John Voight in the Odessa File -
Key scene: Knight's Cross with Oak Leaves (mit Eichenlaub)
Story based on events after WWII.
IMDB says...
If it's not as good as Forsyth's book, the film suffers from the same faults. The improbability of the scenes grows more apparent with repeat viewings, but a first-timer will likely be too involved much of the time to pay this much mind. And, like the novel, "Odessa File" the movie has a good heart. And what an ending! Don't let anyone spoil that for you, if you are the least bit tempted about seeing this; see it for yourself.
Jon Voight ... Peter Miller
Maximilian Schell ... Eduard Roschmann
Eduard Roschmann was a real-life wanted war criminal living in South America. He became even more wanted after the book and movie, and he turned up dead, rumoured to have been killed by Odessa to stop the search for him that the media had begun. He died in 1977.
The real Edward Roschmann
(also Eduard Roschmann) (25 August 1908 - 10 August 1977) was an SS commander, holding the rank of Hauptsturmführer and one of the heads of the concentration camp at Riga, used to persecute German Jews.
Infamous as "The Butcher of Riga," Roschmann was sought for war crimes and remained a fugitive for the rest of his life. Hiding for the most part in Argentina, Roschmann is speculated to have been a leader of the post-war ODESSA network of fugitive SS officers.
The Iron Cross
is solely a wartime decoration and has not been awarded since the end of the Second World War. German law prohibits the wearing of a swastika, so in 1957 the West German government authorized replacement Iron Crosses with an Oak Leaf Cluster in place of the swastika, similar to the Iron Crosses of 1813, 1870, and 1914, which could be worn by World War II Iron Cross recipients. The 1957 law also authorized de-Nazified versions of most other World War II-era decorations (except those specifically associated with Nazi Party organizations, such as SS Long Service medals, or with the expansion of the German Reich, such as the medals for the annexation of Austria, the Sudetenland, and the Memel region).
Tags: John Voight Knight's Cross Oak Leaves (mit Eichenlaub)
