August 30 - Judgment in Berlin

This is movie with a scene that happens today – August 30. I hope you enjoy this film and watch it tonight.

JUDGMENT IN BERLIN

Hans Schuster is a West German who is in love with an East German woman, Sigrid Radke. She, her daughter Marina  and a friend Helmut Thiele are to travel to Gdansk in Poland where Hans will join them and give them the false papers they need to board a ship and sail to the West. However, on the way to meet them Hans is arrested. On August 30, 1978 [6:40 to 14:23], Helmut hijacks the Polish airliner on which they are flying back to East Berlin and forces it to land in West Berlin instead. The United States, in its role as an occupying power in Berlin, decides it must prosecute Helmut in order to preserve a recent international anti-hijacking treaty, as  West Germany will not prosecute him. Judge Herbert Stern agrees to be the judge, He was asked as he has a pro=prosecution history. However, he soon clashes with the prosecutors and rules that the defendants are entitled to a jury trial. Stern also rules that Sigrid’s confession was coerced and cannot be used against her. Without the confession, the government dismisses the case against Sigrid. The defense tries to show the government’s witness, who live behind the iron curtain are being intimidated. Sigrid testifies that after Has did not turn up, Helmut bought a toy gun and Marina smuggled it on the plane on August 30, 1978. [1:13:09 to 1:13:30 and 1:16:08-09]. Guenther, one of the passengers who defected off the plane testifies that he heard Helmut tell the crew it was just a toy gun and that they seemed sympathetic.  Helmut is only convicted of taking a hostage and sentenced by Judge Stern to time served (which was several months). The East Germans free Hans.

An interesting film. Touches on several important legal issues such as due process and duress as justification for committing a crime. There is an error in the film as at one point while Sigrid is teatifying,  Hellring gives the date as the 31^st.

Judgment in Berlin by Herbert J. Stern (Universe Books, New York, 1984) at pages 3-4 gives the date of the hijacking as August 30, 1978.

Producer – Joshua Sinclair and Ingrid Windisch

Director -  Leo Penn

Screenplay – Joshua Sinclair and Leo Penn

Runtime –  1 hour 36 minutes

Released – May 6, 1988

Starring –

Martin Sheen as Judge Herbert J. Stern

Sam Wanamaker as Bernard Hellring

Sean Penn as Guenther

Max Martens as Hans Schuster

Jutta Speidel as Sigrid Radke

Heinz Hoenig as Helmut Thiele