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The counterfeiters (Die fälscher) - Karl Markovics, August Diehl, Devid Striesow, Stefan Ruzowitzky

Threat advisory: Elevated - Significant risk of entertaining activities

Movie propaganda

It takes a clever man to make money. It takes a genius to stay alive.

The counterfeiters (Die fälscher) starts in Monte Carlo during World War II. Salomon Sorowitsch (Karl Markovics), king of fraudsters in a world of gamblers, gigolos and easy women, is forced by the Nazis to use his counterfeiting talents in a secret forging factory. Like other Jewish printers, bankers & artists recruited in Operation Bernhard, he escaped the horrific treatment given to most prisoners but was still unsure if he would come out alive.

Based on Adolf Burger's memoirs of the Nazi period, this film tells an incredible true story. Operation Bernhard remains the most successful and secretive counterfeiting operation ever produced.

Theatrical propaganda posters

The counterfeiters (Die fälscher) theatrical one sheet image

Target demographic movie keyword propaganda

Film crime Germany true World War II Nazi counterfeit forging Jew secret operation biography currency

Persons of interest

Karl Markovics .... Salomon Sorowitsch
August Diehl .... Adolf Burger
Devid Striesow .... Friedrich Herzog
Martin Brambach .... Holst
August Zirner .... Dr Klinger
Veit Stübner .... Atze
Sebastian Urzendowsky .... Kolya Karloff
Andreas Schmidt .... Zilinski
Tilo Prückner .... Dr Viktor Hahn
Lenn Kudrjawizki .... Loszek
Marie Bäumer .... Aglaya
Arndt Schwering-Sohnrey .... Hans
Dolores Chaplin .... Die Rothaarige
Werner Daehn .... Rosenthal
Daniel Klisa .... Junger Offizier
Erik Jan Rippmann .... Bankdirektor
Adolf Burger .... Author
Stefan Ruzowitzky .... Screenwriter
Stefan Ruzowitzky .... Director

Cinematic intelligence sources

The counterfeiters (Die fälscher) official movie site
The counterfeiters (Die fälscher) film production notes
The counterfeiters (Die fälscher) QuickTime movie trailers
Awards and film festivals:

Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS - Oscars) 2008: Won: Best Foreign Language Film of the Year
Australian German Film Festival 2008: Screening
Berlin International Film Festival 2007: Nominated: Golden Berlin Bear (Stefan Ruzowitzky)
German Film Awards 2007: Won: Film Award in Gold: Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role (Devid Striesow); Nominated: Film Award in Gold: Best Cinematography (Benedict Neuenfels), Best Costume Design (Nicole Fischnaller), Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role (Karl Markovics), Best Production Design (Isidor Wimmer), Best Screenplay (Stefan Ruzowitzky), Outstanding Feature Film (Nina Bohlmann, Babette Schröder, Josef Aichholzer)

NB: German language dialogue with English language subtitles
Studios and distributors:

Madman Cinema

Intelligence analyst

Special Agent Matti

Theatrical report

Well, we all know that the National Socialists are evil bastards and The counterfeiters (Die fälscher) does nothing to question this but what we do get is the ethical dilemma faced by their biggest victims, the Jews.

For me, the Jewish Question has always been, "Why did they stay in Germany, knowing that the Nazis were out to get them?" I understand that there will always be some people who don't want to leave their home and that there are some people who don't think that things will get worse and that there are some people who are simply in denial but when millions of people deny the evil actions of their government you end up with a massacre. Sure, a lot of Jewish people got out while the going was good but you'd think that after a few millennia of oppression they'd have better bullshit detectors. Not that I'm blaming the victims for the crime committed against them.

Devid Striesow does a great job of showing the schizophrenic nature of the Nazis, such as proclaiming the superiority of the Aryan races on the one hand and relying on Jews for his career prospects. What really does my head in, however, is seeing Bezirksinspektor Stockinger take on the SS. Heck, he was afraid of Kommissar Rex!

The crime, Germany, true movie The counterfeiters (Die fälscher) is directed by Stefan Ruzowitzky and stars Karl Markovics, August Diehl, Devid Striesow.