Der Bockerer
Der Bockerer is a 1981 Austrian-German tragic-grotesque comedy directed by Franz Antel, based on the stage play by Ulrich Becher and Peter Preses. It follows Karl Bockerer, a Viennese butcher who experiences the 1938 annexation of Austria (Anschluss) and the Second World War with stubborn ill-humor, resisting the inhumanity of the new Nazi rulers with cunning and obstinacy while repeatedly risking his life.1 • 2 Karl Merkatz plays the title role, and the film is regarded as one of the great successes of Austrian cinema.2 • 3
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Director / year | Franz Antel, 1981 (Austria / West Germany)1 • 4 |
| Source | Stage play (Volksstück) by Ulrich Becher and Peter Preses; screenplay Kurt Nachmann with poet H.C. Artmann1 • 4 |
| Lead | Karl Merkatz as Karl Bockerer, a Viennese butcher (Fleischhauer)2 |
| Technical data | 104 minutes, 35 mm Eastmancolor, aspect ratio 1:1.66, German language1 • 4 |
| Production | Shot in Vienna in late autumn 1980; Neue Delta Filmproduktion (Vienna) and T.I.T. Filmproduktion (Munich) with Wien-Film4 |
| Award | Deutscher Filmpreis 1982, Filmband in Gold for acting achievement4 |
| Sequels | Bockerer II (1996) and Bockerer III (2000)3 • 5 |
Spoilers
Plot
The story opens in April 1938, after German troops enter Austria and the country becomes the Ostmark (Nazi-era name for Austria after annexation) of the Third Reich. Karl Bockerer shares his birthday with Hitler, and that is all the two have in common.1 The horrors of the Nazi dictatorship, the Nuremberg Laws, the outbreak of war, the blitzkriegs, the Russian campaign, and Stalingrad all press into the small world of the Viennese butcher, who must offer resistance in his shop and within his family with biting humor and plain words, until Austria is liberated by the Allies and the first provisional state government under Karl Renner is installed in bombed-out Vienna on 27 April 1945.2
The filmportal synopsis adds the family dimension. Karl grasps the seriousness of the situation only gradually. His son Hans joins the SA; only when a friend of the family is denounced, deported to Dachau, and killed does Hans change his attitude. He is then sent to the front and falls at Stalingrad. Karl falls seriously ill after the war but pulls himself together once more when he learns of his orphaned grandchild, taking the boy in to raise him together with his wife.4
Sequels
The film's success produced a series. After three years of preparation, and exactly 50 years after Antel's first film, he directed the long-awaited sequel Bockerer II – Österreich ist frei! (1996), a 95-minute color film with Karl Merkatz, Alexander Wussow, Caroline Vasicek, Ida Krottendorf, and Heinz Marecek, among others.3 A third installment, Bockerer III, followed in 2000.5
Production
Franz Antel, a veteran of Austrian popular cinema whose earlier work included comedies such as Der alte Sünder (1951) and Hallo Dienstmann! (1951), shot Der Bockerer in only three months with an ensemble of established Austrian and German actors.2 • 5 Filming took place in Vienna in the late autumn of 1980, and the German censorship board FSK passed the film on 6 July 1981 for audiences aged 12 and up.4 The production companies were Neue Delta Filmproduktionsgesellschaft mbH of Vienna and T.I.T. Filmproduktion GmbH of Munich, in association with Wien-Film GmbH, with funding from the Wiener Filmfinanzierungsfonds and the Austrian federal education ministry.4
The adaptation of the play was made with the participation of the poet H.C. Artmann, who co-wrote the screenplay with Kurt Nachmann.4 Ernst W. Kalinke was the director of photography, Gerhard Heinz wrote the music, and Irene Tomschik edited.1
Cast
Karl Merkatz heads the cast as Karl Bockerer, with Ida Krottendorf as his wife Sabine. The supporting ensemble includes Alfred Böhm (Hatzinger), Heinz Marecek (Dr. Rosenblatt), Klausjürgen Wussow as the SS-Obersturmbannführer von Lamm, Michael Schottenberg (Gstettner), Dolores Schmidinger (Mitzi Haberl), Erni Mangold, Hans Holt, Gustav Knuth (Vater Knabe), Teddy Podgorski, Walter Schmidinger (Schebesta), and Marianne Nentwich.2 • 6 For the actress Marte Harell, the film was her final screen appearance.6
Reception and legacy
In 1981 the film won over the sympathies of millions of cinema and television viewers, and ORF, Austria's public broadcaster, describes it as a biting social satire and a milestone of Austrian film history that also found international recognition.2 It received the Deutscher Filmpreis in 1982, with the Filmband in Gold for acting achievement.4 On IMDb it holds a rating of 8.1 out of 10 from about 1,100 votes.6 The Wiener Museum exhibition Alles Leinwand, mounted for Antel's 70 years of filmmaking, placed Der Bockerer I among the works that today hold the rank of a cult film.5
The film's treatment of Austria's Nazi past has also drawn scholarly scrutiny. A University of Vienna thesis examines Antel's 1981 adaptation as a falsification of the original play's critique, which had been directed against National Socialism, in favor of the Austrian myth of Austria as the first victim of Nazism.7 This debate sits within a broader Austrian reckoning with the Anschluss, which historical research now recognizes was welcomed by many Austrians in March 1938.8
References
- Der Bockerer, Austrian Films
- Der Bockerer, ORF 2 program page
- Bockerer II, Filmbüro
- Der Bockerer, filmportal.de
- Alles Leinwand: Franz Antel und der österreichische Film, Wien Museum
- Der Bockerer (1981), IMDb
- Der Bockerer – zur Verfälschung einer ursprünglich nationalsozialistischen Kritik zugunsten des österreichischen Mythos des ersten Opfers, University of Vienna thesis
- Hannah M. Lessing, Reaching out to the victims and combating anti-Semitism, lecture, London, 13 January 2009
Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Drama and biographical films (individual works) › Drama films 1980s › Released 1980 to 1985
Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026
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