Downfall (film)/Characters

This is the character sheet for the German WWII movie Downfall. The movie has become famous in the internetland for the long living YouTube Meme (which now has its own character page) it has given birth to. Tropes listed here are related to the original movie.

Adolf Hitler (Bruno Ganz)

 * Ate His Gun: Though we never saw it happen.
 * Bad Boss: While he can be nice to the people daily around him, he has zero sympathy for his Mooks.
 * Believing Their Own Lies: For a good part of the film he holds on to his delusions.
 * Beneath the Mask: Traudl mentions how he can at one moment be pleasant, and the next moment say/scream such horrible things. Eva responds “You mean when he’s the Führer?”, so she seems to believe at least some part of his public self is a mask.
 * Berserk Button: Disobeying him in any way.
 * Big Bad
 * Break the Haughty
 * The Caligula
 * Chewing the Scenery
 * Driven to Suicide
 * Fan Nickname: “Dolfy”
 * Faux Affably Evil
 * Friend to All Children: He and the Goebbels kids seem to really like each other. In fact, he’s so friendly he’s happy to have kids and teenagers die en masse for him as Child Soldiers. Truth in Television on both counts; Hitler was known to be genuinely fond of kids while still, in the final days of the war, sending thousands of them off to die.
 * Hypocrite: Wants the Germans to keep fighting till the bitter end in horrible conditions, while he himself stays in the relative comfort of his bunker without fireing one single bullet agains the enemy.
 * It's All About Me: Germany exists for him, not the other way around.
 * Irrational Hatred: Averted. There’s surprisingly little references to his idelogy of racial superiority. It primarily comes up during a dinner conversation about “the weak” somehow being a threath against “the stong”, and who therefore must be destroyed.
 * Kick the Dog: When he orders his own pet dog Blondi to be poisoned.
 * Large Ham
 * Licked by the Dog: Licked by the Goebbels kids and Traudl
 * Magnetic Hero: Glance through the rest of the characters. Most of them have Undying Loyalty to him.
 * Manipulative Bastard
 * May-December Romance: When they marry, Hitler is 56 and Eva 33.
 * A Million Is a Statistic
 * Mood Swinger
 * The Napoleon
 * Nice to the Waiter
 * Nietzsche Wannabe
 * Never My Fault
 * Say My Name: FEGELEIN! FEGELEIN! FEGELEIN!
 * Smug Snake: Hitler claims to have conquered “all of Europe” despite his generals, but it’s obvious it goes the other way around.
 * The Sociopath: To Card-Carrying Villain levels. During a dinner he calmly discusses with Goebbels about how sympathy for the weak is a primal sin.
 * He really did say that, or at least something along those lines: "Life is granted only to those who fight the hardest. It is the law of life: Defend yourself! The time in which we live has the appearance of the collapse of this idea of helping the weak." (Hitler's Table Talk)
 * Surrounded by Idiots: Believes to be so.
 * Taking You with Me: Trying to take Germany with him.
 * That's an Order: Steiner’s assault was an order! In general Hitler is unwilling of tolerating any kind of opposition to his will.
 * You Have Failed Me...
 * Villainous Breakdown: Every now and then.
 * Villain Protagonist
 * With Great Power Comes Great Insanity

Eva Braun (Juliane Köhler)

 * Body Horror: She wants to be "a pretty corpse", and therefore opts for poison instead of guns.
 * The Ditz
 * Driven to Suicide
 * Dumb Blonde: Has the appearance, at least.
 * Life of the Party
 * Love Martyr: Quite literaly.
 * May-December Romance: When they marry, Hitler is 56 and Eva 33.
 * Please Spare Him, My Liege: Begs on her knees Hitler to spare Fegelein.
 * Stepford Smiler
 * Undying Loyalty: Too bad in this movie it’s not a positive character trait.
 * Unequal Pairing: Hitler is the Führer. She doesn’t even officially exist.
 * While Rome Burns

Magda Goebbels (Corinna Harfouch)

 * Blue and Orange Morality: Her moral code is not like ours.
 * Driven to Suicide
 * Ice Queen
 * Knight Templar
 * Lady Macbeth
 * Nerves of Steel: Plays solitaire after killing her children.
 * Obliviously Evil: She honestly believes in National Socialism and thinks she’s doing the right thing saving her kids from the horrible fate of living in a world without it.
 * Offing the Offspring: During the film’s perhaps most depressing scene.
 * Psycho Supporter: For Hitler
 * The Sociopath: Moreso than Hitler.
 * The Stoic
 * Subordinate Excuse: She seems much more emotionally invested in Hitler than her husband. It’s Truth in Television, too.
 * Undying Loyalty
 * Villainous Breakdown: Falls down on her knees and begs Hitler to escape from Berlin instead of committing suicide. When turned down, she breaks down in hysteric crying and has to be dragged away by Günsche. In contrast, she shows no fear or sadness while calmly waiting for her husband to shoot her.

Joseph Goebbels (Ulrich Matthes)

 * Driven to Suicide
 * Fan Nickname: “Skeletor”
 * Gonk
 * No Sympathy: As he so eloquently explains to Mohnke, even mocking the Germans who are willing to die for Hitler.
 * Psycho Supporter: Embraces all of Hitler’s mad delusions and ideologies.
 * Ugly Guy, Hot Wife: His wife is considerably more attractive than him.
 * Undying Loyalty: While others try to leave the sinking ship, Goebbels wants to hear none of it.
 * Wrong Genre Savvy: He believes in Heroic Spirit.
 * Yes-Man: So much. In one scene you can spot even Krebs rolling his eyes while Goebbels licks Hitler’s butt.

The Goebbels Children

 * Cheerful Child
 * Children Are Innocent
 * Infant Immortality: Ouch…
 * Kick the Dog: They’re the dog that gets kicked.
 * Parental Betrayal: Leads to Offing the Offspring.
 * War Is Hell: In case the audience didn’t yet get the message.

Albert Speer (Heino Ferch)

 * Anti-Villain: Mostly Type I. Arguably Type II.
 * Defector From Decadence: While he considers himself to remain Hitler’s true friend, he admits to him disobeying his orders because he found them lunatic and inhuman.
 * Et Tu, Brute?: After his confession, Hitler refuses to say farewell to him, to shake his hand or even to look him in the eyes. When Speer leaves the room, Hitler is shown shedding Manly Tears. However, he doesn’t have him executed and lets him go.
 * Nice Guy
 * Only Sane Man
 * Token Good Teammate: Unlike most of the turncoats who abandon Hitler to save their own skin, Speer disobeys his orders out of wish to save civilian lives and to give Germany a future after the war.

Reichsführer-SS Heinrich Himmler (Ulrich Noethen)

 * Affably Evil
 * Et Tu, Brute?: Unlike Speer, he attempts to jump ships out of selfish interests. When Hitler learns about it, his reaction is much more severe and he wants Himmler dead.
 * Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: He believes the Allies want to keep the former Nazi regime in power to prevent the Communists from taking over. It escapes him that after all the horrendous crimes they've committed, any human of normal moral code wouldn't consider co-operating with them for a split second.
 * The Quisling: Tries to become this to the Allies. They’ll have none of it.
 * Screw This, I'm Outta Here
 * The Starscream
 * Turncoat

SS-Gruppenführer Hermann Fegelein (Thomas Kretschmann)

 * Ambition Is Evil: Not interested in the Nazi ideology or serving his country, but advancing his own position. Fegelein was deeply disliked by many both in Real Life (Speer described him as one of the most disgusting men in Hitler’s circle) and to some extend in the movie (Burgdorf calls him a careerist at his face.)
 * Anti-Villain: Type I or II. A Nazi, an opportunist, a deserter… and a young man who just wants to live, unlike his lunatic fellow men determined to die for a crazy ideology.
 * Disappeared Dad: He becomes this to his yet unborn daughter.
 * Face Death with Dignity: Upon realizing he’s about to be executed, he buttons up his jacket and salutes Hitler.
 * Gold Digger: The real Fegelein married Gretl Braun only to get closer to Hitler (Gretl was Eva Braun’s sister.) His relationship with his wife is left undiscussed in the movie, as she is never seen. However, he is shown to really be fond of at least Eva.
 * Handsome Lech: “The playboy of the Third Reich”.
 * Hey, It's That Guy!: This isn't the first time Thomas Kretschmann has played a Nazi. You may also recognize him from Resident Evil Apocalypse as Timothy Cain.
 * He has also played a Nazi in films such as The Pianist, Valkyrie, Stalingrad…
 * Historical Hero Upgrade: The real Hermann Fegelein didn't become Heinrich Himmler's adjutant for being a nice person. Among his real-life war crimes were the deaths of 17,000 Soviet Jews in Byelorussia.
 * I Have a Family: Not spoken by him, but by Eva on his behalf while she begs Hitler to save his life. It doesn’t work.
 * Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Has shades of this.
 * Only in It For the Money: Or for a career. Interestingly both he and Magda Goebbels arranged themselves into a political marriage to get closer to Hitler. Only Magda did for passionate loyalty for National Socialism, while Fegelein simply climbs the ladders of the party that happens to in power.
 * Only Sane Man: Takes no part in Hitler’s delusions, nor has any interest in dying for Nazism. He also tries to convince others to come to their senses, with little success.
 * Pet the Dog: He’s honestly concerned about Eva’s safety, and begs her to escape Berlin with him. He also implores Hitler's secretaries to flee Berlin because the war is already lost, but they refuse to believe him.
 * Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Attempts it. It doesn't end well.
 * Tragic Villain: He knows that the Nazis are going to lose the war in a matter of days and wants to get away from their messy demise, but his Nazi comrades, and Hitler, make things difficult for him to leave.
 * Your Cheating Heart: Being married doesn’t stop him from being found in a prostitute’s bed.

Traudl Junge (Alexandra Maria Lara)

 * Audience Surrogate: An inexperienced new arrival in Hitler’s circle, level-headed and innocent of the horrid crimes most of the cast has committed.
 * Brainy Brunette: Brunette and brainy enough to score a job as the secretary of the most important man in the Reich. Though in this company merely being of normal sanity places her above her surroundings. Unfortunately it doesn’t help her judge of character.
 * Break the Cutie
 * Brown Eyes: Brown eyed and down to earth.
 * Curtains Match the Window
 * Friend to All Children: Befriends both the Goebbels children and later Peter.
 * Horrible Judge of Character: She never forgave herself for not seeing Hitler as the monster he was.
 * Naive Everygirl
 * Nice Girl
 * Plucky Girl
 * Sexy Secretary: In all innocence, as she’s clearly “a good girl”.
 * Supporting Protagonist: Arguably this to Hitler, the real main character. However, the movie bookends with an interview of the real Traudl Junge, and her fate during the war is the carrying plot thread.
 * Token Good Teammate
 * Undying Loyalty: Upset by people abandoning Hitler and determined to stay with him till the end.
 * What Beautiful Eyes!: Just look into them.

SS-Sturmbannführer Otto Günsche (Gotz Otto)

 * Battle Butler: By the definition of being an adjutant, i.e. a soldier servant to a superior officer, in his case to Hitler.
 * Nice Guy: Generally friendly and helpful, especially to Traudl and Gerda.
 * One Head Taller: Compared to everybody else, but especially Hitler.
 * Punch Clock Villain: Isn’t shown to be Ax Crazy or a passionate Nazi like many of the other bunker inhabitants. In Real Life too he was never found to be guilty of war crimes, even though he had fought on the front lines.
 * The Quiet One
 * The Reliable One: Doesn’t stand out much, but is often present, silently waiting for orders in the backround, and in the end is trusted with the important task of destroying Hitler’s body after his suicide.
 * The Stoic
 * Undying Loyalty: Among those who stay with Hitler till the end. Near the end he joins in the Mohnke's group of survivors, and when the group votes for what to do Günsche is among those who vote for dying before dishonor. Yet when the surrender is declared he declines from committing suicide.

Hans Krebs, Chief of the Army General Staff (Rolf Kanies)

 * Affably Evil: A Nazi... and quite polite.
 * Driven to Suicide
 * Fan Nickname: “The Map Pointer”
 * Heterosexual Life Partners: With Burgdorf
 * Nice Guy: Polite and soft-spoken.
 * Pretty Little Headshots
 * Red Oni, Blue Oni: Blue to Burgdorf’s red.
 * Suicide Pact: He and Burgdorf shoot themselves together.
 * Undying Loyalty: Stays in the bunker until everyone else have left.

Chief adjutant Wilhelm Burgdorf (Justus von Dohnányi)

 * Driven to Suicide
 * Fan Nickname: "Boozing Burgdorf", and less commonly "Fast-Talkin' Boozin' Burgdorf"
 * Heterosexual Life Partners: With Krebs
 * Honor Before Reason: Remembers Germany’s humiliating surrender after WWI and rather commits suicide than goes through it again.
 * Hot-Blooded
 * I Need a Freaking Drink: Often seen drinking alcohol.
 * Motor Mouth: When angered speaks fast, furiously and in high pitch.
 * Pretty Little Headshots
 * Red Oni, Blue Oni: Red to Krebs’ blue.
 * Suicide Pact: He and Krebs shoot themselves together.
 * Undying Loyalty: Stays in the bunker until everyone else have left.
 * With Due Respect: During his most famous Villainous Breakdown Hitler accuses the army for his loss, calling them cowards and traitors. Burgdorf stands up to the furious Führer, declaring this to be outrageous and that he cannot accept Hitler insulting the soldiers. No other character dares to speak to Hitler in such manner.

Generaloberst Alfred Jodl (Christian Redl)
""You are a soldier! You have sworn loyalty to the Führer!""
 * Bald of Evil: Bald and a Nazi. Not eviler than the rest, though.
 * The Complainer Is Always Wrong: Averted. He offers reasonable counter arguments against Hitler's ludicrously delusional orders. Hitler is not amused.
 * My Country, Right or Wrong:


 * Undying Loyalty: Despite arguing with Hitler, he refuses to consider abandoning him.

Standartenführer Ernst-Günther Schenck (Christian Berkel)
"Hewel: "Why do you want so much to live?" Schenck: "Why do you want so much to die?""
 * Bald of Awesome
 * Herr Doktor
 * Hey, It's That Guy!: Apparently Eric the Bartender somehow survived the Mexican Standoff and became a doctor.
 * Historical Hero Upgrade: Shenck is portrayed as the most heroic character in the film, convienently glossing over his Real Life involvement in human experiements that cost the life of 370 concentration camp prisoners. The director justifies this by claiming it's a case of Shown Their Work instead: according to him, the accusations against Schenck aren't particularly believeable.
 * Honor Before Reason: Wants to help the civilians even when it puts himself into immediate danger, and when it’s against the orders.
 * The Medic
 * Only Sane Man


 * Punch Clock Villain
 * Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right

General Helmuth Weidling (Michael Mendl)

 * Badass Grandpa
 * Fate Worse Than Death: Considers being put into the lead of the defense of Berlin to be this.
 * Heroic BSOD: Collapses after commanding the remaining German soldiers to surrender.
 * Only Sane Man
 * Punch Clock Villain: Apparently fights for his country and people, not Hitler or the Nazi ideology. He’s also considerably more worried about the wellbeing of civilians and his men than Hitler and the Nazi top dogs.
 * Reasonable Authority Figure
 * The Stoic
 * You Are in Command Now: He’s not happy about it.

SS-Brigadeführer Wilhelm Mohnke (André Hennicke)

 * Badass Baritone: Perhaps not quite baritone, but distinctively soft and pleasant anyway.
 * Fan Nickname: "Bonkers" - Due to the difficulty English-speaking viewers sometimes have in pronouncing his name, many fansubs have taken to calling him "General Bonkers", because "Mohnke" sounds somewhat close to this. The in-universe fan-joke is that Hitler is the kind of annoying boss who invents demeaning pet names for his subordinates, but Mohnke is too afraid of Hitler to correct him. Other joke fansubs straight-up say that "Bonkers" is his actual name.
 * Historical Hero Upgrade: As with Schenck, some critics accuse the film of portraying him in too heroic light while forgetting his alleged war crimes; again the director answers he doesn't believe in the accusations.
 * Only Sane Man: Of the same kind as Weidling. In the end, when many others commit suicide, he leads the surviving bunker members to attempt to break through the encircling Soviet troops.
 * Punch Clock Villain
 * Reasonable Authority Figure: Goebbels keeps sending him unarmed Child Soldiers, he tries to stop it.
 * Senseless Sacrifice: Is against using the Volksturm volunteers for this reason.
 * The Stoic: The most stoic of them all. Doesn't as much as flinch when Goebbels shouts at his face he doesn't care about the dying Child Soldiers.
 * Undying Loyalty: Played with. During the movie he plays the role of a Only Sane Man who's concerned about saving lives from the Senseless Sacrifice that the Battle for Berlin is. Near the end he leads a group of survivors, who argue about what to do. A vote is called, and Mohnke votes for dying. Yet when the surrender is announced, he doesn't commit suicide.

Peter Kranz (Donevan Gunia)

 * Action Survivor
 * Amazingly Embarrassing Parents: Is ashamed of his WWI veteran father, who tries to order him and his Nazi Youth friends to give up fighting, as their cause is lost, and more importantly they’re just kids and can’t do any real good in a battle.
 * Bittersweet Ending: Survives the war, but his parents and friends are dead.
 * Break the Cutie
 * Canon Foreigner: To real history; all other main characters are examples of Historical Domain Character, but Peter is entirely fictional.
 * Child Soldiers
 * Dad the Veteran: His dad is one.
 * Harmful to Minors: He’s not having a very normal childhood.
 * Heartwarming Orphan: Becomes this.
 * Just a Kid: Subverted. He comes to realize he really is just a kid who has no place in battle, and runs back home to mommy and daddy.
 * A Million Is a Statistic: Peter’s function as a character is to give a face and a name to the civial suffering so much discussed by those in the command.
 * Riding Into the Sunset: Bicycling into the blooming springtime countryside with Traudl.

Reichsmarschall Hermann Göring (Mathias Gnädinger)

 * Fat Bastard
 * Screw This, I'm Outta Here: In his only scene, he is calmly checking his watch.
 * The Voiceless: Despite being one of the most prominent Nazi officials, he doesn't get a single word.