My Opposition: the Diaries of Friedrich Kellner
| My Opposition: The Diaries of Friedrich Kellner | |
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DVD cover
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| Directed by | Fern Levitt |
| Starring | Robert Scott Kellner Max Eisen Doloris Funt Jesse Dubinsky |
| Narrated by | Nicky Guadagni |
| Theme music composer | Alex Khaskin |
| Country of origin | Canada |
| Original language(s) | English German |
| Production | |
| Producer(s) | Arnie Zipursky |
| Cinematography | Bill Metcalfe |
| Editor(s) | Nick Hector |
| Running time | 65 minutes |
| Distributor | CCI Entertainment - Toronto |
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My Opposition: The Diaries of Friedrich Kellner is a 2007 documentary television film about an orphaned American who went in search of his German grandfather and discovered a secret diary written during the time of the Third Reich. The film is a production of Abella Entertainment Ltd. of Toronto, Canada, co-produced and co-directed by Arnie Zipursky and Fern Levitt, with executive co-producer Leonard Asper of CanWest Global. The film is distributed by CCI Entertainment.
The documentary was based on news stories in Germany and America about the Friedrich Kellner diary. It was produced for Canadian television and shown in prime time on Global Television Network. The film received a 2007 Creative Excellence Award from the U.S. International Film and Video Festival in Los Angeles.
A version of the documentary for libraries and schools has been produced by Chip Taylor Communications. This version has been renamed Anti-Nazi: My Opposition - The Diaries of Friedrich Kellner.
The documentary tells the story of Chief Justice Inspector Friedrich Kellner and the ten-volume secret diary he wrote during World War II in Laubach, Germany, to record the misdeeds of the Nazis. The movie uses reenactments and archival footage and interviews to recount the lives of Friedrich Kellner, who risked his life to write the diary, and of his orphaned American grandson, Robert Scott Kellner, who located his grandparents in Germany, and then spent much of his life bringing the Kellner diary to the public.
The combined stories in the documentary are told by three narrators: Robert Scott Kellner tells the story of his grandparents and relates his own history; Friedrich Kellner speaks aloud (through the voice of Tony Daniels) as he writes entries into his diary; and the voice of Nicky Guadagni provides historical background and additional biographical information.
The documentary begins in 2005 with Robert Scott Kellner in Germany relating the story of his 1960 search for his grandparents, Justice Inspector Friedrich Kellner and his wife, Pauline. Photographs show Friedrich as a soldier in World War I, and as a political activist after the war for the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD). Dramatic reenactments depict Kellner as he campaigns against Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party. At his rallies, he holds a copy of Hitler’s book, Mein Kampf, above his head and cries out: "Gutenberg, your printing press has been violated by this evil book." Later, Kellner struggles to stop the mindless rampages of Kristallnacht, and as a consequence he is brought before a tribunal and threatened with imprisonment in a concentration camp. The film explores both his active and passive resistance during the Third Reich as he distributes Allied leaflets and risks his life to write the diary. When World War II comes to an end, Kellner helps to restore the Social Democratic Party and becomes the chairman of the party in his region.
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