The Oppenheim Family


The Oppenheim Family is a 1938 Soviet drama film, directed by Grigori Roshal. One of the earliest film directly dealing with the persecution of Jews in Nazi Germany, it is based on the 1933 novel by Lion Feuchtwanger The Oppermanns.

Plot

The story follows a Jewish family in early 1930s Germany as they navigate the rise of Nazi ideology.
Dr. Heinzius, a literature scholar and teacher at Queen Louise Gymnasium, dies in a scuffle with a drunken Nazi. His position is taken over by Professor Vogelzang, a Nazi supporter. Vogelzang humiliates Berthold Oppenheim, a Jewish student, during their first class and challenges him to present a report on Arminius the Germanic after dismissing his original topic, "Humanism and the 20th Century."
Meanwhile, Berthold’s father, Martin Oppenheim, refuses to merge his successful furniture business with a rival’s, dismissing concerns about the growing antisemitism. Berthold’s uncle, the skilled surgeon Edgar Oppenheim, works with his assistant Yakobi and treats the father of Berthold's friend Richard. Richard meets Berthold’s cousin, Ruth, at the hospital, sparking a connection.
That evening, the Oppenheim family celebrates Berthold’s 17th birthday. The event is disrupted when a guest, poet Gutwetter, delivers a Nazi toast, shocking everyone. Later, Berthold visits the Arminius monument to understand the historical figure, and on the way home, he helps save Weller, a man being pursued by Nazi stormtroopers.
When it is time for Berthold’s presentation, he critiques Arminius as a symbol of barbarism and argues that German culture is represented by figures like Heine, Goethe, and Beethoven. Enraged, Vogelzang demands a public apology, but Berthold refuses. Following this, Berthold faces social ostracism at school, though his German friends, including Richard, support him.
Tensions escalate when a fellow student, Rittersteg, injures the Oppenheim family’s driver, Pahinke, under the pretext of self-defense. Vogelzang demands Berthold’s apology by March 1st or his expulsion. Despite the sympathetic school director, Dr. François, urging Berthold to apologize, the young man remains conflicted. Pressured by his father to conform, Berthold sends a letter confirming his attendance at the assembly but takes his own life that evening.
At the school gathering, Dr. François announces Berthold’s death, accuses Vogelzang of causing it, and resigns in protest.
Martin Oppenheim and his wife sell their belongings and flee to France. Edgar Oppenheim’s clinic is raided, and he is arrested during an operation. In prison, he meets Weller, who speaks of resistance efforts by true Germans. After Weller is executed, Edgar is released and escapes Germany with Ruth. They are aided by Richard, who vows to stay and fight for a better Germany, declaring, “Germany will be ours, Ruth!”

Cast