Figure 1.--The Bertinis strongly promoted the education of their children. Here Cesar and Roman Bertini arriving at the gymnasium in 1935. Their mother accompanies them and kisses them goodbye. Notice the peaked school caps. They began at the school as the NAZIS issue the Nuremberg decrees which expelled Jewish children from German schools. Frau Bertini kissed the boys before they enter the school. She was not at the time required to wear the Jewish star.

"The Bertinis: The Chronicle of a Hamburg Family" (1988) is a marvellous German TV series in five installments. The actung is superb acting and has costuming that is meticulously accurate and authentic. The film is based on a novel of the same name by Ralph Giordano, a writer of Italian-Swedish extraction, and is highly autobiographical. It was directed by Egon Monk, who employed two distinguished costume authorities, Ingeborg Deshmorkowitz and Sigrid Grunhagen, to ensure that the clothing of the era was accurately recreated. The story covers the Bernini family's trials and tribulations from the late 19th century until the end of World War II. It is set mostly in Hamburg. The main plot concerns Alf Bertini, an aspiring concert pianist who has a Swedish mother and an Italian father. He marries a girl of Jewish-German birth, who is also musical and a piano teacher, and she raises three boys in Hamburg. Problem for the family begin when the NAZIs seize power (1933).

TV-ology

" Die Bertinis / The Bertinis: The Chronicle of a Hamburg Family" (1988) is a marvellous German TV series. Its production was highly acclaimed in Germany. It was a broacast in Germany as a mini-series, done in five installments. The acting is superb acting and has costuming that is meticulously accurate and authentic. It was directed by Egon Monk, who employed two distinguished costume authorities, Ingeborg Deshmorkowitz and Sigrid Grunhagen, to ensure that the clothing of the era was accurately recreated.

Book

The film is based on the popular novel of the same name (Die Bertini) by Ralph Giordano, a writer of Italian-Swedish extraction, and is highly autobiographical.

Chronology

The story covers the Bernini family's trials and tribulations from the late 19th century until the end of World War II. We first see the boys just before the NAZIs seized power. Most of the series is devoted to their experiences after the NAZIs seized power (1933) through to the end of the War.

Location

The Bertini family saga is set mostly in Hamburg. This is Germany's largest port and second largest city. It is located at the northwestern corner of Germany on the North Sea. As a port city, Hamburg has more of an internatiinal flavor than most German cities. This partly explains the presence of Italian immigrants.

Characters

There are quite a number of characters as the series covers the Bertini family saga over about a 50-year perod, including two World Wars, Giacomo Bertini and his Swedish wife Emma decide to stay in Hamburg. Rudolph Lehmbe marries the young Jewish girl Recha Seelmann. Then flash forward 20 years. The two families fate is conected when Alf Bertini, Giacomo's son, falls in love with Lea, Rudolph's daughter, and the two marry. The characters include the three Bertini boys. We meet Cesar, the oldest boys, at the age of 13 years. At the same time Roman is 12, Ludwig is about 8. The three boys are played respectively as boys by Till Dunckel (Cesar), Sebastian Eble (Roman) and Aslak Maiwald (Ludwig). Older boys in their late teens and twenties subsequently play them during the World War II era.

Plot

The story covers the Bernini family's trials and tribulations from the late 19th century until the end of World War II. It is set mostly in Hamburg. The main plot concerns Alf Bertini, an aspiring concert pianist who has a Swedish mother and an Italian father. He marries a girl of Jewish-German birth, who is also musical and a piano teacher, and she raises three boys in Hamburg. Problems for the family begin when the NAZIs seize power (1933). The family keeps certain Jewish holidays and a kosher kitchen, but they also have a Christmas tree with presents for the children and do not attend a synagogue in Hamburg. Alf, who is a veteran of World War I and still keeps his uniform as a souvenir, never succeeds as a performing pianist, and his wife, Lea (played by Hannelore Hogen), tries to keep the family together in meagre circumstances by giving piano lessons. The father's failure to become a famous pianist adds a certain psychological sadness and disillusionment to the family atmosphere. The family, however, believes strongly in education. The family gradually becomes the object of persecution because Alf has married a Jew and his family comes under the new Nuremberg laws that single out Germans who are guilty of "intermarriage".

Costuming

The costuming is excellent and historically precise. The three boys as children during the 1930s wear sweaters, short trousers, and long stockings (brown or gray) obviously supported by garters attached to Leibchen. At night they sleep in long white night shirts. At the gymnasium they wear the same shorts and long stockings but also the peaked caps of their school. At an earlier point, before they enter the higher-level school, they wear stocking caps during the cold weather. When they grow older, Cesar and Roman wear long trousers with suspenders while Ludwig, who is still an older teenager (about 17) wears short trousers with knee socks. After the two older boys graduate from shorts and long stockings to long trousers, they wear long underwear to keep their legs warm. There is an interesting scene in the gymnasium where the two older Bertini boys are singled out for humiliation because of their Jewish mother, and they make friends with another boy in their class, David Hanf (played by Ulrich Hub), who is also in a similar situation. David is shown wearing short trousers and tan long stockings.

Created: 10:45 AM 12/11/2008
Last updated: 7:47 PM 12/20/2008