Eberhard Fechner

Eberhard Fechner (1926 - 1992) began his career as a stage actor, and in 1961, he became Giorgio Strehler’s assistant at Milan’s Piccolo Teatro. In the 1950s, he began appearing in films and on television, and in 1965, he worked as assistant director at the NDR (the German radio and television broadcasting company). The first film he directed was the comedy “Selbstbedienung” (1966). After that, he caused a sensation with his many dramas, series and documentaries such as “Nachrede auf Klara Heydebreck”, “Klassenfoto”, “Die Comedian Harmonists” and “Der Prozess” (1984), a film about the trial that took place in Dusseldorf from 1975 to 1981 of the SS and personnel from the concentration and extermination camp of Majdanek. He considered this film devoted to the longest trial in West Germany’s legal history as the most important of his numerous and legendary cinematographic works.