A Lesson in History

A Lesson in History
Directed by Lev Arnshtam
Hristo Piskov
Written by Lev Arnshtam
Hristo Piskov
Cinematography Yu-Lan Chen
Aleksandr Shelenkov
Music by Kara Karaev
Production
companies
Release dates
  • 26 February 1957 (Soviet Union)
  • 27 May 1957 (Bulgaria)
Running time
91 minutes
Countries Soviet Union
Bulgaria
Languages Russian
Bulgarian

A Lesson in History (Russian: Урок истории, Bulgarian: Урокът на историята) is a 1957 joint SovietBulgarian historical drama film directed by Lev Arnshtam and Hristo Piskov about Georgi Dimitrov and the Leipzig Trial.

Plot

The year is 1933. Georgi Dimitrov (Stefan Savov) comes to Berlin to establish links with the local Bulgarian communists. The Nazi leaders are doing their best to break the resistance of the Communists. Hermann Göring (Yuri Averin) conceives a provocation: during the arson of the Reichstag, his associate must be caught with a ticket of a member of the Communist Party. The Reichstag is set on fire, the provocateur Marinus van der Lubbe (Georgi Kaloyanchev) and the deputy of the Reichstag Ernst Torgler are arrested. Mass repressions against Communists are commencing. Dimitrov also falls in the hands of the Nazi court. However, in the courtroom, workers, including Heinrich Lange (Gennadi Yudin), prove the falsehood of the accusation. The National Socialists are forced to free Dimitrov. The Soviet government grants him the right of political asylum.

Cast

  • Stefan Savov – Georgi Dimitrov
  • Tzvetana Arnaudova – Paraskeva Dimitrova
  • Ivan Tonev – Stefcho
  • Gennadi Yudin – Heinrich Lange
  • Borya Burlyaev – Vili Lange
  • Apollon Yachnitskiy – Hitler
  • Yuri Averin – Gyoring
  • Pyotr Berezov – Himler
  • Encho Tagarov – Gyobels
  • Nikolay Volkov – Heldorf