A SOVIET FILM PORTRAYS END OF HITLER

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP75-00001R000100020014-0
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: November 17, 2016
• Document Release Date: June 6, 2000
• Sequence Number: 14
• Publication Date: November 5, 1971
• Content Type: NSPR

CI1 K r t:Ils
Approved For Release 200W
, q0t I3jku lA-RDP75-00001 R
0
t._ t liC
J 3Y t31X1)_l;r ;is 5-_/aJIAD
Soeclat to The New York 'I irrr;
MMOSC,OW, Nov. 4 The
ast. dramatic hours of'Hitl:r
Il his chancellery bunker and
hr., vast pemoraina of the bat-
e for Berlin in 1045 have
eeil reenacted in a Soviet
ilnl spectacular previewed
acre today for. the foreign
i; ess.
The 'two-part film, rinlning
I lmosc three, hours, is the.
final portion of a. film project
Ricci "Liberation," in which
oviet cillenlatographers, with
lie help of the armed forces,
; ave sought to re=create some
f the politics and the great
Tattles of World War II on
he Soviet-German front.
Tilled "The Battle for Der-
in" and "The Final Assault,"
lie last two parts of the
reject are devoted to the
olocaust of the two-week
a the for the German capital,
which cost the Red Array a
otal of 300,000 dead and
/OLlnded, according to So-
let figures.
The latest film also pro-
ides glimpses of the Yalta
onfcrence of Winston
'hurcllill, I ranklin H. Roose-
cIt and Stalin, portrays
talin sympathetically as the
'ov)et Union's wartime
Bader, and hints at Soviet
nspicions to ward the 1Vest-
rn Allies.
Allen W. Dulles, who ],ter
Beagle head of the Central
ntelligence Agency, is por-
rayedt sounding out a ]Nazi'
missary in Switzerland, and
t Yalta, a few months later,
talin is shown confronting
liurchill and Roosevelt with
evict knowledge about these
opposed feelers for a sepa-
ate peace.
The thorny Berlin issue,
,kith was to embroil East
and West after the vaur, is
alluded to in the context of
he Yalta Conference when it
ecame clear that. Soviet
The Soviet flag raised on
forces were preparing their
final assault on the city.
Churchill is heard to re-
mark privately to Roosevelt,
"If the Russians take Berlin,
it will create big difficulties
for the future."
In a Kremlin meeting on
April ), with Marshals Gcor-?
gi K. Zhul.ov and Ivan S.
IHonev, Stalin is portrayed
going over the plans for the
Berlin operation. Ile urges
the two commanders to seize
tie German capital in the
shortest possible time, warn-
fin-la them that the Western
Allies may want to get there
first.
As the canvas of the Berlin
battle unfolds, starting with
the Russians' nighttime cross.
lag of the Oder River on
April 16 in the glare of their
own searchlights, Hitler is
shown at his headquarters,
alternately flying into rages
and sinking into depressions
as his world collapses around
hiiit.
In the final events in the
bunker, the Rthrer, played by
Fri La Dietz, an East German
actor, is heard to order the
flooding of subway tunnels
filled with civilians and ,the.
wounded as. Soviet forces
approach.
"If we are lost," he says,
"tile . German nation must
also Vanish. If the Germans
have been unable to conquer
the Slavs, they are not worth
living."
Sweeping battle scenes are
generally more effective than
interspersed vignettes focus-
ing on individual soldiers.
When a tank crew liberates
concentration-camp inmates
from locked freight cars, the
prisoners in their striped garb
apear too carefully made up
and too well fed to be cred-
ible.
Similarly, relations be-
tween Soviet soldiers and
civilian Berliners strike an
unreal note. Troops invading
stores and apartments are
invited fo the dinner table or
served coffee within ? hours
FOIAb3b
ill unusual displays of frater-
nization.
Some of these episodes al-
most. distract from. the ab
sorbing enactment of the,
'hollseto-llous: ,and roofl-to-
room fighting as the Soviet ~
noose tightens on the- Ger-
man defenders.
As the storming of the
ieichstal; begins on April 30,
Hitler is shown in his bunker
bidding farewell to his asso-
ciates before killing Eva
Braun, his new bride, and
himself.
"Allies 1st au [it's all
over]," Its is heard to say in
German.
In this Soviet film version,
he forces poison down the
throat of an . unv,wIllinl-l Eva
Braun before taking it hirn-
self. His hand falters as lie
is about to put a bullet
through his temple, and an
aide is shown entering, the
room to finish the job, fille
reputed burning of the bodies
of ilitlor and Eva Bram) out-
side the bunkev is not shown.
Approved For Release 2000/06/13 : CIA-.RDP75-00001 R000100020014-0