John Rabe with Ulrich Tukur. However sentimentalized, Oskar Schindler’s deeds became known worldwide after the release of Steven Spielberg’s 1993 drama Schindler’s List, starring Liam Neeson as the German industrialist and Nazi Party member credited with saving the lives of about 1,200 Jews during the Nazi Era. Without an Oscar-winning international hit to rescue him from international near-oblivion, another German industrialist and Nazi Party member, John Rabe, helped to create “safe zones” in the Nanking area that ultimately saved the lives of about 200,000 civilians following the bloody Japanese invasion of China in the late 1930s.
German Film Awards (Lolas) 2009: Schindler’s List-like drama John Rabe wins Best Film
Inspired by real-life events, the World War II drama John Rabe won the 2009 German Film Academy’s Lola for Best Film. Directed by Florian Gallenberger, John Rabe tells the story of a German businessman (Best Actor winner Ulrich Tukur) credited with saving more than 200,000 Chinese during the Nanjing (then Nanking) massacre of 1937–1938.
Additionally, John Rabe, which has been a box office disappointment in Germany, won Lolas for best production design (Tu Ju Hua) and best costume design (Lisy Christl). I believe it’s safe to say that Gallenberger’s film will be Germany’s submission for the 2010 best foreign-language film Academy Award. And that it’ll land an Oscar nomination.
The best director Lola went to Andreas Dresen for the popular Cloud 9, in which veteran actress Ursula Werner plays a sixty-something married woman who rediscovers love and sex outside of home.
Özgür Yildirim’s feature-film debut, Chiko, a gangster drama set in a tough immigrant neighborhood in Hamburg, nabbed Lolas for best editing (Sebastian Thumler) and best screenplay (Yildirim).
The documentary Lola was given to Niko von Glasow’s NoBody’s Perfect, featuring about a dozen people born disabled (including the director) due to side effects from the drug Thalidomide, a medication given to pregnant women in the mid-20th century. The subjects then agree to pose naked for an art calendar.
Uli Edel’s box office hit and Oscar-nominated drama The Baader Meinhof Complex, about the terrorist group of the 1970s, failed to win a single award.
2009 German Film Academy Award nominations: March 13. 2009 German Film Academy Award winners: Berlin, Apr. 24.
German Film Awards (Lolas) 2009: Winners & nominations
Best Film
The Baader Meinhof Complex / Der Baader Meinhof Komplex – Dir.: Uli Edel
Chiko – Dir.: Özgür Yildirim
Cloud 9 / Wolke Neun – Dir.: Andreas Dresen
Jerichow – Dir.: Christian Petzold
* John Rabe – Dir.: Florian Gallenberger
A Year Ago in Winter / Im Winter ein Jahr – Dir.: Caroline LinkSilver Lola
A Year Ago in WinterBronze Lola
Cloud 9Best Director
* Andreas Dresen – Cloud 9
Uli Edel – The Baader Meinhof Complex
Florian Gallenberger – John Rabe
Christian Petzold – JerichowBest Actress
Anne Maria Mühe – November Child / Novemberkind
* Ursula Werner – Cloud 9
Johanna Wokalek – The Baader Meinhof ComplexBest Actor
Josef Bierbichler – A Year Ago in Winter
Denis Moschitto – Chiko
* Ulrich Tukur – John RabeBest Supporting Actress
Irm Hermann – A Woman in Berlin / Eine Frau in Berlin
Susanne Lothar – Fleisch ist mein Gemüse
* Sophie Rois – The Architect / Der ArchitektBest Supporting Actor
Steve Buscemi – John Rabe
* Andreas Schmidt – Fleisch ist mein Gemüse
Rudiger Volger – Effi BriestBest Screenplay
* Chiko – Özgür Yildirim
A Hero’s Welcome / Nacht vor Augen – Johanna Stuttmann
November Child – Christian Schwochow & Heide SchwochowBest Cinematography
John Rabe – Jurgen Jurges
Lulu and Jimi / Lulu und Jimi – Wedigo von Schultzendorff
* North Face / Nordwand – Kolja BrandtBest Film Editing
Berlin Calling – Anne Fabini
* Chiko – Sebastian Thumler
Palermo Shooting – Peter Przygodda, Oli Weiss & Mirko Scheel
A Year Ago in Winter – Patricia RommelBest Score
Krabat – Annette Focks
Robert Zimmermann Is Tangled Up in Love / Robert Zimmermann wundert sich über die Liebe – Element of Crime
* A Year Ago in Winter – Niki ReiserBest Production Design
* John Rabe – Tu Ju Hua
Krabat – Christian M. Goldbeck
North Face – Udo KramerBest Costume Design
The Baader Meinhof Complex – Birgit Missal
Effi Briest – Lucie Bates
* John Rabe – Lisy ChristlBest Sound Design
Krabat – Manfred Banach, Tschangis Chahorkh, Dirk Jacob & Carsten Richter
* North Face – Tschangis Chahrokh, Heinz Ebner & Guido Zettier
A Woman in Berlin – Manfred Banach, Christian Conrad & Martin SteyerBest Documentary
Lenin kam nur bis Ludenscheid – Dir.: Andre Schafer
* NoBody’s Perfect – Dir.: Niko von GlasowBest Children’s or Youth Film
Lilly the Witch: The Dragon and the Magic Book / Hexe Lilli: Der Drache und das magische Buch – Dir.: Stefan Ruzowitzky
* Nothing Else Matters / Was am Ende zählt – Dir.: Julia von Heinz
“German Film Awards (Lolas) 2009: John Rabe” notes
German Film Award (Lola) website.
German Film Academy website.
Ulrich Tukur John Rabe image: Majestic Filmverleih.
*last modified in April 2026.