ROSENSTRASSE
aka THE WOMEN OF ROSENSTRASSE

Year: 2003
USA: Samuel Goldwyn Films
Cast: Katja Riemann, Maria Schrader, Jurgen Vogel, Doris Schade, Jutta Lampe, Svea Lohde, Martin Feifel, Fedja Van Huêt, Carola Regnier, Plien Van Bennekom, Romijn Conen, Julia Eggert, Thekla Reuten, Jutta Wachowiak, Jan Decleir, Lena Stolze, Edwin De Vries, Carine Crutzen, Lilian Schiffer, Sarah Nemitz, Rainer Strecker, Peter Ender, Roland Silbernagl, Katalin Zsigmondy, Hans-Peter Hallwachs, Gaby Dohm, Isolde Barth, Fritz Lichtenhahn, Nina Kunzendorf, Martin Wuttke, Hans Kremer, Wolfgang Pregler, Claudia Rieschel
Director: Margarethe von Trotta
Countries: Germany / Netherlands (English subtitles)
USA: 136 mins
USA Rated: PG-13 for mature thematic material, some violence and brief drug content
USA Release Date: 20 August 2004 (Limited Release)

Synopsis

In Berlin in 1943 on a street called Rosenstrasse, Jewish men were rounded up for deportation to concentration camps and certain death. Based on a true story, their Aryan wives fought to save their lives. This little known and powerful struggle of their ultimate success is both moving and inspirational, and shows that there is nothing stronger than the power of love. ROSENSTRASSE is unique because it is the first feature film on this subject presented from a truly German point of view.

Featuring Venice International Film Festival Best Actress Award Winner and European Film Award nominee Katja Riemann and Maria Schrader, ROSENSTRASSE has been selected for the Venice, AFI and Toronto International film festivals and won the David Di Donatello Award for Best European Film. The film was written and directed by renowned German filmmaker Margarethe von Trotta.

In Berlin's Rosenstrasse in the spring of 1943, hundreds of Aryan women achieved the impossible through peaceful protest: Jews from intermarriages, so-called "Aryans by marriage," were released by the Gestapo, and, in some cases, prisoners who had already been deported to Auschwitz were brought back and released.

The story of creating ROSENSTRASSE is one of resolve and determination. Margarethe von Trotta was on a mission to get this story made into a film. The story of Rosenstrasse was personal for Margarethe who, as a German, struggled all of her life to understand why the "good Germans" remained silent during this horrific period in Germany. When she came upon this true story of resistance, she was immediately attracted to the material. She started working on the script in 1994, but the film came together after several meetings with producers Richard Schöps, Markus Zimmer and Henrik Meyer.