The 40 most popular german history movies, ranked. Click any film for ratings, reviews, trailers, and where to watch.


The Uprising
2026 · 2h 8m · DE
As war and plague devastate 14th-century England, a humble peasant ignites a rebellion, uniting an army of commoners to defy the King’s might in a desperate fight for justice and survival.


Kingdom of Heaven
2005 · 2h 24m · US
After his wife dies, a blacksmith named Balian is thrust into royalty, political intrigue and bloody holy wars during the Crusades.


Das Boot
1981 · 2h 30m · DE
A German submarine hunts allied ships during the Second World War, but it soon becomes the hunted. The crew tries to survive below the surface, while stretching both the boat and themselves to their limits.


Never Look Away
2018 · 3h 8m · DE
German artist Kurt Barnert has escaped East Germany and now lives in West Germany, but is tormented by his childhood under the Nazis and the GDR regime.


Downfall
2004 · 2h 35m · AT
In April of 1945, Germany stands at the brink of defeat with the Russian Army closing in from the east and the Allied Expeditionary Force attacking from the west. In Berlin, capital of the Third Reich, Adolf Hitler proclaims that Germany will still achieve victory and orders his generals and advisers to fight to the last man. When the end finally does come, and Hitler lies dead by his own hand, what is left of his military must find a way to end the killing that is the Battle of Berlin, and lay down their arms in surrender.


The Tin Drum
1979 · 2h 42m · FR
In 1924, Oskar Matzerath is born in the Free City of Danzig. At age three, he falls down a flight of stairs and stops growing. In 1939, World War II breaks out.


Luther
2003 · 2h 3m · DE
During the early 16th century, idealistic German monk Martin Luther, disgusted by the materialism in the church, begins the dialogue that will lead to the Protestant Reformation.


The Ghost and the Darkness
1996 · 1h 49m · DE
Sir Robert Beaumont is behind schedule on a railroad in Africa. Enlisting noted engineer John Henry Patterson to right the ship, Beaumont expects results. Everything seems great until the crew discovers the mutilated corpse of the project's foreman, seemingly killed by a lion. After several more attacks, Patterson calls in famed hunter Charles Remington, who has finally met his match in the bloodthirsty lions.


Elizabeth: The Golden Age
2007 · 1h 54m · FR
When Queen Elizabeth's reign is threatened by ruthless familial betrayal and Spain's invading army, she and her shrewd adviser must act to safeguard the lives of her people.


Berlusconis Aufstieg
2024 · DE
From his beginnings in real estate to his rise to power, this is the story of Silvio Berlusconi's two decades of ascension, during which he radically transformed Italy's media landscape—and soon its political landscape as well. A fascinating portrait of an opportunistic entrepreneur with extraordinary charisma.


Immortal Waltz
1939 · 1h 36m · AT
Johann Strauss firmly established himself as the leader of a dance orchestra in Vienna in the 1840s. His sons Johann junior and Josef have clearly inherited their father's talent. Nevertheless, father Johann is strictly opposed to both of them training as composers.


Colonia
2016 · 1h 46m · DE
A young woman's desperate search for her abducted boyfriend draws her into the infamous Colonia Dignidad, a sect nobody ever escaped from.


The Physician
2013 · 2h 35m · DE
England, 1021: Born in a miserable mining town, Robert Cole swears to become a physician and vanquish disease and death. His harsh path of many years, a quest for knowledge besieged by countless challenges and sacrifices, leads him to the remote Isfahan, in Persia, where he meets Ibn Sina, the greatest healer of his time.


K-19: The Widowmaker
2002 · 2h 18m · CA
When Russia's first nuclear submarine malfunctions on its maiden voyage, the crew must race to save the ship and prevent a nuclear disaster.


Little Berlin
2020 · 13m · DE
When the Iron Curtain cuts his tiny German village in half, Peter the bull gets separated from his 36 cows. Based on a true story narrated by Christoph Waltz.


Andreas Hofer
1929 · 1h 45m · DE
A film based on the story of the Tyrolean innkeeper and patriot Andreas Hofer who led an Austrian uprising against Bavarian and French troops during the Napoleonic Wars.


Fridericus
1937 · 1h 38m · DE
In 18th century Europe, King Friedrich II of Prussia leads his army through the seven-years-war with neighboring states, and after numerous near defeats, eventually brings a victorious army back to Berlin.


Chess Story
2021 · 1h 50m · AT
1938. While the Nazi troops march into Vienna, the lawyer Josef Bartok hastily tries to escape to the USA with his wife but is arrested by the Gestapo. Bartok remains steadfast and refuses to cooperate with the Gestapo that requires confidential information from him. Thrown into solitary confinement, Bartok is psychologically tormented for months and begins to weaken. However, when he steals an old book about chess it sets him on course to overcome the mental suffering inflicted upon him, until it becomes a dangerous obsession.


Firebird
2021 · 1h 47m · EE
At the height of the Cold War, a troubled soldier forms a forbidden love triangle with a daring fighter pilot and his female comrade amid the dangerous surroundings of a Soviet Air Force Base.


Aguirre, the Wrath of God
1972 · 1h 35m · DE
A few decades after the destruction of the Inca Empire, a Spanish expedition led by the infamous Aguirre leaves the mountains of Peru and goes down the Amazon River in search of the lost city of El Dorado. When great difficulties arise, Aguirre’s men start to wonder whether their quest will lead them to prosperity or certain death.


Rose
2026 · 1h 34m · AT
In the early 17th century, a soldier arrives at an isolated Protestant village in Germany claiming to be the heir to an abandoned farmstead. Even though he proves to be a good man, the villagers’ suspicions about his identity grow and they force a reckoning.


Rommel
2012 · 2h · AT
The story of the final seven months in the life of German Field Marshal Erwin Rommel.


Helen of Troy
1924 · 3h 24m · DE
Helena is a 1924 German silent drama film directed by Manfred Noa and starring Edy Darclea, Vladimir Gajdarov and Albert Steinrück. The film was based on the poem the Iliad by Homer. It was released in two separate parts: The Rape of Helen and The Fall of Troy. It was produced by Bavaria Film at the Emelka Studios in Munich. The film was made on an epic scale with thousands of extras, and large sets which rivalled those of the larger Berlin-based UFA.


The Sandman
1983 · 1h 11m · DE
Based on the classic 19th century tale by German writer/composer E.T.A. Hoffmann, the film investigates the tale's themes of obsession and madness, emphasizing expressionist imagery and theatrical style. The story relates the life of the young student Nathanael, whose childhood memories are haunted by a sinister man. As a child, Nathanael believed this dark figure to be the mythic Sandman, who puts children to sleep by stealing their eyes. When confronted by this same evil presence as an adult, he is pushed toward madness as he tries to confront his childhood fears.


The Disappearance of Josef Mengele
2025 · 2h 15m · DE
In the aftermath of the Second World War, Josef Mengele, the Nazi doctor at Auschwitz, escapes to South America to rebuild his life in hiding. Through the eyes of his son who finds him again, Mengele is confronted with a past he can no longer ignore. From Buenos Aires to Paraguay via Brazil, the man who became known as “The Angel of Death” will organize his methodical disappearance to avoid any form of trial.


Annelie
1941 · 2h 50m · DE
On New Year′s Eve 1871 Annelie is born – 15 minutes too late, since her parents had calculated her birth to be exactly at midnight. These 15 minutes will again and again become the girl′s fate.
Madame Caillaux
Madame Caillaux
1968 · DE
No overview available
Der Templer
Der Templer
2002 · 15m · DE
A Knight Templar returns home from the Crusades in the Promised Land and has lost his faith in God due to his experiences fighting the infidels. When he passes a small village, a young woman is to be burned as a witch there at the same time. The crusader does not think twice, frees the mysterious beauty at the risk of his life and is seriously injured on the run. In the woods, the herbalist takes care of his injuries and nurses the Templar back to health. For her help, however, the mysterious woman demands a very high price...


Stalingrad
1993 · 2h 14m · DE
A German Platoon is explored through the brutal fighting of the Battle of Stalingrad. After half of their number is wiped out and they're placed under the command of a sadistic captain, the platoon lieutenant leads his men to desert. The platoon members attempt escape from the city, now surrounded by the Soviet Army.


North Face
2008 · 2h 6m · AT
North Face tells the story of two German climbers Toni Kurz and Andreas Hinterstoisser and their attempt to scale the deadly North Face of the Eiger.


Sophie Scholl: The Final Days
2005 · 1h 57m · DE
In 1943, as Hitler continues to wage war across Europe, a group of college students mount an underground resistance movement in Munich. Dedicated expressly to the downfall of the monolithic Third Reich war machine, they call themselves the White Rose. One of its few female members, Sophie Scholl is captured during a dangerous mission to distribute pamphlets on campus with her brother Hans. Unwavering in her convictions and loyalty to the White Rose, her cross-examination by the Gestapo quickly escalates into a searing test of wills as Scholl delivers a passionate call to freedom and personal responsibility.


Danton
1921 · 1h 27m · DE
At the height of Reign of Terror Maximilien Robespierre orchestrates the trial and execution of several of his fellow leading French revolutionaries including Georges Danton.


The Baader Meinhof Complex
2008 · 2h 29m · CZ
When German police viciously quell a protest against the shah of Iran, popular journalist Ulrike Meinhof rebels against her dishonest marriage, walks away from her children and joins radical anarchist Andreas Baader. Together with Baader's girlfriend, Gudrun Ensslin, they form the violent Red Faction Army, and together perpetrate a slew of terrorist attacks as a way of disrupting the fabric of what they see as an increasingly fascist state.


Kolberg
1945 · 1h 50m · DE
During Napoleon's victorious campaign in Germany, the city of Kolberg gets isolated from the retreating Prussian forces. The population of Kolberg refuses to capitulate and organizes the resistance against the French army, which immediately submits the city to massive bombardments.


The Damned
1969 · 2h 38m · DE
In the early days of Nazi Germany, a powerful noble family must adjust to life under the new dictatorship regime.


Der Klosterjäger
1953 · DE
The huntsman of a Bavarian monastery falls in love with a beautiful girl and convinces the provost to make his steward delay her brother's feudal due arrears.


Colonel Redl
1985 · 2h 32m · AT
Set during the fading glory of the Austro-Hungarian empire, the film tells of the rise and fall of Alfred Redl, an ambitious young officer who proceeds up the ladder to become head of the Secret Police only to become ensnared in political deception.


Balloon
2018 · 2h 5m · FR
Two families attempt a daredevil plan to escape the GDR with a homemade hot air balloon, but it crashes just before the border. The Stasi finds traces of this attempt to escape and immediately starts investigations, while the two families are forced to build a new escape balloon. With each passing day the Stasi is closer on their heels – a nerve-wracking race against time begins.
Marinemeuterei 1917
Marinemeuterei 1917
1969
No overview available


Cross of Iron
1977 · 2h 13m · DE
It is 1943, and the German army—ravaged and demoralised—is hastily retreating from the Russian front. In the midst of the madness, conflict brews between the aristocratic yet ultimately pusillanimous Captain Stransky and the courageous Corporal Steiner. Stransky is the only man who believes that the Third Reich is still vastly superior to the Russian army. However, within his pompous persona lies a quivering coward who longs for the Iron Cross so that he can return to Berlin a hero. Steiner, on the other hand is cynical, defiantly non-conformist and more concerned with the safety of his own men rather than the horde of military decorations offered to him by his superiors.
German cinema's two great periods bookend the century: Weimar-era Expressionism, whose shadows and angles built the visual grammar of horror and noir, and the New German Cinema of the 1970s under Fassbinder, Herzog, and Wenders.
Historical films reconstruct the past, whether faithfully or as deliberate myth-making. The genre attracts big budgets and big performances, and it reveals as much about the era that produced the film as the one on screen.