THE PEOPLE STAND UP

In January 1945, as the Allies were closing in on the fatherland from the east and west, the director Veit Harlan released the historical film Kolberg to motivate Germans not to give in to the Allies. The film, based on the autobiography of Joachim Nettelbeck, mayor of Kolberg in western Pomerania, depicts the successful defense of the besieged fortress against Napoleon’s troops in 1807.

 Gross Deutschland (Greater Germany) in 1937.

In March 1945, after two weeks of fierce German resistance, the city of Kolberg was taken by Russian and Polish forces.