Shattered Night

A student preparing for her history exam discovers the story of Richard Berger, the head of the Jewish community in Innsbruck. Through classroom debates, eyewitness testimony, and dramatized historical scenes, the transcript traces the rise of National Socialism in Tyrol, showing how economic hardship, propaganda, antisemitism, and political violence gradually destroy Jewish life. Berger remains with his community despite increasing danger, and during the pogrom night of 1938 he is abducted and murdered by Nazis. The story explores how ordinary people become perpetrators, how hatred becomes violence, and why remembrance requires moral responsibility.

A powerful historical drama about Nazi persecution in Innsbruck and the murder of Richard Berger during the November pogroms of 1938.

Combining present-day classroom reflection, survivor testimony, and reconstructed historical events, the film examines antisemitism, radicalization, complicity, courage, and memory. It asks how violence becomes possible in society and what it means to recognize evil before it is too late.

Watch movie