{ "id": "epectk9z1z", "slug": "das-adlon-eine-familiensaga", "title": "Das Adlon. Eine Familiensaga", "updated": "2026-11-01", "topic_path": [ { "id": "culture", "label": "Arts and culture", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture" }, { "id": "culture.performance", "label": "Screen and stage", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen", "label": "Film and television", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films", "label": "Films and standalone screen works", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works", "label": "Individual films by title and year", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.television-films", "label": "Television films", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.television-films" } ], "geo": [ { "id": "geo.eeu.t2001.culture.performance.screen.films", "label": "Eastern Europe · 2001 to 2020: Films and standalone screen works", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.eeu.t2001.culture.performance.screen.films", "path": [ { "id": "geo.eeu", "label": "Eastern Europe", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.eeu" }, { "id": "geo.eeu.t2001", "label": "Eastern Europe · 2001 to 2020", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.eeu.t2001" }, { "id": "geo.eeu.t2001.culture", "label": "Arts and culture", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.eeu.t2001.culture" }, { "id": "geo.eeu.t2001.culture.performance", "label": "Screen and stage", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.eeu.t2001.culture.performance" }, { "id": "geo.eeu.t2001.culture.performance.screen", "label": "Film and television", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.eeu.t2001.culture.performance.screen" }, { "id": "geo.eeu.t2001.culture.performance.screen.films", "label": "Films and standalone screen works", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.eeu.t2001.culture.performance.screen.films" } ] } ], "excerpt": "Das Adlon. Eine Familiensaga (Hotel Adlon – A Family Saga) is a 2013 German ZDF three-part miniseries directed by Uli Edel, following the Berlin Grand Hotel Adlon from 1904 to its 1997 reopening through the fictional Sonja Schadt.", "snippet": "Das Adlon. Eine Familiensaga (Hotel Adlon – A Family Saga) is a 2013 German ZDF three-part miniseries directed by Uli Edel, following the Berlin Grand Hotel Adlon from 1904 to its 1997 reopening through the fictional Sonja Schadt.", "node": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.television-films", "markdown": "# Das Adlon. Eine Familiensaga\n\n**Das Adlon. Eine Familiensaga** (English title: *Hotel Adlon – A Family Saga*) is a German three-part television miniseries about the Berlin Grand Hotel Adlon, directed by Uli Edel and first broadcast on ZDF on 6, 7, and 9 January 2013 at 20:15.[1](https://www.filmstiftung.de/news/fernsehpremiere-das-adlon-eine-familiensaga/) Produced by Oliver Berben's Moovie – the art of entertainment in co-production with ZDF, it follows the hotel from its founding in the [German Empire](https://www.edgepedia.org/german-empire) to its 1997 reopening, using the life of a fictional resident, Sonja Schadt, as the narrative thread through roughly a century of German history.[1](https://www.filmstiftung.de/news/fernsehpremiere-das-adlon-eine-familiensaga/)\n\n| Key fact | Detail |\n|---|---|\n| Format | Three-part TV miniseries, 3 × 90 minutes, 16:9, color, Dolby[2](https://www.filmportal.de/en/movie/das-adlon-eine-familiensaga_) |\n| First broadcast | 6, 7, and 9 January 2013, 20:15, ZDF[1](https://www.filmstiftung.de/news/fernsehpremiere-das-adlon-eine-familiensaga/) |\n| Director / screenplay | Uli Edel; screenplay by Rodica Doehnert and Uli Edel[2](https://www.filmportal.de/en/movie/das-adlon-eine-familiensaga_) |\n| Production | Moovie – the art of entertainment (Oliver Berben) with ZDF; co-producer Georg Feil[1](https://www.filmstiftung.de/news/fernsehpremiere-das-adlon-eine-familiensaga/) |\n| Story span | 1904 (plans for the hotel) to the 1997 reopening of the rebuilt Adlon[3](https://www.kino.de/serie/das-adlon.-eine-familiensaga-2012/) |\n| Central cast | Josefine Preuß (Sonja Schadt), Rosemarie Fendel (Sonja at 90), Burghart Klaußner (Lorenz Adlon), Heino Ferch (Louis Adlon), Marie Bäumer (Hedda Adlon)[2](https://www.filmportal.de/en/movie/das-adlon-eine-familiensaga_) |\n| Funding | 750,000 euros from Film- und Medienstiftung NRW, plus Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg and FilmFernsehFonds Bayern[1](https://www.filmstiftung.de/news/fernsehpremiere-das-adlon-eine-familiensaga/) |\n| Award | Best TV Film/Multi-parter, Shanghai TV Festival STVF 2013[2](https://www.filmportal.de/en/movie/das-adlon-eine-familiensaga_) |\n\n## Spoilers\n\n### Premise and narrative structure\n\nThe series opens in 1997 at the official reopening of the Adlon-[Kempinski](https://www.edgepedia.org/kempinski), where the very old Sonja Schadt recounts her life and the events surrounding the hotel; the story then unfolds in retrospect.[2](https://www.filmportal.de/en/movie/das-adlon-eine-familiensaga_) This frame narrative, in which an aged version of the protagonist narrates the past, has been compared by reviewers to the device used in [James Cameron](https://www.edgepedia.org/james-cameron)'s *[Titanic](https://www.edgepedia.org/titanic-1997-film)*.[4](https://www.tagesspiegel.de/gesellschaft/medien/von-zimmern-und-madchen-6671671.html)\n\nThe plot follows the hotel's founding, heyday, destruction and reconstruction, and with it Germany's twentieth century: the end of the Kaiserreich, the \"Wild Twenties\", National Socialism, war, and the DDR era, up to the rebuilding of the Adlon at its old site by the [Brandenburg Gate](https://www.edgepedia.org/brandenburg-gate) in 1997.[1](https://www.filmstiftung.de/news/fernsehpremiere-das-adlon-eine-familiensaga/) • [2](https://www.filmportal.de/en/movie/das-adlon-eine-familiensaga_) In the fiction, Sonja's grandfather Gustav was a financier at the side of the hotel's founder Lorenz Adlon; Sonja is in fact the secret child of Gustav's daughter Alma and the domestic servant Friedrich Löwe, passed off as the child of her grandparents Ottilie and Gustav to cover up the scandal.[2](https://www.filmportal.de/en/movie/das-adlon-eine-familiensaga_)\n\nProducer Oliver Berben described the design as mixing the real with the fictional: the Adlon family and its events are historically given, while the Schadt family is invented, though \"not everything is made up\". A third family, that of Sonja's father, the later page and concierge of the hotel, is treated only in passing but supplies a prominent character played by Wotan Wilke Möhring.[5](https://www.ots.at/presseaussendung/OTS_20121219_OTS0169/vorhang-auf-fuer-das-adlon-eine-familiensaga-im-orf) The working title was *Das Adlon: Ein Hotel. Zwei Familien. Drei Schicksale* (\"One hotel. Two families. Three fates\").[2](https://www.filmportal.de/en/movie/das-adlon-eine-familiensaga_)\n\n## Production\n\nThe idea of filming the Adlon's story had existed for years; Berben said it came to him when, as a guest at the hotel while his new apartment was not yet ready, he began considering the building as a stage for stories.[5](https://www.ots.at/presseaussendung/OTS_20121219_OTS0169/vorhang-auf-fuer-das-adlon-eine-familiensaga-im-orf) Shooting ran from 20 June to 28 September 2012 in Berlin, Brandenburg, and [Düsseldorf](https://www.edgepedia.org/dusseldorf); the production also used eight days of filming in Düsseldorf, Cologne, and the Eifel region.[2](https://www.filmportal.de/en/movie/das-adlon-eine-familiensaga_) • [1](https://www.filmstiftung.de/news/fernsehpremiere-das-adlon-eine-familiensaga/) Sets in the Adlon itself were used for only three days.[5](https://www.ots.at/presseaussendung/OTS_20121219_OTS0169/vorhang-auf-fuer-das-adlon-eine-familiensaga-im-orf)\n\nEdel, who had previously directed *Christiane F. – Wir Kinder vom Bahnhof Zoo*, *Last Exit to Brooklyn*, and *[Der Baader Meinhof Komplex](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-baader-meinhof-complex)*, called the production a mammoth project with 104 speaking roles, more, he guessed, than *Ben-Hur*.[6](https://www.evangelisch.de/inhalte/76145/06-01-2013) A ZDF press release gives the figure as 103 different roles.[7](https://www.presseportal.de/pm/7840/2391041) The three films were shot non-chronologically in one continuous block, nearly five hours of screen time spread across a century, which Edel said required a \"gigantic master plan\" to schedule the many busy actors.[6](https://www.evangelisch.de/inhalte/76145/06-01-2013) He also noted that he had to shoot more film minutes with less money than on *Der Baader Meinhof Komplex*, crediting organization and a fast camera team for making it work.[8](https://the-spot-mediafilm.com/produktion/regisseur-uli-edel-ueber-den-zdf-dreiteiler-das-adlon-eine-familiensaga-620c122a4e84f84bf0bc032bae9e1666)\n\nThe material had personal roots for the director: Edel grew up in a hotel and restaurant family, and his great-aunt worked at the old Adlon in 1932/33. Her daughter gave him invitations to the hotel's balls, printed menu cards, and descriptions of the famous dance teas with their gigolos, all of which were used in the production.[6](https://www.evangelisch.de/inhalte/76145/06-01-2013) • [7](https://www.presseportal.de/pm/7840/2391041) Co-producer Georg Feil, a historian, was responsible for the correctness of the historical facts.[9](https://presseportal.zdf.de/fileadmin/zdf_upload/Presse_Special/2013/01/Das_Adlon_-_Eine_Familiensaga.pdf)\n\n## Cast\n\nThe large ensemble includes Josefine Preuß as the young Sonja Schadt and Rosemarie Fendel as Sonja at 90; Burghart Klaußner as the founder Lorenz Adlon; Heino Ferch as his son Louis; Marie Bäumer as Hedda Adlon; Thomas Thieme as Gustaf Schadt; Sunnyi Melles as Ottilie Schadt; Anja Kling and Maria Ehrich as Alma Schadt; Wotan Wilke Möhring as Friedrich Loewe; Christiane Paul as Undine Adams; and Katharina Wackernagel as Margarete Loewe.[2](https://www.filmportal.de/en/movie/das-adlon-eine-familiensaga_) • [10](https://www.fernsehserien.de/das-adlon-eine-familiensaga/folgen/1-teil-1-429493) Hanno Lentz was the director of photography, Julia Oehring the editor, and the music was composed by Bernd Wefelmeyer, Marco Meister, and Robert Meister.[2](https://www.filmportal.de/en/movie/das-adlon-eine-familiensaga_)\n\n## Historical background and reception\n\nThe real Hotel Adlon was built in 1907 by the Mainz businessman Lorenz Adlon on Unter den Linden, with Kaiser Wilhelm II among the supporters of the construction; the hotel survived three political systems, was destroyed, and was rebuilt at its old site near the Brandenburg Gate, reopening in 1997.[11](https://www.diepresse.com/1329453/das-adlon-nur-die-pagen-gibt-es-immer-noch) • [12](https://www.deutschlandfunk.de/das-adlon-ist-wie-eine-abgeschlossene-insel-100.html)\n\nGerman critics were divided along the same line the producers themselves drew between history and invention. The Tagesspiegel judged the film good when it dealt with the hotel's story and weak in the \"unnecessarily invented family saga\", noting that the fictional Schadts received more attention than the real Adlons.[4](https://www.tagesspiegel.de/gesellschaft/medien/von-zimmern-und-madchen-6671671.html) Die Presse called it a pompous family drama that also tells Germany's twentieth-century history, \"something like the counterpart to James Cameron's *Titanic*\", and found the whole passable despite a weak first part.[11](https://www.diepresse.com/1329453/das-adlon-nur-die-pagen-gibt-es-immer-noch) Kino.de praised the casting, production design, and costumes, and called the three-parter a \"century novel\".[3](https://www.kino.de/serie/das-adlon.-eine-familiensaga-2012/) Quotenmeter.de highlighted the opulent, detailed sets and the use of real black-and-white news footage as sources of authenticity.[13](https://www.quotenmeter.de/n/61239/die-kritiker-das-adlon-eine-familiensaga)\n\nThe series won Best TV Film/Multi-parter at the Shanghai TV Festival STVF 2013[2](https://www.filmportal.de/en/movie/das-adlon-eine-familiensaga_) and was released on DVD and Blu-ray by [Universal Pictures](https://www.edgepedia.org/universal-pictures) on 14 January 2013.[14](https://www.videobuster.de/dvd-bluray-verleih/180394/das-adlon) It stands in a line of ZDF historical multi-parters such as *Dresden* and *Krupps*; a later example in the same mold, *Eldorado KaDeWe* (2023), was discussed in the press as following the model *Das Adlon* helped establish of imposing multi-part dramas set at storied German locations.[15](https://taz.de/Neue-Serie-Eldorado-KaDeWe/%215820235/)\n\n## References\n\n1. [Fernsehpremiere: „Das Adlon. Eine Familiensaga“, Film- und Medienstiftung NRW](https://www.filmstiftung.de/news/fernsehpremiere-das-adlon-eine-familiensaga/)\n2. [Das Adlon. Eine Familiensaga, filmportal.de](https://www.filmportal.de/en/movie/das-adlon-eine-familiensaga_)\n3. [Das Adlon. Eine Familiensaga, Kino.de](https://www.kino.de/serie/das-adlon.-eine-familiensaga-2012/)\n4. [Der ZDF-Dreiteiler „Das Adlon“: Von Zimmern und Mädchen, Der Tagesspiegel](https://www.tagesspiegel.de/gesellschaft/medien/von-zimmern-und-madchen-6671671.html)\n5. [Vorhang auf für „Das Adlon. Eine Familiensaga“ im ORF, OTS](https://www.ots.at/presseaussendung/OTS_20121219_OTS0169/vorhang-auf-fuer-das-adlon-eine-familiensaga-im-orf)\n6. [Uli Edel: „Wie bei einem großen Zirkus“, evangelisch.de](https://www.evangelisch.de/inhalte/76145/06-01-2013)\n7. [Katharina Wackernagel: „Das ist ein Dreiteiler, der sich an große Gefühle ran traut“, Presseportal](https://www.presseportal.de/pm/7840/2391041)\n8. [Regisseur Uli Edel über den ZDF-Dreiteiler „Das Adlon – Eine Familiensaga“, THE SPOT media & film](https://the-spot-mediafilm.com/produktion/regisseur-uli-edel-ueber-den-zdf-dreiteiler-das-adlon-eine-familiensaga-620c122a4e84f84bf0bc032bae9e1666)\n9. [Das Adlon – Eine Familiensaga, ZDF Presseportal (PDF)](https://presseportal.zdf.de/fileadmin/zdf_upload/Presse_Special/2013/01/Das_Adlon_-_Eine_Familiensaga.pdf)\n10. [Das Adlon. Eine Familiensaga 1: Teil 1, fernsehserien.de](https://www.fernsehserien.de/das-adlon-eine-familiensaga/folgen/1-teil-1-429493)\n11. [„Das Adlon“: Nur die Pagen gibt es immer noch, DiePresse.com](https://www.diepresse.com/1329453/das-adlon-nur-die-pagen-gibt-es-immer-noch)\n12. [„Das Adlon ist wie eine abgeschlossene Insel“, Deutschlandfunk](https://www.deutschlandfunk.de/das-adlon-ist-wie-eine-abgeschlossene-insel-100.html)\n13. [Die Kritiker: «Das Adlon. Eine Familiensaga», Quotenmeter.de](https://www.quotenmeter.de/n/61239/die-kritiker-das-adlon-eine-familiensaga)\n14. [Das Adlon, VIDEOBUSTER](https://www.videobuster.de/dvd-bluray-verleih/180394/das-adlon)\n15. [Neue Serie Eldorado KaDeWe: Eine Oase der Freiheit, taz.de](https://taz.de/Neue-Serie-Eldorado-KaDeWe/%215820235/)\n\n---\n*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Television films*\n\n*Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*\n\n*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*\n\nLicense: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license\n", "same_as": [], "url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/das-adlon-eine-familiensaga", "markdown_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/das-adlon-eine-familiensaga.md", "license": { "name": "Edgepedia Community License 1.0", "url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license", "summary": "Free with credit, commercial use included. AI training is open to everyone. For other uses, organizations over USD 100M in revenue or 100M monthly users license separately.", "spdx": "LicenseRef-Edgepedia-Community-1.0" }, "credit": "\"Das Adlon. Eine Familiensaga\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/das-adlon-eine-familiensaga. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.", "credit_md": "\"[Das Adlon. Eine Familiensaga](https://www.edgepedia.org/das-adlon-eine-familiensaga)\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), [https://www.edgepedia.org/das-adlon-eine-familiensaga](https://www.edgepedia.org/das-adlon-eine-familiensaga). [Edgepedia Community License 1.0](https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license).", "credit_html": "\"Das Adlon. Eine Familiensaga\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/das-adlon-eine-familiensaga. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.", "speakable": "Das Adlon." }