One-sheet poster for the film, “Hotel Berlin” (1945)
Extent and Medium
Overall: Height: 41.250 inches (104.775 cm) | Width: 27.250 inches (69.215 cm)
Creator(s)
- Ken Sutak (Compiler)
- Warner Bros. Pictures (Distributor)
- Warner Bros. Pictures (Production Company)
Biographical History
The Cinema Judaica Collection consists of more than 1,200 objects relating to films about World War II and the Holocaust as well as Jewish, Israeli, and biblical subjects, from 1923 to 2000, from the United States, Europe, Israel, Canada, Mexico, and Argentina. The collection was amassed by film memorabilia collector Ken Sutak, to document Holocaust-and Jewish-themed movies of the World War II era and the postwar years. The collection includes posters, lobby and photo cards, scene stills, pressbooks, trade ads, programs, magazines, books, VHS tapes, DVDS, and 78 rpm records. Sutak organized these materials into two groups, “Cinema Judaica: The War Years, 1939–1949” and “Cinema Judaica: The Epic Cycle, 1950–1972” and, in conjunction with the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion Museum (now the Dr. Bernard Heller Museum in New York), organized exhibitions on these two themes in 2007 and 2008. Sutak subsequently authored companion books with the same titles.
Archival History
The poster was donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 2018 by Ken Sutak and Sherri Venokur.
Acquisition
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection, Gift of Ken Sutak and Sherri Venokur
Scope and Content
One-sheet poster for the American film, “Hotel Berlin,” released by Warner Brothers in March 1945. “Hotel Berlin” was based on the 1943 novel of the same name by Vicki Baum, a part-Jewish immigrant from Germany. The film features characters from all walks of life, including hotel staff, Nazi officers, spies, prison escapees, and actresses. During the course of the film, their lives and motivations intersect as it becomes clear that Germany will lose the war. The characters all display some moral ambiguity, evoking a contentious level of sympathy. The end of the film displays a quoted statement, followed by the signatures of Roosevelt, Churchill, and Stalin, that they didn’t want to punish the German people as a whole, just the Nazi party and its ideology. The script was updated multiple times during filming as news came in from the front, and production on “Hotel Berlin” ended in January 1945. Warner Brothers rushed to release the film alongside the Allied push towards Berlin. The film was released just two months before the German army surrendered on May 7, 1945. This object is one of more than 1,200 objects in the Cinema Judaica Collection of materials related to films about World War II and the Holocaust as well as Jewish, Israeli, and biblical themes.
Conditions Governing Access
No restrictions on access
Conditions Governing Reproduction
Restrictions on use. Copyright status is unknown.
Physical Characteristics and Technical Requirements
Poster printed on a rectangular sheet of off-white paper, with a narrow margin on all four sides. The poster depicts a collage of images and text, printed in black ink, with the background partially shaded in red. Across the top is a line of advertising copy above the film title, made to resemble a newspaper headline. Down the right side is additional text with the film credits, and down the left side are three, black-and-white scene stills from the film, interspersed with advertising copy. Down the center are multiple images, including a blonde woman with a large flower in her hair and wearing a strappy top, and a man depicted from the neck up. In the bottom right corner is a smaller-scale image of a uniformed, Nazi officer, standing with his back to the viewer as he looks down at three dark-haired women cowering on the ground. The poster was folded into eight sections and is now heavily creased along the folds. There are tears along the creases, especially at the points where they join. The edges are worn and discolored, and there are multiple pinholes in each corner. Depicted: Andrea King as Lisa Dorn, Helmut Dantine as Martin Richter, Faye Emerson as Tillie Weiler, Peter Lorre as Johannes Koenig, others unidentified
People
- Dantine, Helmut.
- Baum, Vicki, 1888-1960.
- Lorre, Peter.
- King, Andrea, 1919-2003.
- Reicher, Frank, 1875-1965.
- Emerson, Faye.
Corporate Bodies
- Warner Bros. Pictures (1923-1967)
Subjects
- Germany.
- Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945), in motion pictures.
- National socialism in motion pictures.
- United States.
- Nazis in motion pictures.
- Women in motion pictures.
- War films.
- Germans in motion pictures.
- Film adaptations.
- Political violence in motion pictures.
Genre
- Posters.
- Object
- Posters