Select Language

English

Down Icon

Select Country

Germany

Down Icon

Schlingensief's lawyer and chainsaw wielder Dietrich Kuhlbrodt

Schlingensief's lawyer and chainsaw wielder Dietrich Kuhlbrodt

Dietrich Kuhlbrodt, now 92, climbs 200 steps to reach his small house in Hamburg -Altona. Above all, it's his curiosity and nonconformity that keep him young. In his long life, he was a public prosecutor, author, film critic, actor, and more, collaborating with the "Nazi hunter" Fritz Bauer as well as with Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Werner Schroeter, Vlado Kristl, Lars von Trier, and Christoph Schlingensief .

This activity continues, even though he has slowed down somewhat since the death of his wife, Brigitte Kausch, two years ago. He spends more time in their shared house, tends to her unchanged room, absorbs the energies still vibrating there, or talks to his now rather gray and crumpled stuffed dog.

"Wauwi" has been with him since "Operation Gomorrah" in the summer of 1943, when the Kuhlbrodts spent weeks in the basement night after night during the bombing of Hamburg. When the air raid warden didn't intervene, little Dietrich sometimes scurried outside with "Wauwi" to marvel at the illuminations in the night sky above the battered Hanseatic city: the huge, threateningly roaring B-17 bombers, the incendiary bombs they dropped, and the "Christmas trees" dropped beforehand to mark the targets. This is about curiosity.

Soundtrack by Helge Schneider

Dietrich Kuhlbrodt recounts all this and much, much more in his film "Nonkonform" in an extraordinarily sensual and ironic way. Director Arne Körner counters the exuberant speech with an appropriate flood of images, drawn from film quotes, private archives, and current recordings. At times, the hero and his chronicler sit side by side on the sofa, watching excerpts and commenting on what they have seen. This nearly two-hour biographical collage is held together by Helge Schneider's incessantly droning, moody jazz soundtrack. With this cascading method, the occasional factual error may creep in, but the whole thing never becomes boring.

A large part of the portrait is devoted to the work of the subject at the "Central Office for the Investigation of National Socialist Crimes" in Ludwigsburg from the mid-1960s onwards. His recollections shed light on the unsavory and often effective attempts by the old Nazi "elites" to draw a line under the past. Kuhlbrodt stubbornly resisted the desired consensus that there were virtually no crimes, but merely the fulfillment of duty, with perhaps a few slip-ups.

In the infamous case of the systematic murder of disabled children at the Alsterdorf Institutions, he identified two of the main perpetrators—Pastor Karl Friedrich Lensch, the director, and Kurt Struve, the head of the Hamburg health administration—whom he hoped to bring to justice. After initial successes, more and more obstacles were placed in his way. After his failure, he was transferred to the fire protection department.

Failure as an opportunity

The eternally non-conformist title character Kuhlbrodt (not to be confused with the esteemed writer and film critic colleague Detlef Kuhlbrodt) not only loves walking and training on muscle-building equipment, he also performs in techno clubs and is involved in the queer scene.

And he enjoys traveling. His current trip takes him to Berlin to present his film portrait at the Krokodil cinema, as well as his autobiography, which has just been published in an expanded new edition. His connection to Berlin is primarily his theater work with Christoph Schlingensief. For five years, he was an emblematic figure at the Volksbühne. As legal counsel, he facilitated the founding of a small party in 1998, which soon folded. Its slogan, "Failure as Opportunity," endures.

92 Years of Nonconformity. Film screening, discussion, and book premiere with Dietrich Kuhlbrodt, on July 15 at 8 p.m. at the Krokodil cinema, in cooperation with the Association of German Film Critics

Berliner-zeitung

Berliner-zeitung

Similar News

All News
Animated ArrowAnimated ArrowAnimated Arrow