ABC SUNDAY NIGHT MOVIE, THE: NAZI HUNTER: THE BEATE KLARSFELD STORY (TV)
Summary
This made-for-television movie docudrama dramatizes the story of Beate Klarsfeld, a German Protestant woman who has devoted her life to bringing Nazi war criminals to justice. In 1960, against her father's wishes, young Beate leaves her sheltered life in Berlin to study in Paris where she falls in love with Serge Klarsfeld, a French-Jewish law student. Serge -- whose father died in Auschwitz -- educates Beate about the atrocities the Nazis committed against the Jews, and Beate is horrified and ashamed to learn the truth her parents never discussed. Disowned when she tells her father she is engaged to a Jew, Beate marries Serge and settles with him in Paris. By 1967, the Klarsfelds have published articles in an attempt to bring public attention to the fact that West German chancellor Kurt Georg Kiesinger was once a Nazi official. Their efforts are fruitless, however, until they discover how to manipulate politicians and the media to create public awareness and force political action: in 1968, in Bonn, Germany, Beate creates disturbances at two political conferences by accusing Kiesinger of being a Nazi while he is delivering a speech, demanding his resignation, and publicly slapping him -- garnering large-scale press coverage of the incidents. In 1971 in Cologne, Germany, the Klarsfelds become involved in an attempt to kidnap Kurt Lischka -- the former head of the Gestapo in Paris, and now a respected businessman -- once again putting the media spotlight on a Nazi criminal. In Munich the same year, the Klarsfelds undertake their most difficult effort to date: to expose the notorious Klaus Barbie, whose whereabouts are unknown. With the help of family friend Itta Halaunbrenner -- whose husband and children were victims of Barbie -- Beate pressures the Munich public prosecutor to reopen the Barbie investigation. Soon Beate and Serge receive a recent group photo of several elderly Germans living in Bolivia, one of whom Beate identifies as Barbie. As Beate gets nearer to Barbie, sinister forces mobilize against her and her family: she is constantly followed by a car and a package bomb is delivered to the Klarsfeld apartment. Though Serge implores the pregnant Beate to assume a lower profile, she feels she is too hot on Barbie's trail to stop. She flies to La Paz, Bolivia, with Itta, who will attempt to identify Barbie in person. In Bolivia, Beate struggles to expose Barbie, but everything seems to conspire against her here: a hostile government, Itta's paralyzing fear of facing Barbie, security at Barbie's fortress-like compound, and an act of violence which puts both women's lives in danger. Includes commercials and promos. This program is closed-captioned.
Cataloging of this program was made possible by Michael Finkelstein and Sue-Ann Friedman.
Details
- NETWORK: ABC
- DATE: November 23, 1986 9:00 PM
- RUNNING TIME: 1:55:40
- COLOR/B&W: Color
- CATALOG ID: T:08590
- GENRE: Docudrama
- SUBJECT HEADING: Docudrama; Drama; National socialists; War criminals
- SERIES RUN: ABC - TV, 1986
- COMMERCIALS:
- TV - Commercials - "Made in the U.S.A." apparel and home furnishings
- TV - Commercials - Apple personal computers
- TV - Commercials - Bartles & Jaymes Premium wine coolers
- TV - Commercials - Black & Decker CarVac vacuum cleaner
- TV - Commercials - Black & Decker appliances
- TV - Commercials - Caffeine Free Diet Coke
- TV - Commercials - Comtrex cold medicine
- TV - Commercials - Corning Visions cookware
- TV - Commercials - Domino's pizza
- TV - Commercials - Excedrin pain reliever
- TV - Commercials - Ford pickup trucks
- TV - Commercials - Forever Krystle and Carrington fragrances
- TV - Commercials - Fuji videotape
- TV - Commercials - Kodak Supralife alkaline batteries
- TV - Commercials - Kraft Cheez Whiz processed cheese spread
- TV - Commercials - Listerine Antiseptic mouthwash
- TV - Commercials - Noxzema skin cream
- TV - Commercials - Pantene shampoos and conditioners
- TV - Commercials - Pepperidge Farm Croissant Pastry Pizza
- TV - Commercials - Pillsbury Crescent dinner rolls
- TV - Commercials - Purina Cat Chow cat food
- TV - Commercials - Seagram's Golden wine cooler
- TV - Commercials - Stetson cologne
- TV - Commercials - Stouffer's frozen entrees
- TV - Commercials - Sunkist Vitamin C tablets
- TV - Commercials - Ultra Pampers disposable diapers
- TV - Commercials - Whirlpool dishwashers
- TV - Commercials - Xerox electric typewriters
- TV - Commercials - Yuban coffee
- TV - Promos - "ABC's NFL Monday Night Football"
- TV - Promos - "ABC World News Tonight with Peter Jennings"
- TV - Promos - "Arthur Hailey's Hotel"
- TV - Promos - "Dads"
- TV - Promos - "Dynasty"
- TV - Promos - "Escape From Alcatraz" (telecast of feature film)
- TV - Promos - "Good Morning America"
- TV - Promos - "Growing Pains"
- TV - Promos - "Jack and Mike"
- TV - Promos - "MacGyver"
- TV - Promos - "Moonlighting: Atomic Shakespeare"
- TV - Promos - "Who's the Boss?"
CREDITS
- Judith DePaul … Executive Producer
- William Kayden … Producer
- Monique Guerrier … Associate Producer
- Jean Nachbaur … Associate Producer
- Michael Lindsay-Hogg … Director
- Frederic Hunter … Writer
- Richard Hartley … Music by
- Fawcett, Farrah (See also: Fawcett-Majors, Farrah) … Cast, Beate Klarsfeld
- Tom Conti … Cast, Serge Klarsfeld
- Geraldine Page … Cast, Itta Halaunbrenner
- Helene Vallier … Cast, Raissa Klarsfeld
- Catherine Allegret … Cast, Madame Simone Lagrange
- Feodor Atkine … Cast, Luc Plevel
- Vincent Gauthier … Cast, Klaus Barbie, 1944
- Claude Vernier … Cast, Old Barbie and Altmann
- Jacques Vincey … Cast, David
- Florence Haziot … Cast, Chantal
- Eric Prat … Cast, Marco
- Pierre Olivier Scotto … Cast, Eli
- Gilles Segal … Cast, Herbert John
- Lazlo Szabo … Cast, Arno Klarsfeld, 1943
- de Boysson, Pascale … Cast, Frau Kunzel
- O.J. Lengyel … Cast, Herr Kunzel
- Flavie Ducorps … Cast, Simone
- Jacques Herlin … Cast, Geissmann
- Stephan Meldegg … Cast, Ludolph
- Facundo Bo … Cast, Greminger
- Philippe Laudenbach … Cast, the French Official
- Edouardo Barrios … Cast, Vargas
- Liliane Rovere … Cast, Mme. Kadousche
- Michel Motu … Cast, Dr. Schuler
- Jacques Alric … Cast, the Judge -- Police Station
- Albert Simono … Cast, Aurore's Editor
- Jean-Pierre Moulin … Cast, the Resistance Leader
- Huguette Faget … Cast, the CDU Female Orator
- For "ABC News Brief":
- Tom Jarriel … Anchor