Germany in 1942 | "Toyland" - Oscar winning short film by Jochen Alexander Freydank
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- čas přidán 5. 04. 2019
- In order to protect her son Marianne Meißner (Julia Jäger) tried to make him believe that the Jewish neighbours are going on a journey to “Toyland”. One morning her son has disappeared - the Jewish neighbours too. Toyland is a film about guilt, responsibility, small and big lies.
This short film won the followings awards:
- Oscar / Best live Action short film, 2009
- Bermuda Shorts Award - Bermuda International Film Festival
- Audience Award - the Los Angeles Jewish Film Festival, USA
- Audience Award - SHORT SHORTS FILM FESTIVAL, TOKIO
- APEC Award - Giffoni Film Festival, Italy
- Audience Award - Goldenes EInhorn at the Alpinale, Austria
- International Discovery Award (second Place) at Rhode Island International FIlm Festival (USA)
- Best Children/Youth FIlm - Odense INt. FIlm Festival (DAN)
- Audience Award - Palm Springs International Filmfestival (USA)
- Best Film - Sedicicorto Film Festival Forli, ItalY
- Best SHORT FILM - Asheville Film Festival, USA
- Best SHORT FILM - Victoria Independent Film Festival (AUSTRALIA)
- Audience Award & Jury Award - Alemeria en Corto (ESP)
- Audience Award - San Diego Jewish Film Festival, USA
- Audience Award & Jury Award (second place) Bamberger Kurzfilmtage
- Audience Award - Cleveland International Film Festival, USA
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Director - Jochen Alexander Freydank
Writers - Johann A. Bunners & Jochen Alexander Freydank
Cast - Julia Jäger, Cedric Eich, Tamay B. Özvatan, Torsten Michaelis
Year - 2012
© Licensed by MAGNETFILM
#KISKIS - Krátké a kreslené filmy
Oh my god… she saved his life and made her son so happy. It’s wonderful to have friends like her.
The face of David's parents broke my heart
Yes it sure did. But they knew their son had a chance to survive the war and live.
@@jackthepirate9233 Yes, the little ones were always the first to be murdered. 😞
I really felt sorry for the parents too. The woman had a lot of tenacity and compassion to save their son's life. He saves a life , he saves the whole world. God has a reward for her in heaven.
@@lorraineforget5483 Amen!
I’m sure they were heartbroken, but if she didn’t do this, he would have 100% been murdered. Assuming they were going to a concentration camp and not a ghetto, the children were excited upon arrival unless they were used for medical experimentation. Anyone under 16 or looked under 16 would be immediately killed. Even if they were being taken to a ghetto, the starvation, poor conditions and eventual transport probably would have killed him anyway. That mother gave him his only chance. As devastated as the parents were, they were friends. They knew she would look after their son and give him a chance to live. She was their only chance. Better to let their heart break so his can keep beating
I noticed that no one mentioned that The final tune the boys are playing is an ancient Jewish prayer
“ it is great when brothers are sitting together”
to be even fairer ... many gentiles wouldn't know one Jewish prayer from another, or that any are even set to music ... or that not being able to praise the actual film for its quality, but rather try to create division by being negative, sort of detracts from a worthwhile message
they are? cringe
Patricia Tutaki commentary tells how much jewish protect their religious belief from us gentiles ~ Christians, followers of Catholic doctrine . But there is more than that for understanding their history of despai , slavery and finally the Diaspora .
@@patriciatutaki3322 Its Psalm 33.
Thank you for that bit of information, it's a perfect and beautiful prayer for all of us.
She did something unbelievably risky but saving one life whether your own flesh and blood or not is to be highly commendable to say the least.
The story would have been better if her action was compelled by fate or circumstance. Because on its own the risk of exposure and the dreadful consequences was far too great.
@@us-Bahn don't be a whimp,everyone isn't weak,brace prople don't care about consequences,they save others, especially children
@@us-Bahn I think that fate and circumstance did place her in this circumstance, when she made the split-second decision.
Je pense que le destin et les circonstances l'ont placée dans cette situation, lorsqu'elle a pris la décision en une fraction de seconde.
@@riyasingh2729 Perhaps it would be beneficial is you review what became of 1.5 million Jewish children during WWII.
Il serait peut-être utile que vous revoyiez ce qu'il est advenu de 1,5 million d'enfants juifs pendant la Seconde Guerre mondiale.
The film is complete fiction.
Dickens was correct when he wrote, “ It was the best of times; It was the worst of times.” War brings out the worst of humanity but it also brings out the best of humanity. This short encaptures both the horrors perpetrated on the Jews and the unbelievable kindness of everyday people who did what little they could to defy the Nazis.
As I add to many other sensitive comments....A short but powerful film.I cried.I say respect to the people of all nationalities who did risk their lives to save Jewish lives.
Stella don't cry...save your tears and now look at the Palestinian children graves
@@peterobara6479 ...and the afghanistan children graves, and the ethiopian children graves, and the syrian children graves, and the ukrainen children graves, etc etc !!
@@theresespitz895 none of these make the suffering of palestanians any less awful.
People die everyday for the want of something to eat to medical intervention but you're silent, like all the other hypocrites posting here, about these facts.
🇮🇱 = 👺👹✡️
I wish I could give this film many more "thumbs up" than one. I've seen it two or three times, but it always moves me.
Thank you for posting this wonderful film.
Watching the actors and the way the story unfolds, and the twist at the end. So very moving. Thank you for this!
It is amazing how powerful of a story can be portrayed in such a short film. Kudos to Jochen Freydank on his success in obtaining an Oscar, a first for a short film from what ive read.
since you think this Freydank is such an expert .... ask him if he is gonna make a film about Palestinian children graves...if he will do it than he deserves 10 oscars....i bet he couldn't captured that in 15 min
@@peterobara6479 Please know that the Jewish Holocaust happened during Nazi Europe when Hitler was ruling. There were people who sacrificed to help the Holocaust victims. This film I think is from 2009. Who knows? Maybe eventually Freydank will be able to portray the Palestinian children graves as you say. It is too controversial as it was in 1942-1945 to create a film like this one. Who are you? Do not be sarcastic! Be humanly compassionate. Every child is important.
Such an amazing and accurate depiction of humanity, love and frienship.
“History, despite its wrenching pain, cannot be unlived; but if faced with courage, need not be lived again.”
So 👍
@@ginajoseph8776 sadly, Putin and other world leaders haven’t begun to even understand this. God please protect us from evil….
@@locoHAWAIIANkane Yes, this bloodlust must stop.
One of the best short films that I've ever seen.
Love, friendship, courage and music are the most beautiful words I know. I cried the whole time, except for my father my entire big family did not survive..
I hope got you can forgive and finding freedom for yourself,shalom from Jordana 🇮🇱🙏
❤love and light from Germany.
I pray that you have forgiven them in order to set yourself free🙏
@@tanjapreisig22 none has the power to forgive, only the killed people and they are no more.
@@alfredolevit3606 Well said Alfredo. Evil, when forgiven will continue being evil.
Omg....By coincidence it was not her child, but she went with it to save him and knew her child was safe. Loved this. Don't know if the story was real or not but I think, there would have been many similar stories back then.
Not entirely happy ending but the best possible outcome considering the scenario.
I think not, David's jacket had the star and Heinrich's didn't have. The soldiers should notice it and know a German kid can't possibly have the star on his jacket. But I agree there are similar stories and believe we can save human lives even it's only 1 and no matter how powerless we are.
@@jinilover It probably was. Both hands are playing the piano at the end. They were both wrinkled hands, that means they survived and grew up together. Besides, the Nazis knew that Heinrich would do anything to be with his friend and put on a jacket with a star on it.
It looks more like it was on purpose to save their child. Because as we saw earlier, the family left in that car with the kid saying "there's no toyland" and Heinrich stayed there. So probably the first part, where she is looking for her child isn't "real" its there just to mislead us to the last scene which is heartbreaking, seeing that its not her child.
We can also see that she wasn't surprised at all when David turned around, you can't be this calm when you are looking for your child in any situation, especially this one, so i think it was on purpose, just by her side, bc the kids where friends and they are just kids. David's parents look kind of surprised, so maybe they didn't know that this would happen, i mean it was "planned" last minute
Wow! Such consideration, quick thinking and extreme courage from the young mother.
Those poor people. My heart breaks for what they suffered at the hands of those monsters. May they all rest in eternal peace,
so painful...and the story repeats itself again and again...only the characters have different names....bless you all
I’m a Filipino American 🇺🇸 🇵🇭 and I’ve had met so many Holocaust survivors that LOST loved ones during the war in the death camps. I had this one old man and he survived Auschwitz’s Birkenau and he was a part of the Sonderkommando unit. He was there in In Auschwitz I during the failed revolt at crematorium IV & V .. he survived till the Russians liberated the camp in Jan 1945. I don’t know why he wasn’t chosen to go on the death March but he told me he first came to Auschwitz in early 1942 to help with the construction of the gas chambers and crematorium ovens that went into FULL OPERATIONS just a couple weeks later .. I STILL cringe SO BAD when I think about what he told me that day in my junior year in HS
Why did he helped create those chambers and crematoriums which latter were only were going to be used to kill his people?
@@riyasingh2729 he was forced to construct and install the crematorium ovens under gunpoint by SS and Ukrainian guards because he was considered a racially inferior subhuman according to the Nazi policy of the Race & Resettlement act. He was a German/Austrian Jew that he was in his early twenties at the time of 1942-1945 and he survived to tell me about his mortifying experience in Auschwitz-Birkenau. I don’t know IF he’s still alive or not but he was in his 80’s in 2003 when I met him.
@@riyasingh2729 maybe the force had no choice either it did or it would be killed i doubt it did it of its own free will
Absolutely incredible what a great little drama can be made in 14 minutes! I'm old enough to remember when movie theaters preceded the feature presentation with Oscar-worthy short subjects like this. And they put real butter on your popcorn! Modernity and technology don't always make for a better life.
The Boy in the Striped pajamas was alot better than this 15 min movie
I agree with you. I remember Mr. Kenworthy, who owned the Kenworthy Movie Theater on main street in our farm town showed Miracle of 49th Street or Rudolph The Rednose Reindeer. At the end of the movie when you walked out, his wife passed out bags of Christmas Candy in clear cellophane wrap with red ribbon tied to it. The candy was the old fashion hard candy that was pretty enough to display. Hard candy shaped into rippled ribbons with green and red stripes, and other shapes.
I agree with you.
@@ghost-sk9jg Sadly, it was just as made up as this fictional film and caused a lot of doubt about the Holocaust. It was awful someone would even mess around with something like that.
Remember, If it could happen to Jews, it can happen to all of us. We better learn a lesson and fight the racism as hard as we can.
Yes, indeed.
And religion too
Afsoon .....wake up stop dreaming and now ....look at the Palestinians children graves....do you know who killed them and why?...yes now you can start your fight
You are so right, happened then , neighbors try to save my baby cousin my aunt didn’t leave the child, mengele made sure none of them survived, happening right now, what a world we are living in 😭
Yes, the naked hatred against white people needs to stop, now. It is very dangerous and horrible wrong.
Unbearable loss. How cruel to throw life away believing some were so inferior.
This short film shows a good story-line, characters fine performance, and acute director wielding technical skills, playing the WW2 as a perfect chorus conductor.
Short films of this content never fail to make me cry, but oh my god this one was so difficult to watch. Its heartbreaking, seeing the fear in the parents eyes, bc they know that they will probably die, and they have a kid, that they can't even give a goodbye hug or even say it, but at least they know that at least he will survive and live a good life.
I had to watch the film more than once to follow what was going on because of all the flashbacks in time during the film. But I have to say this film was very well done all the way around: acting, camera work, music and sound effects. Yes, the sounds, the low rumbling sounds really added to the ominous effect at certain points like when little David turns around in the box car to show that it is he and not Heinrich. WOW! Was that powerful! We can only speculate how many times this same scenario or at least similar scenarios actually played our in real life back in 1942. Very sad but beautifully portrayed by this very moving film. I'm in the camp of people who cried after watching this film.
Thank you for your comment. It caused me to watch the film a second time, and then I understood the storyline much better. I had been confused the first time by not realizing there were so many flash-forwards and flashbacks. I'm still puzzled by one thing: since Heinrich was barred from joining the Silberstein family on the truck that was taking them to Toyland, where did he disappear to such that his mother had to go all the way to the train station to try to find him? -- because he's not with her when she leaves the train yard.
@@kalypso36b I don't know where Heinrich went after being refused to board the truck taking the Silbersteins to the train. Heinrich was likely bummed out because he couldn't join his friend, David on his way to what he thought was Toyland (more likely Auschwitz). So perhaps he was just wandering the streets in despair and disappointment and eventually came home on his own. That's one plausible scenario. Yes, I had to watch the video multiple times before I got it because of all the flashbacks. But once I did get it I thought it was an artistic masterpiece.
This is what “The Boy in the Striped Pajamas” wishes it was.
No words to describe but I must say it was a very heart touching film.
The film is short, but a lot has been said. Thanks.
If she told the boy the truth, explained it as softly as possible, but truth, he wouldn't try to run away to Toyland. Always try to tell kids the truth. I am from Ukraine, at this time kids there even younger than 6 know what war is, either because they saw it or were explained to, and they learned to handle that truth (its simplified version at least). Adults very much underestimate children's resilience. This beautifull woman did incredible thing saving that boy!
Realising that her son did not board the train, she took a risk and saved a young boy from something no one could’ve forseen. The parents of the boy entrusted her and she reciprocated that trust. That was when I cried, and that was when I was completely and utterly moved
My heart breaks over this. Weeping for the past. Crying for the present. What a world. 🙏🏽🇺🇦🙏🏽
🙏🏻🇷🇺🙏🏻
Die welt Banderas
@@ghost-sk9jg 🤣
Check what the Ukrainians did to the Jews during ww2 before posting that flag here
@@EzraB18 Sie haben Recht! Für mich ist Wolodymyr Selenskyj die Reinkarnation von General Milch. Ich kann nur alle bitten last euch nicht in den Antisemitismus treiben, weil ein verlorener Mensch (Verlorene Seele) sich so benimmt.
truly a simple but poignant movie that tells so much, with so few words ... and the resulting "rescue" is great ... it puts a sting in the tail of this tale
I am 72 and live in a retirement community. I recently met a new female resident named, Troudy, German. She was born in Frankfurt , Germany in 1937. Her father was a true hero. When she came to Houston, Texas in 1955, her mother finally died old Troudy the truth about how her 40 year-old father had died in 1940 Nazis Germany. Her father was a judge , and he died by suicide rather than rubber stamp people (innocent people) for death because the Nazis commanded him to. Troudy was sponsored to come to the US by an older sister who had come to America years earlier. Troudy told me that if it was not for the money her American sister and brother-in-law had sent to Troudy and her mother during and after the war, Troudy and her mother would not have survived.
God bless them and HE BLESSES YOU.
Oh my goodness!!! What a truly powerful short film. This took my breathe away!! I has to watch it twice to make certain i understood what i saw. May God bestow ALL His
Blessings to those who turned away from the NAZI killing machine and saw the Jewish people as fellow mankind..
I'm sure there was thousand of unsung stories like this is ww2 Europe, and there will be in the future to.
This short movie is healing too...if someone after watching this doesn't became a better person...well that person is hopeless...
One of the best short films I could watch through the haze of tears.
the way the boy's parents seem to instinctively move to protect their child plus the father's face when he was taken away should've been a dead giveaway that the kid was theirs, not hers. in any case, beautiful short film, it's very well-acted and well-written.
''Whoever saves one life saves the world entire''
If we don't learn from our history we are destined to make the same mistakes.
Humans never learn from history....never.....
@@greenlime1997 one of the benefits of 21st century technology is that people have history at their fingertips, unlike ever before in history. Let’s hope this makes a difference for the better.
beautiful. I thought it will be like the boy with the striped pajama or life is beautiful but ended in a surprise I didn't expect...heartbreakingly beautiful
I also saw the similarity with The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas. Did anyone else notice that the hands playing the piano in the last scene were the hands of two grown men? A nice touch by the writer.
@@kalypso36b yes I observed this...loved the ending
the real sadness kicks in once you realize, that this entire scenario is based on wishful thinking rather than a true story...
Mr. Michaelneiss, how do we know? You shouldn't give up on the good man possesses. Lest we become too cynical. Maybe not the exact same story, but there were many good people during the war saving Jewish people. In a way, this story was repeated some successful and others not. Much love to you Mr. Michaelneiss and your family from Los Angeles.
@@carolinezipp4383 Thanks for your kind words :-) I only know from my own grandparents that they were far too frightened to help, being on the red list themselves due to their affiliation with the Social Democrat Party. Instead they peeped through the curtains every morning someone else was fetched by the secret police. In fact, many people in the neighborhood knew about the concentration camps. Some idiots were all for it. Others were fearful of ending up in one themselves - even though they might not have understood the scale of the mass murder that was going on in the eastern camps ... Later one the Nazi authorities came for my great-uncle (a younger brother to my grandma) for using forged marks to buy rationed foods. He was murdered at the Buchenwald concentration camp, even though the death certificate claimed "heart failure" as a natural cause - which is highly unlikely considering his tender age!
Kindness and compassion are universal. THANK GOD THE FATHER for these attributes. They convey kindness and compassion.
At first I had a hard time following but at the end the tears came 🙁
Clarice Ellison Same
Most excellent. Thank you for your efforts on this film
Excellent short film. I didn’t expect the ending.
Wonderful story. Thank you!
This deserved to win. Great short film.
brave people do incredibly selfless deeds in incredibly hopeless times where innocence is overcast by dense darkness.
I sobbed 😭
So very heartbreaking. We must be aware at all times.
This film is like two hours in 12 minutes. The level of depth is profound.
What a powerful film!
Such a short film & yet so powerful. It moved me to tears.
Those who read and knew History of the 20th century would understand what this short movie is all about.
That poor little cute boy had no idea that this SPIELZEUGLAND (TOYLAND) was a toyland of no return.
yes luther now that spielzeug is in Palestine
@@peterobara6479 AGREED! And how unfortunate.
It was a terrible mistake that the mother made to call that place toyland, but it was what helped save David's life.
@@annarodriguez9868 , and that was priority 1. To save the boys life. Good point.
THank you for sharing this.
So painful and sad... can't stop sobbing...
The mother symbolized a hope for humanity.
We are only human, nothing more nothing less..
Exactly....THANK HER and thank You for pointing that out.
Very moving, Mr. Freydank, thank you.
A well deserved Oscar (cheers for the upload)
Beautiful and amazing to find a real friend,someone could give until the life yo each other.
Beautiful short film. It touched my heart.
This film only makes sense if 1) the Nazis didn't issue identification papers or keep records on who was being deported, and 2) none of the neighbors notice for the next 3 years that the Jewish kid is still living there and 3) the mother can explain why she suddenly has 2 kids.
They would never have let a child wearing a yellow star just get off the train and go off with her. Why does her son have a yellow star sewn onto his coat? Of course since he is male , they could do a physical check. They would also have accompanied her home with him and checked he was who she said he was.
Deeply saddened my heart to see such pain ,suffering and cruelty. But just saving one life is as saving the whole humanity. The Quran teach us that. Very inspiring.
So does the torah. ❤ salaam alaikum my brother.
We know what it teaches,that's why it's all readers are bombing the country,it teaches suicide bombings,off course
Thank you for this little mooving and shining diamont - a masterpiece!
This made me cry .
What a touching short film!
There is love even in a tragic time.
A beautiful short film. We are one family.
How humane and how daring those people were ! She laid her life on the anvil to save a child's life ! Great movie indeed.
Wow so moving..and the hands at the end were those of old men
Beautiful and powerful short movie but also sad time. Love the music 🎧🎼🎵🎶,
So powerful. I'm at a loss for words.
Tears.
It reminds me 12 years ago a group of tourists were kidnapped on a coach in the Philippines. The kidnapper was a retired cop (can't remember). Due to some reason (health or children under certain age, I forgot the details), he only released the mom and her kids from a family but their dad should remain on the coach. When she was leaving, she took another family's young boy, claimed he was her son as well. This sudden action made his dad stand up and asked what she was doing. His wife ordered him to sit down. The kidnapper believed the boy was her son. In the end, the negotiation with the police was broken, he went mad and shot the hostage. Many of them were killed including the first family's father and the boy's parents.
Couldn't read the credit list, because I had tears in my eyes.
Heart wrenching movie.
Wow, what an excellent short. I love these films with such great endings that we can understand. This reminded me of the movie "The Boy In The Striped Pajamas", except the later movie didn't have such a happy ending.
The song they played at the end was a Hebrew song from the bible: "How good and pleasant it is for people to dwell together in unity."
Thank you for the information. North Carolina fellow had no idea.
Beautifully portrayed.
oh humanity, such hearts cultivated with light and love, hearts soiled with darkness and hate.
I am from Israel and this video really hits. Feels very real:( I hope this planet learned something about being racist. It shouldn't happen to any religion:/
Then what the hell you guys doing to Palestine?
@@Tanokops - Totally different situation. You must not be a student of history.
True.this Make me always crying
@jay bell - Totally different situation. And no one really cares what you think anyway.
I completely agree, although racism is about thinking another race is superior. It isnt racism if you discriminate a religion.
Impressive movie! Living near the German border in the Netherlands and knowing German people, its hard to believe that one man could make a whole land doing horrible things. And still deepdown I understand, if you didn't cooperate with the Nazi regime, you where against them. And being against them meant your death.
What happened in Nazi Germany still happens in other countrys today. It takes a lot, a very lot! of courage to stand up against it. If a man like Hitler would rise again in an democratic country nowadays, would we have the courage to stand up against it. I really doubt it for myself, I think I would be too scared....
It's a dark side of human reality that most people prefer to think is remote or that we'd be different or not as evil. However, under the right conditions, people are capable of really dark things...
It was not as black and white as you put it. Being explicitly against the Nazis could very well land you in great trouble and, yes, even death. But you were by no means required to cooperate, and there was no punishment for those who didn't. For instance, you were under no obligation of denouncing your jewish neighbors , as many did of their own volition.
It was not just one man who did this
@@clio_7070, you've hit the nail on the head!! 😢
Очень хороший фильм. По многим показателям. Пронзительный по сюжету, по музыке, цвету, деталям того времени. Второй раз смотрю в слезах....
Немецкие евреи все были зарегистрированы, с документами, и их отмечали перед посадкой на поезд. Семью Давида тоже отметили, так что никто бы просто так никакого ребенка с поезда бы не выдал. Тем более, что со слов женщины, ее сын там вместе с другом. А мальчик с родителями только один в вагоне.
Далее. В Германии была карточная система, второго ребенка нужно было как-то прокормить. Соседи в доме все друг с другом знакомы. Ребенку пришлось бы просидеть под кроватью до конца войны, а не за одной партой с другом.
А как художественное произведение любой фильм имеет право на существование. 🤔
Well ❗ I enjoyed the short, with great LOVE 💖 and RESPECT 🧡
LET'S JUST BE KIND TO ONE ANOTHER.
PRAY THESE DAYS ARE NO MORE. AMEN
Very moving film.
Wow, that hit home hard.
Very powerful. Such power in so short a video.
Really very sad story but same time an ending cant decide a happy ending or sad ending...
What a beautiful short film, no doubt the most emotional one I've ever watched. Tru;y beautiful.
Beautiful short movie
Wonderful ..wonderful movie....unforgettable...
Every second is impactful....
This is film brilliance of the highest standard.
a masterpiece in just a 14 minutes.
This was incredible
Damn, did I just get kicked in the nuts? I'm not crying, YOU"RE crying. What a powerful story.
very heart-touching and impressive, deserves to win
Beautiful movie
Lovely piece of music.
Traurige schreckliche Zeit. 😥 Tapfere Tolle Frau und Mutter.❤️🌞
Wow that was powerful, its a bit hard to type when the eyes are watering (must be the smoke)
Beautiful. Just beautiful.