Der Mann von der Cap Arcona

On May 3, 1945, a few days before the end of the war, the "Cap Arcona", docked in the Bay of Lübeck with several thousand concentration camp prisoners on board. Nothing gives away that the ship is filled with civilians. Allied aircraft attack the Cap Arcona, and it sinks. Among the few hundred survivors is Erwin Geschonneck (1906 - 2008), who later became a celebrated actor in communist East Germany. "The Man from the Cap Arcona" is a fictitious story produced in 1982 by communist East German TV. The story is set in 1982 in Hamburg, West Germany. Geschonneck plays a fictitious alter ego by the name of Erwin Gregorek. The life story of the main character is losely modelled on selected events in Geschonneck's life. Most notably, the fictitious Erwin Gregorek also survived the Cap Arcona tragedy, and became a celebrated East German actor. In the film, a West German film production company invites Gregorek to play the leading part in a film about the Cap Arcona. As Gregorek considers whether or not to accept the offer, he clashes with Konzig, a fictitious mid-ranking German navy officer. Gregorek reproaches him for his failure to protect the forced passengers and the ship through raising white flags. Konzig is shown to enjoy a good pension and too much alcohol. Harry Bazulis, the young director of the proposed film, does nothing to stop blatant lies that West German media outlets disseminate about his East German guest. At the same time, he fails to tell the true story of the crimes committed by Nazis against concentration camp inmates, including the murder of innocent children. On the side of truth and hope in this story is Nina, a young friend of Gregorek's in Hamburg. As the daughter of two fellow concentration camp inmates who also managed to survive, she keeps the memory of Nazi atrocities alive, along with other West German communists and union members from the Hamburg docks. Gregorek also pins his hopes on young assistant director Toni. Unlike his boss Bazulis, Toni has not yet succumbed to greed and opportunism. Gregorek takes him to Bullenhuser Damm, where on 20 April, 1945, SS murdered 20 Jewish children that they had abused in medical experiments. This is a true story - which Bazulis does not see as a worthy subject of his film.