Berlin 36 is a 2009 German film telling the fate of Jewish athlete Gretel Bergmann in the 1936 Summer Olympics. She was replaced by the Nazi regime by an athlete later discovered to be a man. The film is based on a true story and was released in Germany on September 10, 2009. Reporters at Der Spiegel challenged the historical basis for many of the events in the film, pointing to arrest records and medical examinations indicating German authorities did not learn Dora Ratjen was male until 1938.
For Cologne newspaper journalist Michael Heinrich, a year-long posting as Itally correspondent is a dream coming true. His lawyer wife Susanne agrees to take her long-postponed sabbatical year there, but janitor Filippo and his hunky cousin Toni still hasn't finished the apartment in Principe Ercole's 'palazzo'. Angelic son Tobias and pubescent brat Caroline object being torn away from their world, but soon take to welcoming Romans. Roman utilities and Vatican bureaucracy test Michael's patience as well as Ercole's frisky niece Maria and Susanne's visiting parents. Controversial archaeology professor Neri offers Michael a 'steal' scoop on the missing main Etruscan sanctuary. Written by KGF Vissers
The German lightship (permanently anchored floating 'lighthouse') Borkum Riff is about to be decommissioned. For his last tour of duty, Captain Johann Freytag brings along his near-adult, estranged son Fred. The ship picks up three men stranded in a broken-down boat--who are armed. The captain tries to avoid trouble, but the crew, his son, and the trio of violent robbers on the run keep rejecting his nonviolent advice, which leads to repeated bloodshed.
