D 2026 | 90 Min. | DF Program for Schools & Kindergarten New German Films
Albrecht Weinberg, the last East Frisian survivor of the Holocaust, passed away on 12 May 2026 at the age of 101. We will honour his memory and are very grateful to have secured the recently completed documentary by Güner Yasemin Balci and Jesco Denzel for this year’s film programme.
Albrecht Weinberg takes us on a final journey through northern Germany – to his old homeland, which now feels like a foreign place. After Auschwitz and the murder of most of his family, he emigrated in 1947. The Statue of Liberty in New York became a promise of a new life for him. “You must forget about it,” they told him in America. He tried – and yet failed. How can one forget the unimaginable?
After 60 years in New York and Florida, Albrecht returned to live in East Frisia. He tirelessly shared his memories: of exclusion and the denial of rights, of the creeping radicalisation and the industrially organised mass murder perpetrated by the Nazis. Sometimes matter-of-factly, sometimes surprisingly openly, he spoke of what has stayed with him to this day. At his side was Gerda Dänekas – once his carer, and in the end his girlfriend and flatmate. Together they pursued a mission: to tell their story, to remember, to speak out against forgetting – for as long as it is still possible. It was a life shaped by the crimes of the past and the ceaseless cycle of memories.
08.06.26, 16:30, Inselkino im Kurtheater, Norderney
08.06.26, 17:20, Festspielhaus am Wall, Emden
09.06.26, 17:00, CineStar 2, Emden
Director: Güner Yasemin Balci, Jesco Denzel
Script: Güner Yasemin Balci, Jesco Denzel
Photographer: Jesco Denzel, Bernd Hermes
Editor: David Holfelder, Jan-Christian Pohl
Music: Peer Kleinschmidt, Jan Frederik Vogt
Cast: Albrecht Weinberg, Gerda Dänekas, Leslie Hard, Carl Osterwald, Baruch Chauskin, Edith Horst, Claus Peter Horst, Anke Schubert
: Christian Stachel (ZDF), Simone Grabs (ZDF)
Production company: Kundschafter Filmproduktion / Matthias Miegel
Distributor: mindjazz pictures UG
Güner Yasemin Balci, Jesco Denzel
GÜNER YASEMIN BALCI ist Journalistin, Schriftstellerin, Filmemacherin und seit 2020 Integrationsbeauftragte für den Berliner Bezirk Neukölln. Bis Ende 2008 war sie Redakteurin beim ZDF für das Politmagazin Frontal 21. Danach arbeitete sie regelmäßig als Regisseurin für Arte, ARD und ZDF. 2017 gewann ihr Dokumentarfilm „Der Jungfrauenwahn“ den Bayrischen Fernsehpreis. Für die ZDF-Sendung „37°“ produziert sie regelmäßig Filme zu gesellschaftspolitisch relevanten Themen.
JESCO DENZEL studierte in Hamburg Politische Wissenschaft und in Hannover Fotojournalismus. Seit 2010 arbeitet er als offizieller Fotograf der Bundesregierung und dokumentiert Termine und Reisen des Bundeskanzlers und des Bundespräsidenten. 2018 erhielt er für seine Arbeit den World Press Photo Award in der Kategorie Zeitgeschehen. Seit 2020 arbeitet er verstärkt als Kameramann und Filmemacher.
Screenings
08.06.26 | 16:30 h| Inselkino im Kurtheater, Norderney
08.06.26 | 17:20 h| Festspielhaus am Wall
09.06.26 | 17:00 h| CineStar 2, Emden
