In the Ruins of Berlin
Historian Karin Wieland reveals how 'In the Ruins of Berlin' took Dietrich back to the land she had categorically rejected with the rise of the Nazis and which remained hostile.
Historian Karin Wieland examines how the creation of 'In the Ruins of Berlin' took Dietrich unwillingly back to a Fatherland she had categorically rejected with the coming of the Nazis and which would remained profoundly ambivalent, even hostile to her years after the war. Written for the 1948 film A Foreign Affair, Billy Wilder's acid yet bittersweet romcom, set amid the rubble of a defeated nation. Both Wilder and Dietrich had fled Germany, Wilder losing many of his family in the death camps. Both their lives there had been effectively wiped away. Dietrich had initially balked at taking on the role of a former Nazi chanteuse and it required all of Wilder's skills to persuade her even though she faced a deeply uncertain postwar future- much like her rejected nation. Her later tour of West Germany would reveal the depths of that fractured relationship.
Writer: Karin Wieland
Reader: Julia Fahrenkamp
Producer: Mark Burman
Last on
Broadcasts
- Wed 11 May 2022 22:45成人快手 Radio 3
- Wed 8 May 2024 21:45成人快手 Radio 3
Death in Trieste
Watch: My Deaf World
The Book that Changed Me
Five figures from the arts and science introduce books that changed their lives and work.
Podcast
-
The Essay
Essays from leading writers on arts, history, philosophy, science, religion and beyond.