''Long Is the Road'' (german: Lang ist der Weg) is a 1948 German

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super ...

directed by Herbert B. Fredersdorf and Marek Goldstein and starring Israel Becker, Bettina Moissi and Berta Litwina. The story examines the

Holocaust The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; ...

from the perspective of a Polish Jewish family and a young man who is able to escape while he is transported to a

concentration camp Internment is the imprisonment of people, commonly in large groups, without charges or intent to file charges. The term is especially used for the confinement "of enemy citizens in wartime or of terrorism suspects". Thus, while it can simpl ...

. The film was made during the summer of 1947. It was the first German-made film to directly portray the Holocaust ('' Morituri'' was released earlier but made later). It was made with the support of the US Army Information Control Division. It was partly shot at the Bavaria Studios in

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the third-largest city in Germany, after Berlin and Ha ...

with sets designed by the art director Carl Ludwig Kirmse. A major aim of the film was to lobby for Jewish survivors still living in

Displaced Persons Forced displacement (also forced migration) is an involuntary or coerced movement of a person or people away from their home or home region. The UNHCR defines 'forced displacement' as follows: displaced "as a result of persecution, conflict, g ...

(DP) camps to be allowed to emigrate to the

British Mandate of Palestine British Mandate of Palestine or Palestine Mandate most often refers to: * Mandate for Palestine: a League of Nations mandate under which the British controlled an area which included Mandatory Palestine and the Emirate of Transjordan. * Mandatory P ...

. It drew a comparison between the plight of the Jewish population and the sufferings of other Europeans who had ended up in DP camps. This was partly done through the principal character's romantic relationship with Dora, a Jewish holocaust survivor. The film employs a semi-documentary technique to tell its story. Many of its themes were similar to other German rubble films of the era, but it was notably different partly because of its advocacy of an optimistic, idealistic new world in Palestine. The film only ever went on a limited release, and by the time it received its German première, many inhabitants of the DP camps had been re-settled, with large numbers emigrating to the newly founded state of

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

.Shandley p. 101

Cast

* Israel Becker as David Jelin * Bettina Moissi as Dora Berkowicz * Berta Litwina as Hanne Jelin * Jakob Fischer as Jakob Jelin * Otto Wernicke as Senior Doctor * Paul Dahlke as 2nd Doctor *

Aleksander Bardini Aleksander Bardini (17 November 1913 – 30 July 1995) was a Polish theatre and opera director, actor, notable professor at the State Theatre School in Warsaw. He appeared in 30 films between 1937 and 1994. Selected filmography * '' Long Is ...

as Peasant * David Hart as Mr. Liebermann * Misha Natan as Partisan *

Heinz-Leo Fischer Heinz-Leo Fischer (1902–1977) was an Austrian stage, television and film actor. During the Weimar Republic The Weimar Republic (german: link=no, Weimarer Republik ), officially named the German Reich, was the government of Germany from 19 ...

as Chodetzki

References

Bibliography

* Shandley, Robert R. ''Rubble Films: German Cinema in the Shadow of the Third Reich''. Temple University Press, 2001.

External links

* * DVD 2016
in Trésor du cinéma Yiddish
1948 films 1948 drama films German drama films West German films 1940s German-language films 1940s Polish-language films Yiddish-language films Films about Nazi Germany Films set in the 1940s Holocaust films Films directed by Herbert B. Fredersdorf Films with screenplays by Karl Georg Külb German black-and-white films 1940s multilingual films German multilingual films 1940s German films Films shot at Bavaria Studios {{1940s-Germany-film-stub