Burghart Klaußner as Adenauer: A key moment in history!

Burghart Klaußner as Adenauer: A key moment in history!

Burghart Klaußner, known from award-winning films such as “The White Ribbon” and “Good Bye, Lenin!”, gives new life to the historical moment between German and French with his role as Konrad Adenauer in the ZDF film “One Day in September”. This production, directed by Kai Wessel, is about the crucial meeting between Adenauer and French President Charles de Gaulle in 1958. This meeting is considered a key piece of Franco-German post-war history and is an integral part of the political rapprochement between the two nations.

In the film, which takes place on September 14, 1958, the statesmen visit a private house in Paris. Klaussner, who was born in Berlin and has lived in Hamburg-Groß Flottbek for many years, is once again showing his talent. Adenauer's account makes it clear how the former Chancellor fought for reconciliation with France despite strong resistance and mistrust. The political tensions that emerge in a one-on-one conversation threaten to derail the entire project. Klaussner has made a name for himself in the northern German cultural scene and is also vice president of the Free Academy of Arts in Hamburg.

The background of the meeting

The relationship between Germany and France was characterized by deep rifts after the Second World War. Adenauer recognized that Franco-German reconciliation was central to the Western orientation of the Federal Republic. In the interwar period he already noted the importance of the need for security for French politics. The historic meeting in 1958 was an attempt to end decades of hereditary hostility between the two nations. Adenauer made intensive efforts to achieve rapprochement, as evidenced by the political background that goes back to the Paris Agreements in autumn 1954.

A central contact in Adenauer's chancellorship at the time was French Foreign Minister Robert Schuman. A plan was developed under Schuman that also envisaged the integration of German military capabilities into a European army. However, these efforts were under the shadow of unequal treatment of the German armed forces and met with great resistance from the German public.

A film with a significant legacy

The ZDF film is more than just a historical reconstruction; it is part of a forward-looking narrative. While the meeting between Adenauer and de Gaulle is documented in the film by journalists and two women, a German volunteer and a French photographer, they dream of a common and peaceful Europe. “One Day in September” is a ZDF commissioned production in collaboration with Arte and represents not only a cinematic but also a cultural statement on the importance of German-French relations.

For Klaußner, whose career has been marked by a variety of roles, the film is a way to show viewers the potential and difficulties of creating a unified Europe, while at the same time underlining his connection to the northern German cultural scene.

So the film is eagerly awaited. Production manager Miriam Rumohr and editorial director Stephanie Barrenberg are behind this project, which is moderated by Bettina Tietjen and whose story is still relevant today. When the cameras roll for the first time in September 2025, the dramatic rapprochement between Germany and France becomes a live debate both on and behind the screen about European identity and cohesion between the nations.

For additional information, you can read the contribution from NDR [here](https://www.ndr.de/ Fernsehenen/versanden/das_rote_sofa/norddeutschland-und-die-welt,sender-12092.html), as well as further details about the film on Lessentiel here and on the political dimension of German-French relations on Konrad Adenauer's website here.