaware of them.
Absolutely no one knew anything about any gas chambers or crematoriums, not at that time.
So, how could the Krautzenbergs boldly discuss such matters with Heinrich Himmler and Adolph Eichmann?
Furthermore, the petulant accusations by Rachel Krautzenberg (or any Jew - - - or German) would have elicited immediate fatal retribution from any Nazi.
When the show began, I did wonder why the Nazis didn't just seize the Krautzenberg property and kill the Krautzenbergs, but when they mentioned the necessary cooperation of international banking, the plot made a little more sense.
Another unbelievable bit of dialogue was the German soldier confiding to a fellow soldier that he would refuse an assignment to the Russian Front.
First of all, making such a defeatist statement would cost him his life, if it were reported, so he would never dare utter it.
Second, I suspect the demoralizing problems at the Russian Front may also have been kept secret from the common soldier at that time.
I do not believe a German soldier would commit suicide because he thought Jews were being executed, even if the Jewess reminded him of his own wife, and the child they were having.
In the scene where Heinrich Himmler is putting the wedding ring on Ingrid Vassman's finger, he's using the wrong hand.
In Germany, the wedding ring goes on the ring finger of the right hand.
Wearing the wedding ring on the left hand is an American custom, not done in Europe at that time.
AUTHOR'S NOTE: I was an American soldier stationed in Germany.
In another scene, the German soldier is armed with a Russian machine gun.
The aircraft that flew the Jews to Switzerland was a Douglas DC-3 "Dakota" (a.k.a., the military C-47 "Skytrain"), painted to look like a Luftwaffe aircraft.
Realistically, would a German officer shoot another German officer, in order to permit two Jews to escape, in full public view, with an array of armed German soldiers standing right there?
What became of the German officer who was arrested after arranging the escape of the Vassmans?
I'm sorry, but what could have been a very good movie turned out rather poorly.