Stella: A Life

Stella, a young German Jew, grows up in Berlin during the rule of the Nazi regime. She dreams of a career as a jazz singer, despite all the repressive measures. After she is forced to go into hiding with her parents in February 1943, her life turns into a culpable tragedy. Through a betrayal, she is caught by the Gestapo, tortured and becomes a “grabber”: to save herself and her parents from deportation to Auschwitz, Stella begins to systematically betray other Jews. From September 1943 until the end of the war, Stella Goldschlag delivered hundreds of fellow Jews to the Gestapo.

The special relevance of Stella Goldschlag's story for today's audience lies in the complexity of the protagonist and the hopelessness of her situation: “‘Stella – A Life’ is a breathtakingly modern story. Her main character could be one of us: she is young, self-confident and in love with herself. This woman is a perpetrator – but also a victim. She forces us into the dilemma of betrayal. "How would we have decided?” says director and writer Kilian Riedhof.