The Hindenburg (film) - Historical Accuracy

Historical Accuracy

Two dramatic escapes depicted were based on fact, slightly altered for dramatic purposes.

• Werner Franz, a 14-year-old cabin boy, escaped the flames after a water ballast tank overhead burst open and soaked him with water. He then made his way to the hatch and turned around and ran the other way, because the flames were being pushed by the wind towards the starboard side. In the movie however, he is depicted being doused by the water after he jumped out. He is one of two remaining survivors of the crash as of May 2012. The other being Werner Doehner, who was 8 at the time of the disaster.

• Passenger Joseph Späh, a circus performer, escaped by smashing a window with his home movie camera (the film survived the disaster), and held on to the side of the window, jumping to the ground when the ship was low enough, surviving with only a broken ankle. In the film he is depicted grabbing a landing rope, but in reality there was no landing rope.

A significant historical error occurs at the start of the film, when two senior Luftwaffe Generals discuss the possibility of Colonel Franz Ritter receiving the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross for actions in the Spanish Civil War. The Knight's Cross did not exist in 1937 (when the film is set), first being created at the start of World War II in 1939. Although the film tried to stay accurate to its setting, there were numerous differences between the film and reality. Some aspects were added for dramatic purposes. The scene when the port fin's fabric rips did not happen to the Hindenburg, but a similar event happened to the Graf Zeppelin during its first flight to America.. Additionally, although the Hindenburg did have a Blüthner baby grand piano aboard for the 1936 season, it was not aboard the final flight in 1937.

While the interior of the ship was very accurately created, a stairway was added to the lower fin for dramatic purposes; in the real Hindenburg, there was just a ladder for crew members to walk down. Several aspects of the airship's takeoff and landing procedures were also inaccurate. Prior to takeoff, the airship would not need to be attached to the mooring mast and used the landing ropes during takeoff. It is common for airships to be towed out of their hangar and simply be pushed into the air by the ground crew. The mooring mast used in the landing sequence is black, while the real mooring mast was red and white. During the landing sequence the ship drops water ballast through some of the windows near the nose instead of at the tail section, as it did during the final approach. Early in the movie they mention that the last time they took the USS Los Angeles up that something had happened to it, probably crash, in reality nothing happened to the Los Angeles it remained until 1940, enduring the longest lifespan of any rigid airship.

Several anachronisms also occur in the storyline. At one time Edward Douglas refers to the fact that the German car manufacturer Opel is to be taken over by General Motors "the next day". In fact, Opel had already been taken over completely in 1929. At Berlin there are Citroën HY delivery cars which were built in the late 1940s.