Actors - The Seventh Cross

Home > Listing Index > Actors > The Seventh Cross

	Actors - The Seventh Cross

Anna Seghers' novel, The Seventh Cross (Das siebte Kreuz), is one of the more well-known examples of German literature circa World War II. It was published first in America, in an abridged version, in September 1942 by Little, Brown and Company. Its publication was surrounded by a certain amount of fanfare; by the end of September, there were already plans for a comic strip version of The Seventh Cross, it having already been selected as a Book-of-the-Month Club book. According to Dorothy Rosenberg, who wrote the afterword for the 1987 Monthly Review Press edition, statistics indicate that 319,000 copies of The Seventh Cross were sold in the first twelve days alone, and the novel was printed in German, Russian, Portuguese, Yiddish and Spanish by 1943. A film version starring Spencer Tracy and produced by MGM premiered in 1944; a publicity stunt, in which MGM organized a pretend "manhunt" for a Tracy look-alike in seven cities for the public to take part in, accompanied the normal film promotions. The book was well-received in Germany, and particularly in the East; the author, Seghers, was known to be a Communist, and some of the "heroic" or sympathetic characters in The Seventh Cross are also members of the Communist Party.

Summary/Plot Spoilers

The story of Das siebte Kreuz is very basic: there are seven men who have been imprisoned in the Westhofen camp, who have decided to make a collaborative escape attempt. The main character is a Communist, George Heisler; the narrative follows his path across the countryside, taking refuge with those few who are willing to risk a visit from the Gestapo, while the rest of the escapees are gradually overtaken by their hunters.

The title of the book comes from a conceit of the prison camp. The current officer in charge has ordered the creation of these seven crosses from the trees nearby, to be used when the prisoners are returned - not for crucifixion, but a subtler torture: the escapees are made to stand all day in front of their crosses, and will be punished if they falter.

Film Adaptation

The Seventh Cross was adapted in a 1944 film with Spencer Tracy and Hume Cronyn.

Awards and nominations

Best Supporting Actor
(nomination) - Hume Cronyn

[ Visit the complete Wikipedia entry for The Seventh Cross ]

This page is based on the copyrighted Wikipedia article The Seventh Cross; it is used under the GNU Free Documentation License. You may redistribute it, verbatim or modified, providing that you comply with the terms of the GFDL.

Searches on eBay