Director: Frank Beyer
Screenplay: Jurek Becker, Frank Beyer
Starring: Vlastimil Brodský, Erwin Geschonneck, Henry Hübchen, Blanche Kommerell
Country: Germany
Running Time:1 hour and 40 minutes
Year: 1973
BBFC Certificate: 12
Jakob the Liar (1974) had a profound effect on my understanding of the Holocaust, specifically, the emotional toll it must have taken on the Nazi’s Jewish victims. Empathising with the victims of such a horrific and tragic event in history is not an easy task due the fact it’s so difficult to comprehend the sheer scale and enormity of the horror involved.
This poignant and heartbreaking German tragicomedy offers up a snapshot of life in a Jewish ghetto in Nazi-occupied Poland. We see the residents living in squalid, grimy, conditions of the dilapidated town. The men are forced to toil in the day, performing hard labour and survive on a scrap of food in the evening during the curfew.
It feels as though we’re being given a slice of life insight into this purgatory existence, caught between the nostalgia of a blossoming past and the horrors of the concentration camps. It’s based on a book by Jewish Polish author Jurek Becker, born in 1937, who was raised in a ghetto and was sent to the concentration camp during his childhood.
So, the film has a real layer of authenticity. Director Frank Beyer aptly evokes Becker’s realistic and bleak vision in his cast. The interactions feel so lifelike and humdrum. As mentioned, it’s a tragicomedy, so there are moments of levity within most of the scenes that make the interactions feel genuine. Presenting the characters in this way, warts and all, as victims and as real people with a sense of humour, makes the more tragic moments feel all the more real and heartbreaking.
Jakob Heym is played by Czech actor Vlastimil Brodsky who delivers a marvellous performance. Jakob gets caught up in a twisted knot of lies after claiming he had a radio, a banned item, and made assurances he had heard good news of the Russian army approaching Poland. He makes this initial lie out of kindness to inspire hope to a fellow Jew who was on the verge of throwing his life away.
It’s a story of hope, but a more insightful and realistic take on the concept as these people are caught in a hopeless situation. There are some lovely bittersweet moments, particularly when Jakob is entertaining his ‘adopted’ daughter by performing a fake news reel. The film will make you laugh and cry. A masterpiece.
The image was utterly stunning. Eureka have delivered a 1080p HD presentation from a 4K restoration of the original camera negative and interpositive by the DEFA Foundation. The shots of the ghetto are crisp and sharp. Closed in static shots serve to intensify the squalid and confined nature of the ghetto. These are richly juxtaposed by dream/memory sequences of life before Nazi occupation which show off the vibrant nature of pre-war Poland.
Film: 
SPECIAL FEATURES
- Limited edition O-card slipcase featuring new artwork by Carly A-F [2000 copies]
- Limited edition collector’s booklet featuring new writing on Jakob the Liar by Sebastian Heiduschke, author of East German Cinema: DEFA and Film History [2000 copies]
- 1080p HD presentation from a 4K restoration of the original camera negative and interpositive by the DEFA Foundation
- Original German audio
- Optional English subtitles, newly revised for this release
- Lessons of the Past – new interview with Jewish studies scholar Sue Vice on Holocaust cinema
- Jurek and Jakob – new video essay by film and literature scholar Mary Going on Jurek Becker and DEFA’s adaptation of Jakob the Liar
- A Diary for Anne Frank (Joachim Hellwig, 1958) – DEFA documentary on the story of Anne Frank
The extras are extremely impressive, despite the fact the package doesn’t feature an audio commentary. Lessons of the Past with Sue Vice fills this vacant space with an incisive and densely packed lecture on the history of Holocaust cinema, contextualising how the movie fits in film history and what set Jakob the Liar apart as a seminal work.
Jurek and Jakob delves into the film’s author, telling us his own personal backstory and how this is reflected in themes of the movie. It’s an in-depth video essay interposed with lots of documentary footage. Mary Going does a fantastic job of not only telling Jurek’s story but also anchors his story amid the wider narrative.
A Diary for Anne Frank surprised me as it had little to do with Anne. It was more about what happened with East and West Germany after the war ended, with a focus on the Nazis who escaped justice. It’s an extremely interesting documentary that I felt privileged to watch as it had originally been broadcast to Germans in 1958. The documentary ultimately features investigative reporters tracking down where Nazi war criminals were living in East Germany at the time, and it feels like witnessing a vital public service broadcast to the German people, exposing the injustice and racism which remained despite Nazi defeat.
Disc/package:
Jakob The Liar (1974) releases on Bluray on 16 February 2026 as part of Eureka’s Master of Cinema series.