Kolberg (film) - Circumstances

Circumstances

Kolberg, begun in 1943, was made in Agfacolor with high production values. At a cost of more than eight million marks (equivalent to over 1/2 billion U.S. dollars), it was the most expensive German film of the second World War, with the actual cost suppressed to avoid public reaction. At a time when the war was turning against German fortunes, thousands of soldiers were used in the film. To film scenes with snow during summer, 100 railway wagons brought salt to the set in Pomerania. The film was finally completed at the Babelsberg Studios at Potsdam while the town and nearby Berlin were being steadily bombed by the Allies. Two extras were killed during the making of the film when an explosive charge went off too early.

The film opened on January 30th 1945 in a temporary cinema in Berlin, and ran under constant threat of air raids until the fall of Berlin in May. Kolberg was declared a 'Festung' (fortress-town), and Soviet forces neared the town on February 24th. Within a month of the film's opening Kolberg was under full siege (sometimes called the 'second Siege', or 'second Battle', of Kolberg), with around 70000 trapped civilians and military. House-to-house fighting caused devastation. Kolberg fell to Soviet and Polish forces on March 18th. Many civilians escaped by sea, and those who survived were permanently expelled along with all Germans in east Pomerania. The ruins of German Kolberg became Polish 'Kolobrzeg'.

The film was re-released in 1965, with an attached documentary, and is now available on digitally remastered DVD.