The Case of Johanna Langefeld

Krakow, Poland 1946. SS-Oberaufseherin Johanna Langefeld a highest ranking female SS-guard at Auschwitz and Ravensbrück escapes from prison where she waited for Nazi crimes trial. The filmmakers discover that the escape of the SS-woman was organized by her former victims – Polish prisoners of the Ravensbrück concentration camp. They not only helped her to avoid death sentence but also hid her for ten years from the Polish authorities and, in 1957, smuggled her back to Germany. Read more below.

Krakow, Poland 1946. SS-Oberaufseherin Johanna Langefeld a highest ranking female SS-guard at Auschwitz and Ravensbrück escapes from prison where she waited for Nazi crimes trial. The filmmakers discover that the escape of the SS-woman was organized by her former victims – Polish prisoners of the Ravensbrück concentration camp. They not only helped her to avoid death sentence but also hid her for ten years from the Polish authorities and, in 1957, smuggled her back to Germany.

The story was kept secret because its disclosure threatened punishment, both for the former German SS-guard, as well as for the Polish escape supporters.

Why did Ravensbrück survivors helped an SS-woman avoid death sentence?
The film authors embark upon a journey into the past to explain the mystery of Johanna Langefeld’s escape from Polish prison.

Based on archival materials and witnesses, the filmmakers try to explain the circumstances of the escape, to find out who Johanna Langefeld was and why Polish Ravensbrück survivors decided to save her from punishment.

This Polish-German investigation leads to surprising discoveries about the heroes of the story as well as the historical circumstances. Filmmakers discover that the leader of the group of Ravensbrück survivors who helped the SS-guard to escape, was a Jewish woman whose all family members were murdered by Nazis in death camps.

IMDB page

Duration: 91 minutes

Languages: German; Polish with English Subtitles

Director/Writer:
Wladek Jurkow & Gerburg Rohde-Dahl

Music:
Dariusz Kaliński

Producer:
Jan Kaczmarski, Wladek Jurkow

Co-Producer:
Gerburg Rohde-Dahl (Rohde Dahl FIlmproduktion) Berlin, Germany

Production Company:
Arkadia Film

Distributed by:
LOGTV, LTD

AWARDS

BEST DOCUMENTARY at the Polish Film Festival in America, Chicago, US

SPECIAL AWARD of the Polish Ministry of Culture, NURT Film Festival, Kielce, Poland.

BEST FOREIGN DOCUMENTARY at 2019 AEGEAN Docs Documentary Festival, Greece

RIFFA Winner, 2019 Regina International Film Festival & Awards in Canada

SCREENINGS

Official Selections 2019:
Neisse Film Festival
Aegean Docs
DOCK 2019
TIFF Competition

PUBLICITY PHOTOS

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