19 Breathtaking Movies About Nazi Germany

11.01.2023 - 00:44

Nazi Germany is a topic that has been explored in film for many years. These films offer a glimpse into the dark history of the Nazi regime and the devastating impact it had on the world. From biopics about key figures in Nazi leadership to fictionalized accounts of life under the regime, these films are both powerful and thought-provoking. In this list, we've compiled 19 of the most breathtaking films about Nazi Germany. Each one offers a unique perspective on this tumultuous period in history and is sure to leave a lasting impression on audiences.

1. Lore (2012)

Nazi forces stopped their activities in Germany after World War II, and the country has now come under the occupation of the allied forces. Young Lore heard his parents arguing about leaving their place of residence, she saw her father setting some of his documents on fire... It's time to leave their home. During this escape, when her Nazi-minded parents are arrested by opposing forces, Lore and her four younger siblings are left all alone in this brutal atmosphere. The young girl will try to reach her grandmother's house in Hamburg by taking her four siblings with her as taught by her parents. The road to Hamburg is full of dangers, and in order to avoid these dangers, she will have to cooperate with a mysterious Jew.

IMDb: 7,1

2. Valkyrie (2008)

During the World War II, a group of German officers who agree among themselves plan to assassinate Adolf Hitler. They also start using their powers to put an end to the war and conduct a number of secret negotiations. As a result of the operation they call Valkyrie, they manage to start a rebellion against the Nazi government. Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg, who is at the head of the operation, is played by the successful actor Tom Cruise. Colonel Stauffenberg, who has also taken an important place in history, is ready to risk everything for this purpose.

IMDb: 7,1

3. Race (2016)

Jesse Owens (Stephan James) is the first person in his family to have a chance to go to college. Owens, who managed to impress Ohio State University athletics coach Larry Snyder (Jason Sudeikis) with his speed in a short time, finds a chance to participate in the Olympics to be held in Berlin in 1936, when the United States also abandons the boycott. However, Germany, led by Adolf Hitler, plans to dominate all branches and to show the superiority of the Aryan race to the whole world.

The film tells the true story of Jesse Owens, who is considered one of the greatest athletes in the history of the USA and sports and who made his mark with the 4 gold medals he won at the 1936 Berlin Olympics.

IMDb: 7,1

4. Lili Marleen (1981)

Lili Marleen is the performer of a song that became very popular among German soldiers during World War II. The film is about a period starting in 1938 and extending until the end of the war in the light of Lili Marleen's experiences. The author of the song is Lili's lover of Jewish origin named Robert, and with the outbreak of the war, Robert joins the resistance. Lili stays in Germany and continues to work, and the song becomes so famous that Lili Marleen is forced to give a special concert to Hitler. On the other hand, Robert tries to sneak into Berlin to see Lili one last time.

IMDb: 7,1

5. Mother Night (1996)

Is he a traitor, a hero, or both? American playwright Howard W. Campbell Jr. (Nick Nolte) and his beautiful wife Helga (Sheryl Lee), a German actress, continue their lives before World War II in Berlin. Campbell has a reputation as a influential speaker in those days when anti-Americanism and anti-Semitism are at a premium. His wife has no idea that in reality Campbell is in a number of secret negotiations about espionage and that if he is caught, he will renounce all ties to America.

IMDb: 7,1

6. Hannah Arendt (2012)

This film tells the life story of Hannah Arendt, the inventor of the term 'banality of evil' (and author of the famous book of the same name), who reported on the case of Nazi officer Adolf Eichmann, who was taken to Israel by Mossad agents after being captured in Argentina in 1960. Although this film takes place many years after the end of the war, it is one of the solid works that must be watched to understand Nazi Germany.

IMDb: 7,1

7. La caduta degli dei (1969)

Master director Luchino Visconti's film follows the material, spiritual and moral collapse of a long-established and wealthy German family during the rise of the 'Third Reich'.

IMDb: 7,5

8. The Book Thief (2013)

Liesel Meminger becomes the spiritual daughter of a family in Germany during the Second World War when she is only nine years old. Liesel, who has learned to read and loves it very much thanks to her beloved family and Max, an asylum seeker staying at their house, forms a deep connection with books. For Max and brave Liesel, the only way to get away from all the evil happening in the world around them is the dream world that books and words offer them. But the Jew Max, who is hiding in the basement, is constantly on edge…

IMDb: 7,5

9. Europa Europa (1990)

In the bloody atmosphere of the Second World War, Solomon Perel mixes into the Hitler youth, hiding his true identity for the sake of survival. Although his concealment that he is Jewish and his unexpected success in the army will suddenly cause him to be considered a war hero, the tragedy in which he lives will affect his entire life. Adapted from a real-life story, the film is one of the influential works on the shattered lives and families divided by the war.

IMDb: 7,6

10. Fury (2014)

This film takes place in April 1945, in the last days of the Second World War, and the platoon consisting of Commander Wardaddy, gunner Boyd Swan, loader Grady Travis, driver Trini Garcia and assistant driver Norman, has to face 300 enemy soldiers and fight against all odds in 24 hours. A small team of five soldiers stays in the middle of the war in Germany with their armored tanks, and this team consists of the last American army soldiers left in the region. In addition to the fact that the unit consists of a small number of soldiers, it is also in a very difficult situation in terms of ammunition. The last task of Sergeant Wardaddy, who commands the group, in this war that has devastated the whole of Europe, is to get his soldiers out of this area, which is under siege by Nazi troops. David Ayer is the director and screenwriter of the war drama set in 1945, one of the bloodiest years of the twentieth century, which deals with a day spent by a platoon. The film stars Brad Pitt, Shia LaBeouf and Logan Lerman.

IMDb: 7,6

11. Conspiracy (2001)

Nazi officers and SS leaders come together at the Wannsee Conference of 1942 to decisively solve the Jewish problem. After long discussions, they decide to implement the plan to expel the historical Jews from Europe. Their decision is pregnant with one of the most terrible and shameful events in the history of mankind.

IMDb: 7,7

12. A Time to Love and a Time to Die (1958)

Directed by Douglas Sirk, a master of the melodrama genre, 'A Time to Love and a Time to Die' is about the German soldier Ernst Graeber, who fought on the Russian front in 1944, taking a leave of absence to visit his family in Germany and the situation Germany was in at that time.

IMDb: 7,7

13. Mephisto (1981)

Hendrik Hoefgen is a very successful theater artist. In the 1930s, when the world was rapidly being thrown into a new world war, he was acting in representations that enthusiastically attracted large audiences to the theater hall and achieved great success.

In the turmoil and dictatorship regime in the country after the Nazi party came to power, while many of his friends and loved people are subjected to Nazi terror, Hendrik takes a very political stance, thinking only about his career. But as time progresses, the oppressive environment in which he lives also begins to interfere with his art and enters into important questions about art, politics, individuality and his life.

IMDb: 7,8

14. Die Ehe der Maria Braun (1979)

Maria, a young and beautiful woman, loses her husband in the Second World War. After the death of her husband, Maria, who needs to earn money to get through the economic depression that Germany is experiencing, will use her mind and femininity for this.

The Story of a Marriage (Maria Braun's Marriage), the first link of Fassbinder's 'BRD Trilogy' focusing on the economic situation of West Germany after the Second World War, was also nominated for the Golden Globe for 'Best Foreign Language Film' in 1980.

IMDb: 7,8

15. Jojo Rabbit (2019)

Jojo Rabbit is the story of a teenager who finds out that his mother is hiding a girl in their house. A boy named Jojo Betzler, who took part in Hitler's youth camps, learns that his mother secretly hosted a Jewish girl in their house. The girl is staying in the attic of their house. Of course, this situation will lead to a big mess in the mind of Jojo, whose closest confidante is his imaginary friend Adolf Hitler. Hitler, his imaginary friend, is not at all like in the original. Jojo has to fight to stand up to this terrible racism.

IMDb: 7,9

16. Stalag 17 (1953)

Dozens of American soldiers, as well as people of various nationalities, are being held captive in a Nazi camp stationed in the Luftwaffe area during the Second World War. The captured American soldiers make an escape plan between them, and as a first step, a soldier named Manfredi and Johnson decamp one night. However, while they are moving through the tunnel, they encounter a fiery attack and lose their lives. After this incident, the soldiers, who have begun to suspect that there is an informant among them who is leaking news to the Germans, will try to crack this case.

Directed by Billy Wilder and Edwin Blum, the film is adapted from the Broadway play of the same name.

IMDb: 8

17. Ivanovo detstvo (1962)

Twelve-year-old Ivan, whose village was razed by the Nazis in the Second World War, manages to escape from the prison camp. Captain Kholin and other officers from the Soviet army take care of this boy. Ivan, who wants to be sent to school like a normal child, intends to be in the military. With his tiny body, he begins to spy behind the enemy lines.

IMDb: 8,1

18. Der Untergang (2004)

The last days of World War II are taking place and Berlin is now an occupied city. But Hitler does not agree to leave the city. In 'The Collapse', Hitler's last days are told through the eyes of his private secretary Traudl Junge. Unable to accept defeat and unwilling to surrender to the enemy, Führer marries Eva Braun before committing suicide, and they commit suicide together. The situation of many people who have followed the Führer for many years is no different. The fascist Goebels will also destroy his children first and then himself to show his loyalty to his 'Führer'.

IMDb: 8,2

19. Nuit et Brouillard (1956)

The year is 1955. Ten years after the end of the Second World War, the committee asks director Alain Resnais to make a documentary about the Nazi concentration camps. 'Nuit et Brouillard' (Night and Fog) tracks the ghost of the past in the Orianenbourg, Auschwitz, Dachau, Ravensbruck, Belsen, Neuengamme, Struthof camps, while witnessing the terrible and tragic events experienced by those sent to the camps accompanied by external sound and archival footage of Jean Cyrol.

IMDb: 8,6