On this day in movie history – Downfall (2004 movie & books):

 

Downfall

directed by Oliver Hirschbiegel,

written by Bernd Eichinger,

released in Munich, Germany on September 8, 2004.

Based on the books: Inside Hitler’s Bunker by Joachim Fest and Until the Final Hour by Traudl Junge and Melissa Müller.

Music by Stephan Zacharias.

Nominated for Best Foreign Language Film Oscar at the 77th Academy Awards in 2005.

Won the BBC Four World Cinema competition in 2005.

Cast: Bruno Ganz, Alexandra Maria Lara, Corinna Harfouch, Ulrich Matthes, Juliane Köhler, Heino Ferch, Christian Berkel, Matthias Habich, Thomas Kretschmann, Michael Mendl, André Hennicke, Ulrich Noethen, Birgit Minichmayr, Rolf Kanies, Justus von Dohnányi, Dieter Mann, Christian Redl, Götz Otto, Thomas Limpinsel, Thomas Thieme, Alexander Held, Donevan Gunia, Bettina Redlich, Heinrich Schmieder, Anna Thalbach, Dietrich Hollinderbäumer, Ulrike Krumbiegel, Karl Kranzkowski, Thorsten Krohn, Jürgen Tonkel, Devid Striesow, Fabian Busch, Christian Hoening, Aleksandr Slastin, Alina Sokar, Amelie Menges, Charlotte Stoiber, Gregory Borlein, Julia Bauer, Laura Borlein, Andrey Blagoslovenski, Dirk Borchardt, Elizaveta Boyarskaya, Michael Brandner, I. Bubenchikov, Leopold von Buttlar, Martin Butzke, Dmitriy Bykovskiy-Romashov, Sergey Evseev, Mathias Gnädinger, Bohdan Graczyk, Sergey Rublev, Norbert Heckner, Enno Hesse, Evgeniy Ilovayskiy, Julia Jentsch, Oleg Khoroshilov, Michael Kind, Elisabeth von Koch, Tara Marie Linke, Michael Lippold, Konstantin Lukashov, Stefan Mehren, Ilya Mozgovoy, Silke Nikowski, Alexei Oleinikov, Oleg Piminov, Katerina Poladjan, Oleg Popov, Silke Popp, Vasiliy Reutov, Igor Romanov, Tanja Schleiff, Christian Schmidt, August Schmölzer, Jurij Schrader, Boris Schwarzmann, Mariya Semyonova, Igor Sergeev, Valeri Slavinski, Valeriy Salomakhin, Hans H. Steinberg, Klaus-Jürgen Steinmann, Oliver Stritzel, Veit Stübner, Mikhail Tryasorukov, Vsevolod Tsurilo, Klaus B. Wolf, Elena Dreyden, Tatyana Zhuravlyova, Frank Brandes, Thomas Franke, Traudl Junge, Martin Kessler, Henning Peker, Dieter Rupp, Aleksandr Styopin.

Recommended reading:

Inside Hitler's Bunker: The Last Days of the Third Reich

by Joachim Fest.

Translated by Margot Bettauer Dembo.
Published by Picador.
Published 2002.
ISBN-10: 0312423926
ISBN-13: 978-0312423926

Description:

Fest describes in riveting detail the final weeks of the war, from the desperate battles that raged night and day in the ruins of Berlin, fought by boys and old men, to the growing paranoia that marked Hitler's mental state, to his suicide and the efforts of his loyal aides to destroy his body before the advancing Russian armies reached Berlin. Inside Hitler's Bunker combines meticulous research with spellbinding storytelling and sheds light on events that, for those who survived them, were nothing less than the end of the world.

"A riveting book." – Henry A. Kissinger.

"Fest's concise volume is clear – indeed, even elegant – in its style and keen in its observations." – The Dallas Morning-News.

"Fest brings a unique perspective to his subject, coupling objective narrative with a keen critical disdain for Hitler and his subordinates." – The Roanoke Times.

"A lifetime of reflection on the Nazi period is distilled in a short but diligently written and incisive book." – Michael Burleigh, author of The Third Reich: A New History.

Joachim Fest was born in Berlin in 1926. His previous books include The Face of the Third Reich; Hitler, his celebrated biography of Adolf Hitler; Plotting Hitler's Death; and Speer: The Final Verdict, for which he has won numerous awards. A film adaptation of Inside Hitler's Bunker, entitled Downfall, has become a European blockbuster.

Until the Final Hour: Hitler's Last Secretary

by Traudl Junge.

Edited by Melissa Müller.
Published by Orion Paperbacks.
Published 2002.
ISBN-10: 0753820552
ISBN-13: 978-0753820551

Description:

Offering a unique insider's perspective on Adolf Hitler and the final days of the Third Reich, the personal recollections of a woman who became Hitler's secretary at the age of twenty-two in 1942 sheds new light on Hitler's day-to-day life, character, and habits, while chronicling a young woman's discovery of the evil that lurked behind the pleasant façade of the man for whom she worked.