Born 1900 - discussion and artistic licence

[Gabriel Ritter]

http://studios.amazon.com/projects/5904 - Born 1900

The historic setting of the movie has been thoroughly researched (you can see some of the sources in Script draft 1's footnotes), nevertheless there might be some mistakes undetected.

If you find any, please contact me, so I can correct them in future drafts (or when the movie gets made).

However, some inaccuracies are there with a reason:

- Students listening in to the Administrative Court's deliberation:
At no point listeners were allowed. I did decide to do it that way, because I saw no other option to have Kohn confronted directly with the opinions of the Judges, which were researched by Dr Besenböck (see script for full quote). I could think of the alternative, that Kohn (or David or someone else) would read the judgment and then wonder, why the judges decided that way -> flashback into the deliberation scene without audience. Still, I believe that to be less forceful.

- the using of the word Nazi
Nazi has been short form for Ignatius/Ignaz for a long time. Nazi for members of the NSDAP, supporters of Hitler and national socialist came up in the 1930ies. Nevertheless in the script I do use Nazi as it is used today: National Socialist. As there have been several - from today's point of views - Nazi parties and the script is bogged down with explanations already, I choose to do it that way. In some instances I use member of the Swastika party like Bettauer did.

-kissing in public
My grandmother selig (means: may she rest in peace) once gave an interview about Viennese Jewish youth in the 1920ies, where she told, that she had heard that other young Jewish girls would smooch around in stairwells, but she of course would never. Inspired by that I had the scene taking place in a stairwell, but found that the walk on the empty street to a mansion would better reflect on Einhorn's financial background. Also, talking while walking is more dynamic. After they did kiss once in public, they could do so again.
Other examples of today's behaviour (e.g. the Minsterialrat) are there as well.

- Pure Theory of Law
When I had the idea for the first time - a movie about anti-Semitism and academia in the 1920ies - I wanted to make it about the historical persons Hans Kelsen and his antagonist Hold-Ferneck. I soon realized, that I could not tell my own story that way, but had to tell theirs, which would have been good for a lecture on law, but not for a movie, which really gives the audience an experience about how anti-Semitism affects people's life.
That is way Kohn has the first name of Kelsen's father, why is mother is named like Kelsen's wife, why he converts first to catholicism and then to protestantism (opposite order was far more common), why he works as a Konzeptsbeamter at a ministry (Kelsen was at the Ministry for War, which did not exist after WWI) etc. It is also why Boris has been a Baron somewhen and is very conscious of that, why he dislikes Kelsen, Kohn and the Pure Theory of Law and why he hooks up with the Deutsche Gemeinschaft (I do not know, if Hold-Ferneck was member of a fraternity).
And that is way Kohn believes in Reine Rechtslehre (Pure Theory of Law). At several instances he explains it, like Kelsen would do later on, in one instance like Kelsen did in the 1950ies.
I do believe, when this movie makes it to the theatres, they will cut out the legal theory parts anyway.

One other thing I can think of, is that Kohn quotes Die Letzten Tage der Menschheit by Karl Kraus in 1920, while the book came out in 1922. But it was published in several issues of Die Fackel in 1919, so he could have read - and memorized - it.
I did guess about the jazz bar. I could not think of any other locale, where students of both sexes might go by themselves without their parents knowing.

Link to the discussion at amazonstudios