''The Interpreter of Silence'' is a 2023 German

historical drama A historical drama (also period drama, period piece or just period) is a dramatic work set in the past, usually used in the context of film and television, which presents history, historical events and characters with varying degrees of fiction s ...

television limited series based on the 2018 novel ''Deutsches Haus'' (''The German House'') by Annette Hess. The world premiere took place on November 8, 2023, at the Zoo Palast in

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

. The five-episode series was released on

Disney+ The Walt Disney Company, commonly referred to as simply Disney, is an American multinational mass media and entertainment industry, entertainment conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios (Burbank), Walt Di ...

on November 15, 2023, as Star Original. The series has received critical acclaim, praising directing, writing as well as the lead performances. It received a nomination at the

29th Critics' Choice Awards The 29th Critics' Choice Awards were presented on January 14, 2024, at the Barker Hangar at the Santa Monica Airport in Santa Monica, California, honoring the finest achievements of filmmaking and television programming in 2023. The ceremony ...

for "Best Foreign Language Series".

Synopsis

In the backdrop of

Frankfurt am Main Frankfurt am Main () is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Hesse. Its 773,068 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the List of cities in Germany by population, fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located in the forela ...

in 1963, Eva Bruhns, a young woman working as an interpreter for Polish language, lives with her family above the "Deutsches Haus", a renowned pub that is run by her parents Edith and Ludwig. Eva is unexpectedly summoned to the court for a criminal trial, necessitating her services as an interpreter. Initially assuming it's a routine commercial or contract law case, she unwittingly translates witness statements using business terms, only to discover, when corrected by the prosecutor, that it is the first Auschwitz trial in Frankfurt – prosecuting former SS members for crimes at the

Auschwitz concentration camp Auschwitz, or Oświęcim, was a complex of over 40 Nazi concentration camps, concentration and extermination camps operated by Nazi Germany in Polish areas annexed by Nazi Germany, occupied Poland (in a portion annexed into Germany in 1939) d ...

. Despite facing opposition from her parents and well-to-do fiancé Jürgen and having never heard of Auschwitz before, Eva feels an internal obligation to persist as an interpreter. As the trial unfolds, she comprehends the staggering extent of the

Nazi Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...

extermination machinery, realizing a personal connection to this harrowing place. Amid the prevailing hypocritical normality of post-war Germany, Eva proceeds in her role in court, unveiling a concealed chapter of history marked by atrocities, suffering, and guilt. Undeterred by generational suppression, she tenaciously advances the criminal case while confronting the secrets of her very own family entwined with a brutal truth.

Cast and characters

Main

* Katharina Stark as Eva Bruhns, an interpreter for Polish language who takes part in court as translator in the

Frankfurt Auschwitz trials The Frankfurt Auschwitz trials, known in German language, German as , was a series of three trials running from 20 December 1963 to 14 June 1968, charging 25 defendants under German criminal law for their roles in the Holocaust as mid- to lower- ...

Aaron Altaras Aaron Altaras (born 21 November 1995) is a German actor. Altaras was born in Berlin, the son of Adriana Altaras and Wolfgang Böhmer. Altaras' mother, a Croatian Jew, was forced to escape Croatia with her parents, Jakob and Thea Altaras, beca ...

as David Miller, a representative of the prosecution * Max von der Groeben as Hans Kübler, a state prosecutor in the trial * Thomas Prenn as Jürgen Schoormann, Eva's fiancé-to-be and heir of his father's mail-order company *

Anke Engelke Anke Christina Fischer ( Engelke; born 21 December 1965) is a German comedian, actress, voice actress and television presenter. Personal life Born in Montreal, Canada, Engelke moved to Cologne, Germany in 1971 with her German parents. Early ...

as Edith Bruhns, Eva's mother who runs the restaurant ''Deutsches Haus'' with her husband Ludwig *

Iris Berben Iris Renate Dorothea Berben (, born 12 August 1950) is a German actress. Biography Berben was born in Detmold, North Rhine-Westphalia. She grew up in Hamburg, where her parents ran a restaurant. Berben has appeared in about 150 film and televi ...

as Rachel Cohen, a Jewish Auschwitz survivor and witness to the prosecution *

Heiner Lauterbach Heiner Lauterbach (; born 10 April 1953) is a German actor. Life and work Heiner Lauterbach was married to German actress Katja Flint who is the mother of his son Oscar (born 1988). Later he had a relationship with Jenny Elvers. Since 7 S ...

as Wilhelm Boger, a defendant in the trial * Hans-Jochen Wagner as Ludwig Bruhns, Eva's father who runs the restaurant ''Deutsches Haus'' with his wife Edith * Ricarda Seifried as Annegret Bruhns, Eva's sister who works as a nurse in a hospital * Uwe Preuss as Hans Hofmeyer, the Chief Judge in the trial *

Sabin Tambrea Sabin Tambrea (born 18 November 1984) is a German actor. He is best known for his role as Ludwig II of Bavaria in ''Ludwig II (2012 film), Ludwig II''. Personal life Tambrea was born in Romania and moved to Germany at the age of three. He marrie ...

as Dr. Fritz Jerichow, a counsel for the defense in the trial *

Henry Hübchen Henry Hübchen (born 20 February 1947 in Berlin) is a German actor who played the title character in the award-winning 2004 film ''Alles auf Zucker!, Go for Zucker''. That performance earned him a Deutscher Filmpreis, Lola, Germany's equivalent ...

as Walther Schoormann, Jürgen's father and owner of a mail-order company

Recurring

* Thomas Bading as Fritz Bauer, the lead prosecutor in the trial * Martin Horn as Robert Mulka, a defendant in the trial

Episodes

Reception

The reviews of the limited series were very positive. The online magazine ''

Neues Deutschland (, , abbr. nd) is a left-wing German daily newspaper, headquarters, headquartered in Berlin. For 43 years it was the official party newspaper of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED), which governed East Germany (officially known as the ...

'' described ''The Interpreter of Silence'' as the best real-life fiction the genre has ever produced. The ''

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 ...

'' also praised the series as an "outstanding mini-series" that captures the "mendacious silence in post-war Germany". According to the ''

Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung The (; ''FAZ''; "Frankfurt General Newspaper") is a German newspaper founded in 1949. It is published daily in Frankfurt and is considered a newspaper of record for Germany. Its Sunday edition is the ''Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung'' ( ...

'', the strengths of the miniseries lie above all in the dramaturgy, "which attempts to do justice to the subject matter with as many facets as possible, without being overly didactic".

BR24 BR24 is a cross-platform news brand of German public broadcaster Bayerischer Rundfunk (BR) which is at the same time a news website, a 24/7 news radio station Radio broadcasting is the broadcasting of audio (sound), sometimes with related ...

reviewed it as "the best German series of the year".

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Interpreter Of Silence 2020s German television miniseries 2023 German television series debuts 2023 German television series endings Television series about the aftermath of the Holocaust Television series set in 1963 Television series set in 1964 Television series set in 1965 Television shows set in Frankfurt German-language television shows Star (Disney+) original programming