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German Version
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New release - YOU ENTER GERMANY 2 |
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YOU
ENTER GERMANY |
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Bloody
Huertgen and the Siegfried Line |
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The
Battle of Huertgen Forest and along the Siegfried Line from 1944 to 1945
is one of the last great myths of World War II. It is known as the "longest
battle on German soil", as well as the "Verdun in the Eifel",
as the largest American defeat in Europe. Even the official US-military
history speaks of Huertgen Forest as "a black-green ocean of forest,
in which Hansel and Gretel had lost their way". Hemingway called the
Eifel woods the "forest, where dragons live". Dragons' teeth,
the Siegfried line, the Green Hell - terms that remind one of old German
myths and fairy tales, of the Nibelungenlied, of the Nazi propaganda about
the "eternal forest", of stories of ghosts and evil witches in
the deep woods.
Even today, people still speak of the more than 68,000 dead in the Huertgen
Forest and the "All Soul's Day battle" near Vossenack and Schmidt
is taught at the School for Command Preparation at Fort Leavensworth, USA,
as an American disaster. James Gavin, commander of the 82nd Airborne Division,
called the "Bloody Huertgen" a "battle that never should
have been fought". Perhaps this is the reason that this historic battle
is always in the shadow of glowing victories like the Normandy landings
and the crossing of the Rhine at Remagen.
For the first time since the fighting over sixty years ago, a film team
has now set out to track down the myths and legends and to research the
real reasons for this "forgotten battle". After years of research,
several surviving veterans in Germany and the United States have been interviewed.
Never before seen film footage from the US National Archives and private
archives are impressive evidence of the war, the signs of which can still
be seen in the forests to this day.
The moving interviews with eyewitnesses like the famous photographer Tony
Vaccaro or the future Princeton Professor and German emigrant Werner "Tom"
Angress underscore the senselessness and brutality of the war as does the
statement of the German veteran Kurt Menzel: "Today, I am thankful
that I lost my arm on that first day. As a result, I was never able to kill
anyone."
The project was supported by the Konejung Stiftung: Kultur.
Script:
Achim Konejung |
Camera:
Daniel Toelke
Liam A Casey |
Editing:
Birgit Köster |
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Music:
George Villabour |
Production:
Jürgen Teves |
Direction:
Aribert Weis
>
www.aribert-weis.de |
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Film excerpt
YOU ENTER GERMANY
Bloody Huertgen and the Siegfried
Line
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Huertgenwald-Maps: |
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>
Battle for Schmidt November 1944 |
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>
Huertgen Forest 1944 |
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>
Battle for the Rhineland 1944 - 45 |
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All
Maps © Copyright 2007 by Konejung Stiftung: Kultur.
Layout by: Map-o-graphix
This material is copyrighted but free for private usage. In any other case
it may only be used with written permission. |
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Shooting during
a snowstorm on the German-Belgian border near Losheim, starting point
of Hitler's Ardenne Offensive on 12/16/1944. Photo of executive producer
Jürgen Teves and director Aribert Weis. |
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Filming with
camera cable car at the Huertgen memorial cemetery, one of two German
military cemeteries, where more than 5300 soldiers are buried. |
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Cameraman Daniel
Toelke above the so-called Kall trail, site of the American defeat
in November of 1944. This steep and narrow valley is more well-known
in the USA than in Germany and was the site of the HBO Films production
"When Trumpets Fade", for example. |
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Scriptwriter
Achim Konejung at the Mestreng Mill. |
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Preparation for
low-altitude filming in the Huertgen Forest with an enclosed ultralight
aircraft.
From left to right: Toelke, Weis, pilot Ahrweiler. |
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Shooting in the
snow-covered Huertgen Forest. Hundreds of soldiers are still missing
in this forest. |
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Executive Producer
Jürgen Teves during nighttime filming along the "Buhlert"
chain of bunkers during a snowstorm. |
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So-called "Höckerlinie"
near Simmerath, part of the Siegfried Line built after 1938. These
concrete protrusions, which were dubbed "Dragon Teeth" by
the Americans, were intended as tank traps, but were largely useless
by the year 1944. |
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Eyewitness Kurt
Menzel at the site where he was wounded. Menzel came to the Huertgen
Forest as a Luftwaffe recruit and was severely wounded there on his
first day of service. Today, he is thankful that he lost his arm there,
because - as he stated in the interview - "As a result, I was
never able to kill anyone". |
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Shooting in the
Huertgen Forest,
from left to right: scriptwriter Achim Konejung, executive producer
Jürgen Teves, director Aribert Weis. [1] |
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Tony Vaccaro,
world-famous photographer ("Entering Germany") and veteran
of the campaign from Normandy to the Huertgen Forest to the Elbe,
during the interview. |
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Director Aribert
Weis.
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>
www.aribert-weis.de |
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©
All photos: Konejung Stiftung: Kultur except for [1] © Arne Esser
All photos can be reproduced if the copyright is acknowledged. |
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Additional
information:
Konejung Stiftung: Kultur
Amandusstr. 8
52391 Vettweiß
Germany
Tel: +49 2424 - 202 346
Extension: 202 348
Fax : +49 2424 - 202 347
www.konejung-stiftung.de
info@konejung-stiftung.de
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