Fog in August (2016)

Fog in August is the English title of a historical drama based on a true story: the life of Ernst Lossa (1929-1944) and the program of involuntary euthanasia conducted in Nazi Germany during World War Two (known today as “Aktion T4”). Here is some basic information about this drama which premiered in 2016:

** Original German title: Nebel im August 
** Director: Kai Wessel
** Producer: Ulrich Limmer
** Screenplay written by Holger Karsten Schmidt

** Based on a book by Robert Domes

** Soundtrack: German – no English subtitles!
** Released on DVD in 2017
** Run time: 126 minutes

The cast includes the following:

** Ivo Pietzcker as Ernst Lossa
** Sebastian Koch as Dr Walter Veithausen
** Fritzi Haberlandt as Matron Sophia
** Henriette Confurius as Edith Kiefer – a nurse

** Thomas Schubert as Paul Hechtle – Veithausen’s assistant

** Branko Samarovski as Max Witt – the janitor
** Carla Karsten as Amelie Riemann
** Jule Hermann as Nandl

Robert Domes is a German journalist and author, who was born in 1961. His book about Ernst Lossa was published in 2008: Nebel im August: Die Lebensgeschichte des Ernst Lossa.

Since this movie is based on a true story, the basic facts are part of the public record. They are not a secret. Therefore I feel free to mention some of them here.

While this movie is based on a true story, it is not a documentary film. It is a dramatized version of events. Some details have been changed; and some details have been added. Not everything happened exactly as shown in the movie, but the basic story is true.

This movie focuses on the last year of Ernst Lossa’s life and on the program of involuntary euthanasia that was conducted in Nazi Germany during the war. The Nazi authorities wanted to get rid of “unwanted people,” so they started a program to kill them.

They knew this policy would not be popular with everyone, so they decided to be discreet. They did not want too much publicity. They began exterminating people who were placed in mental hospitals.

Ernst Lossa was placed in a mental hospital (Kloster Irsee). Not because he had mental problems, but because he was a difficult child. He did not fit in anywhere. He mother had passed away, but his father was still alive. Ernst and his father wanted to be together, but the authorities had separated them, because the father was a travelling salesman. He did not have a permanent address. So Ernst ended up in a mental hospital.

The Lossa family were members of a minority group: gypsies or Roma or Romani. This fact was one more reason why the German authorities did not wish to help this family.

In the movie, the mental hospital is run by Doctor Walter Veithausen, who seems to be a nice man. When Ernst arrives, he has bruises on his body, because he was beaten up in the place where he had been before. Veithausen says: 

“Nobody is beaten up here.”

This sounds good, but the doctor’s friendly façade is misleading. The doctor is an important part of the German program for involuntary euthanasia. At this hospital, he decides who will live and who will die.

In the movie we follow Ernst and the people around him: patients and staff; people who are placed in the hospital and people who work there. After a while, Ernst realizes what is going on when some patients suddenly die without a plausible reason. He realizes that the doctor and his staff are systematically killing “unwanted people.”

In the end Ernst was chosen by the doctor. He was killed on 9 August 1944. He was only 14 years old. The story of his short life is used to illustrate what happened to the victims of the Nazi program for involuntary euthanasia.

What do reviewers say about this movie? On IMDb it has a rating of 72 per cent, which corresponds to 3.6 stars on Amazon. If you ask me, this average rating is too low.

On the German version of Amazon there are more than 80 reviews of this product. The average rating is 4.6 stars. If you ask me, this average rating is much more appropriate. I want to go all the way to the top with this product. I think it deserves a rating of five stars. Why?

The script is well-written and the actors play their roles well. The story is captivating, dramatic and often highly emotional. In addition, it is based on a true story.

There are many books and movies about Germany and World War Two. The topic has been explored in many ways. This movie offers an angle which is unusual. This is one more reason why I want to give this product a high rating.

PS # 1. In the movie, the doctor is called Walter Veithausen. His real name is Valentin Faltlhauser (1876-1961). After the war (in 1948), he was charged with crimes against humanity and he was sentenced to three years in prison. However, the implementation was delayed several times. And in 1954, his sentence was vacated. Therefore he never served any time in prison for the crimes he had committed during the war.

PS # 2. In 2009 a memorial stone was placed in the garden of Kloster Irsee where Ernst Lossa lived the last year of his life. The German inscription says: “Ernst Lossa lived here.”

PS # 3. For more information, see the following books:

** The Nazi Doctors: Medical Killing and the Psychology of Genocide by Robert J. Lifton (1986, 1988)

** Deadly Medicine: Creating the Master Race edited by Susan Bachrach (2004) 

PS # 4. The topic involuntary euthanasia is the subject of the following movie: Ich werde nicht schweigen. This historical drama premiered on German television (ZDF) in 2017.

*****

 

Memorial for Ernst Lossa

Kloster Irsee 2009 

*****