''Akte Grüninger'' is a Swiss-Austrian feature film produced in 2013 for the Swiss television SRF. The television film focuses on events in late summer 1938, when

Paul Grüninger Paul Grüninger (; 27 October 1891 – 22 February 1972) was a Swiss police commander in St. Gallen. He was recognized as one of the Righteous Among the Nations by the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial foundation in 1971. Following the Austrian ''A ...

saved the lives of up to 3,600 Jewish refugees from Germany and Austria by pre-dating their visas, enabling them to migrate 'illegally' to Switzerland.

Plot

In August 1938, Switzerland closed its borders to Jewish refugees who tried to evade the Nazi regime. Migration of Jewish people across the ''

green border A green border is a weakly protected section of the national border. The term ''green border'' comes from the area covered with vegetation: green borders are usually forests, thickets and meadows, often with varied terrain. The act of (illega ...

'' to Switzerland was declared by the Swiss government to be illegal, and refugees were sent back to Germany and Austria. Hundreds of people without a valid visa tried to cross the border to be secure in Switzerland from

the Holocaust The Holocaust (), known in Hebrew language, Hebrew as the (), was the genocide of History of the Jews in Europe, European Jews during World War II. From 1941 to 1945, Nazi Germany and Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy ...

, most of them by crossing the border to the

Canton of St. Gallen The canton of St. Gallen or St Gall ( ; ; ; ) is a canton of Switzerland. Its capital is St. Gallen. Located in northeastern Switzerland, the canton has an area of (5% of Switzerland) and a resident population close to half a million as of ...

. These "illegal migrations" and the background of the border crossings, and its support by officials and citizens in Switzerland, got the attention of the Swiss immigration police. Swiss immigration police senior official Heinrich Rothmund (Robert Hunger-Bühler) ordered the police inspector Robert Frei (Max Simonischek), a ruthless, loyal, and authoritarian official, to investigate in the canton of St. Gallen. The Jewish refugees appeared to be supported by parts of the local population, with approval of the police commandant of the Canton St. Gallen,

(Stefan Kurt). Frei's investigation confirmed the suspicion that police captain Grüninger allowed Jewish refugees to enter without a valid visa. Grüninger also falsified documents and personally helped refugees to illegally cross the border into Switzerland. Grüninger confesses to Frei, but he says he is not acting against the law or against the state security of Switzerland. His motives are based on pure humanity. Frei is overawed by Grüninger's integrity, intransigence and his personal views, and Frei comes to doubt the legality of the investigations.

Cast

In alphabetical order *

Helmut Förnbacher Helmut Förnbacher (born 26 January 1936) is a Swiss actor, film director and screenwriter. He has appeared in more than 70 films and television shows since 1959. He starred in the 1976 film '' The Sudden Loneliness of Konrad Steiner'', which wa ...

as Valentin Keel * Aaron Hitz as Ernst Kamm * Robert Hunger-Bühler as Heinrich Rothmund * Peter Jecklin as Walter Härtsch * Julia Jelinek as Jewish woman * Martin Klaus as Anton Schneider *

Stefan Kurt Stefan Kurt (born 22 October 1959 in Bern) is a Swiss actor. He attended the University of the Arts Bern __NOTOC__ The Bern Academy of Arts () is an art school with locations in Bern and Biel/Bienne. It was created in 2003 from the merger of the ...

Ursina Lardi Ursina Lardi (born 19 December 1970 in Samedan) is a Swiss actress, best known for playing the baroness, Marie-Louise in ''The White Ribbon''. Lardi studied acting at the Academy of Performing Arts Ernst Busch in Berlin and played at various theat ...

as Alice Grünigner *

Beat Marti Beat, beats, or beating may refer to: Common uses * Assault, inflicting physical harm or unwanted physical contact * Battery (crime), a criminal offense involving unlawful physical contact * Battery (tort), a civil wrong in common law of inte ...

as Alfons Eigenmann *

Patrick Rapold Patrick may refer to: *Patrick (given name), list of people and fictional characters with this name *Patrick (surname), list of people with this name People *Saint Patrick (c. 385–c. 461), Christian saint *Gilla Pátraic (died 1084), Patrick or ...

as Ernest Prodollier * Monicy Reyes as Ida Kreutner * Maximilian Simonischek as Robert Frei *

Anatole Taubman Anatole Taubman (born 23 December 1970) is a Swiss-British actor. He is best known for his performance as Elvis in ''Quantum of Solace ''Quantum of Solace'' is a 2008 spy thriller film and the twenty-second in the List of James Bond films, ...

as Sidney Dreifuss

Background

While the events in August 1938 and thereafter and most of the characters are based on facts and on historical personalities, the role of inspector Frei is fictitious.

was dismissed by the government without notice in March 1939. Two years later, Grüninger was sentenced by the district court of St. Gallen because of official misconduct and forgery to a fine: he was demoted, dismissed from the police service, sentenced to a fine, and received no pension. In 1995 the district court of St. Gallen revoked the judgment against Paul Grüninger, and in 1998 the government of the Canton of St. Gallen paid compensation to his descendants. Ostracized and accused and slandered as a womanizer and corrupt fraudsters, even as a Nazi by some people in the 2000s, the former chief of police for the rest of his life was no longer fixed point: Paul Grüninger died in 1972, nearly forgotten in Switzerland, without rehabilitation by the Swiss authorities, though in 1971, the

Yad Vashem Yad Vashem (; ) is Israel's official memorial institution to the victims of Holocaust, the Holocaust known in Hebrew language, Hebrew as the (). It is dedicated to preserving the memory of the Jews who were murdered; echoing the stories of the ...

Holocaust memorial foundation in Israel had honoured Grüninger as one of the

Righteous Among the Nations Righteous Among the Nations ( ) is a title used by Yad Vashem to describe people who, for various reasons, made an effort to assist victims, mostly Jews, who were being persecuted and exterminated by Nazi Germany, Fascist Romania, Fascist Italy, ...

. Already brought back partially into the public memory by some publications beginning in 1984, in 1999 also the so-called

Bergier Commission The Bergier commission in Bern was formed by the Swiss government on 12 December 1996 in the wake of the then ongoing World Jewish Congress lawsuit against Swiss banks accused of withholding valuables belonging to Holocaust victims. It is also kn ...

's report took part in Grüninger's rehabilitation, as well in rehabilitating the surviving people who had been convicted during the Nazi period in Switzerland for their assistance to refugees – 137 women and men got public rehabilitation in 2009. The Rhine bridge between Diepoldsau (Switzerland) and Hohenems in Austria, which was one of the locations in the film, was in the summer of 2012 named after Paul Grüninger.

Production

''Akte Grüninger'' was produced by the Swiss television broadcaster ''SRF'', and supported by the ''

arte Arte (, , ; ' ('), sometimes stylised in lowercase or uppercase in its logo) is a European Union, European public service Television channel, channel dedicated to culture. It is made up of three separate companies: the Strasbourg-based Europea ...

'' network and by the ''Fernsehfonds Austria'' foundation. The film's plot is complemented by historic cuts. Shooting took place in the canton of St. Gallen and in Austria in late 2012 and early 2013 over 11 weeks, in locations including

Mels Mels is a municipality in the ''Wahlkreis'' (constituency) of Sarganserland in the Seeztal, canton of St. Gallen, Switzerland. History Mels is first mentioned in 765 as ''Maile'' though this comes from a later copy of the original document. ...

Diepoldsau Diepoldsau is a municipality in the ''Wahlkreis'' (constituency) of Rheintal in the canton of St. Gallen in Switzerland. History Diepoldsau is first mentioned in 891 as ''Thiotpoldesouua''. Schmitter is first mentioned in 1385. It was the cro ...

and

Hohenems Hohenems (High Alemannic German, High Alemannic: ''Ems'') is a town in the Austrian States of Austria, state of Vorarlberg in the Dornbirn (district), Dornbirn district. It lies in the middle of the Austrian part of the Rhine valley. With a populat ...

, at the original locations by C-Films, Mecom Fiction GmbH and makido film; post production ended in mid-2013. Production of the film was also supported by the Swiss and Austrian authorities and some organizations, among them the Bundeamt für Kultur (EDI), Zürcher Filmstiftung, city of St. Gallen, Canton of St. Gallen, Swisslos, Vorarlberg Kultur, Landys & Gyr foundation, and Schweizerischer Israelitischer Gemeindebund (SIG).''Press map: Akte Grüninger''

Cinema and television

The film was broadcast on Arte in December 2013. On Swiss television, ''Akte Grüninger'' was shown for the last time on 19 October 2014 at 08:05 pm on

SRF 1 SRF 1 (''SRF eins'') is a German-language Swiss television channel, one of three produced by the SRG SSR public-service broadcasting group (the others being SRF zwei and SRF info). The channel, formerly known as SF1, was renamed on 16 Decemb ...

. It premiered on 23 January 2014 at the

Solothurn Film Festival The Solothurn Film Festival (SFT) is the most important festival for Swiss film productions. Founded in 1966 in the Swiss city of Solothurn, the annual festival presents a representative selection of Swiss feature, documentary, and short film prod ...

in Switzerland and on 29 January 2014 in Austria; the film was also shown in selected Swiss and Austrian cinemas beginning on 30 January 2014.

Critical response

Neue Zürcher Zeitung The (''NZZ''; "New Newspaper of Zurich") is German language daily newspaper, published by NZZ Mediengruppe in Zurich. The paper was founded in 1780. It has a reputation as a high-quality newspaper, as the German Swiss newspaper of record ...

'' claims "the film is daring in its production of Swiss history, with the neuralgic issues that it raises in quite delicate and relevant points - more than most recent movies produced in Switzerland". The film was reviewed by the teacher's association in December 2013 for educational use in Swiss schools, and recommended for general educational purposes in Austria.

Awards

* 2014: Opening film of the

* 2014:

Swiss Film Award The Swiss Film Awards (, , , ; also known as the Swiss Film Prize) are national film awards awarded in several categories of Switzerland, first given out in 1998. History Between 1998 and 2008 the prize was given during the Solothurn Film Fest ...

, nomination for Stefan Kurt as best actor

Home media

The film was released in 2014 on Blu-ray and DVD in German language.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Akte Gruninger 2013 television films 2013 films Swiss television films 2010s German-language films 2013 drama films Films shot in Switzerland Films shot in Austria Holocaust films German-language television shows Swiss German-language films