However, it was never established whether she did it willingly or she was intimidated into it. The relationship between Herold and the young woman in the film is decidedly coercive she is based on a real Dutch woman by the name of Betty who had moved in with Herold in the Oranien Hotel in Leer.He survived and ended up sharing the fate of Herold and five of his other accomplices: they were beheaded. Karl Schütte was not killed in the destruction of the labor camp.He had hidden it in his boot, and tore it to pieces and ate it when he was alone in his cell. Herold did eat his pay book (which functioned as an ID), but not at the moment of his capture.It was only after two higher officials intervened that Herold was let go, to the dismay of the others. The German authorities who apprehended Herold were appalled at his crimes and wanted to hang him, which was considered the most humiliating and potentially painful way to go.Instead, two other members of his band were executed because Herold accused them of trying to rape a woman after giving her morphium. The real Kipinsky was not executed on Herold's orders.His spiral of violence began when he reached the labor camp, and after he left it he became more focused on having fun and abusing the population rather than any serious war effort. In all fairness, after he found the uniform he did make attempts to find his unit (he contacted the military higher ups in every village he visited and inquired about it) and even tried fighting off the British forces. He claims he got separated from his unit and found the uniform rather quickly afterwards. In reality, Willi Herold was never chased by German troops the way it is depicted in the film.Anyone Can Die: Nobody is safe in this film, especially not around Herold.In the film, he is played by 49 year old Milan Peschel. Age Lift: The real Freytag was in his twenties when he met Herold.

Adaptation Dye-Job: Blond-haired Max Hubacher plays Herold, who had brown hair.See also the documentary The Captain From Nowhere. Inspired from the real story of Willi Herold, nicknamed the Executioner of Emsland, the film depicts his meteoric rise from simple private to all-powerful (albeit fake) captain during the last chaotic days of World War II, and is a chilling meditation on the corrupting influence of power, blind obedience and the influence of the Nazi regime on everyday people. Eager to get out of his worn out, wet clothes, he slips the uniform on and begins a chilling transformation that would end up costing almost two hundred people their lives. As he makes his way across the cold, harsh landscape of the Emsland region in north-western Germany, he makes a startling discovery in an abandoned Wehrmacht vehicle: the pristine uniform of a Luftwaffe Captain. Willi Herold, a nineteen year old German desertor, is on the run for his life from his Nazi pursuers. Willi Herold trying on his new, fateful personaĭer Hauptmann ( The Captain) is a 2017 historical drama written and produced by Robert Schwentke.Īpril 1945, two weeks before the end of the Second World War.

The captain 2013