Movies like Berlin '36 (2009)
The best movies like Berlin '36 (2009) are Breaking the Limits (2017), The People vs. Fritz Bauer (2015) and The Fencer (2015). If Berlin '36 hooked you with its drama and history, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedYoung Woman and the Sea (2024)7.9/10 from 472 votes
- NewestThe Tasters (2025)Released 2025
- In GermanThe People vs. Fritz Bauer (2015)Also in German
Breaking the Limits (2017)
Based on true events. In 1980s Poland, Jerzy Górski is a young man who finds the determination to struggle against his drug addiction through athletic training, with the aim of competing in the US Ironman Triathlon.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & history
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe People vs. Fritz Bauer (2015)
It is the late 1950s. Flourishing under the economic miracle, Germany grows increasingly apathetic about confronting the horrors of its recent past. Nevertheless, Fritz Bauer doggedly devotes his energies to bringing the Third Reich to justice. One day Bauer receives a letter from Argentina, written by a man who is certain that his daughter is dating the son of Adolph Eichmann. Excited by the promising lead, and mistrustful of a corrupt judiciary system where Nazis still lurk, Bauer journeys to Jerusalem to seek alliance with Mossad, the Israeli secret service. To do so is treason — yet committing treason is the only way Bauer can serve his country.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both history & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Fencer (2015)
Fleeing from the Russian secret police, a young Estonian fencer is forced to return to his homeland, where he becomes a physical education teacher at a local school. The past however catches up and puts him in front of a difficult choice.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & history
Worth the HypeMovies like thisOperation Valkyrie (2004)
In 1944, a group of high command officers plot an attempt against Hitler, and one of the leaders of the conspiracy, Stauffenberg, goes to a meeting with the Fuhrer in charge of exploding the place. However, Hitler survives and the officers are executed. This unsuccessful operation was called "Valkyrie Operation", and this realistic movie discloses this true event.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & history
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLabyrinth of Lies (2014)
A young prosecutor in postwar West Germany investigates a massive conspiracy to cover up the Nazi pasts of prominent public figures.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & history
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBefore the Fall (2004)
In 1942, Friedrich Weimer's boxing skills get him an appointment to a National Political Academy (NaPolA) – high schools that produce Nazi elite. Over his father's objections, Friedrich enrolls. During his year in seventh column, Friedrich encounters hazing, cruelty, death, and the Nazi code. His friendship with Albrecht, the ascetic son of the area's governor, is central to this education.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Keeper (2018)
The story of a man whose love for football, for England and for the love of his life, Margaret, saw him rise from Nazi 'villain' to British hero. Bert Trautmann, the German goalkeeper won over even his harshest opponents by winning the FA Cup Final for Manchester City in 1956 - playing on with a broken neck to secure victory.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & history
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Silent Revolution (2018)
In 1956 Stalinstadt, East Germany, during the Hungarian uprising against Soviets is taking place, local teenagers perform a seemingly harmless act that causes unexpected consequences.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & history
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Invisibles (2017)
Four young Jews survive the Third Reich in the middle of Berlin by living so recklessly that they become "invisible."
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & history
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Diary of Anne Frank (2016)
The story of Anne Frank, the Jewish girl who went into hiding with her family in Amsterdam and became a victim of the Holocaust.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisWhen Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit (2019)
In 1933 in Berlin. Anna is only nine years old when her life changes from the ground up. To escape the Nazis, her father Arthur Kemper, a well-known Jewish journalist, has to flee to Zurich. His family, Anna, her twelve-year-old brother Max and her mother Dorothea, follow him shortly thereafter. Anna has to leave everything behind, including her beloved pink rabbit, and to face a new life full of challenges and privations abroad.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisRace (2016)
Based on the story of Jesse Owens, the athlete whose quest to become the greatest track and field athlete in history thrusts him onto the world stage of the 1936 Olympics, where he faces off against Adolf Hitler's vision of Aryan supremacy.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & history
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Tasters (2025)
In autumn 1943, in Gross-Partsch, 26-year-old Rosa, who had come from Berlin to stay with the parents of her husband Gregor, who was fighting on the Russian front, was taken by the SS to a mysterious place. Forced to taste a dish, she joins the group of tasters responsible for checking that the food destined for Hitler is not poisoned.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & history
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMunich - The Edge of War (2021)
At the tense 1938 Munich Conference, former friends who now work for opposing governments become reluctant spies racing to expose a Nazi secret.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & history
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSophie Scholl: The Final Days (2005)
In 1943, as Hitler continues to wage war across Europe, a group of college students mount an underground resistance movement in Munich. Dedicated expressly to the downfall of the monolithic Third Reich war machine, they call themselves the White Rose. One of its few female members, Sophie Scholl is captured during a dangerous mission to distribute pamphlets on campus with her brother Hans. Unwavering in her convictions and loyalty to the White Rose, her cross-examination by the Gestapo quickly escalates into a searing test of wills as Scholl delivers a passionate call to freedom and personal responsibility.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & history
Worth the HypeMovies like thisRosa Luxemburg (1986)
Polish socialist and Marxist Rosa Luxemburg works tirelessly in the service of revolution in early 20th century Poland and Germany. While Luxemburg campaigns for her beliefs, she is repeatedly imprisoned as she forms the Spartacist League offering a new vision for Germany.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & history
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Zone of Interest (2023)
The commandant of Auschwitz, Rudolf Höss, and his wife Hedwig, strive to build a dream life for their family in a house and garden next to the camp.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & history
Worth the HypeMovies like thisStefan Zweig: Farewell to Europe (2016)
Before Dawn charts the years of exile in the life of famous Jewish Austrian writer Stefan Zweig, his inner struggle for the "right attitude" towards the events in war torn Europe and his search for a new home.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & history
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSeptember 5 (2024)
During the 1972 Munich Olympics, an American sports broadcasting crew finds itself thrust into covering the hostage crisis involving Israeli athletes.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & history
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBalloon (2018)
Two families attempt a daredevil plan to escape the GDR with a homemade hot air balloon, but it crashes just before the border. The Stasi finds traces of this attempt to escape and immediately starts investigations, while the two families are forced to build a new escape balloon. With each passing day the Stasi is closer on their heels – a nerve-wracking race against time begins.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & history
Worth the HypeMovies like thisYoung Woman and the Sea (2024)
This is the extraordinary true story of Trudy Ederle, the first woman to successfully swim the English Channel. Through the steadfast support of her older sister and supportive trainers, she overcame adversity and the animosity of a patriarchal society to rise through the ranks of the Olympic swimming team and complete the 21-mile trek from France to England.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both history & drama
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisRadium Girls (2020)
Young women toiling in a factory are exposed to hazardous material which takes a disastrous toll on their health.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & history
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisEichmann (2007)
Based upon the final confession of Adolf Eichmann, made before his execution in Israel, of his role in Hitler's plan for the final solution.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both history & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisOrigin (2023)
While investigating the global phenomenon of caste and its dark influence on society, a journalist faces unfathomable personal loss and uncovers the beauty of human resilience.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & history
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisEddie the Eagle (2016)
The feel-good story of Michael 'Eddie' Edwards, an unlikely but courageous British ski-jumper who never stopped believing in himself—even as an entire nation was counting him out. With the help of a rebellious and charismatic coach, Eddie takes on the establishment and wins the hearts of sports fans around the world by making an improbable and historic showing at the 1988 Calgary Winter Olympics.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & history
Worth the HypeMovies like thisRun Lola Run (1998)
Lola receives a phone call from her boyfriend Manni. He lost 100,000 DM in a subway train that belongs to a very bad guy. She has 20 minutes to raise this amount and meet Manni. Otherwise, he will rob a store to get the money. Three different alternatives may happen depending on some minor event along Lola's run.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisValkyrie (2008)
Wounded in Africa during World War II, Nazi Col. Claus von Stauffenberg returns to his native Germany and joins the Resistance in a daring plan to create a shadow government and assassinate Adolf Hitler. When events unfold so that he becomes a central player, he finds himself tasked with both leading the coup and personally killing the Führer.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisRosenstrasse (2003)
When Ruth's husband dies in New York, in 2000, she imposes strict Jewish mourning, which puzzles her children. A stranger comes to the house - Ruth's cousin - with a picture of Ruth, age 8, in Berlin, with a woman the cousin says helped Ruth escape. Hannah, Ruth's daughter engaged to a gentile, goes to Berlin to find the woman, Lena Fisher, now 90. Posing as a journalist investigating intermarriage, Hannah interviews Lena who tells the story of a week in 1943 when the Jewish husbands of Aryan women were detained in a building on Rosenstrasse. The women gather daily for word of their husbands. The film goes back and forth to tell Ruth and Lena's story. How will it affect Hannah?
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAlone in Berlin (2016)
Berlin in June of 1940. While Nazi propaganda celebrates the regime’s victory over France, a kitchen-cum-living room in Prenzlauer Berg is filled with grief. Anna and Otto Quangel’s son has been killed at the front. This working class couple had long believed in the ‘Führer’ and followed him willingly, but now they realise that his promises are nothing but lies and deceit. They begin writing postcards as a form of resistance and in a bid to raise awareness: Stop the war machine! Kill Hitler! Putting their lives at risk, they distribute these cards in the entrances of tenement buildings and in stairwells. But the SS and the Gestapo are soon onto them, and even their neighbours pose a threat.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisPhoenix (2014)
In the aftermath of WWII, German-Jewish cabaret singer Nelly has to undergo facial reconstructive surgery following her survival from Auschwitz. Without recognising Nelly, her former husband Johnny asks her to help him claim his wife’s inheritance. To see if he's betrayed her, she agrees, becoming her own doppelgänger.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like this
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Berlin '36?
The closest matches to Berlin '36 are Breaking the Limits (2017), The People vs. Fritz Bauer (2015) and The Fencer (2015). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Berlin '36?
People who watched Berlin '36 most often go on to Breaking the Limits (2017), The People vs. Fritz Bauer (2015) and The Fencer (2015).
What is the highest-rated movie like Berlin '36?
Young Woman and the Sea (2024), rated 7.9/10 by 472 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Berlin '36?
The Tasters (2025) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there German movies like Berlin '36?
Yes: The People vs. Fritz Bauer (2015), Operation Valkyrie (2004) and Labyrinth of Lies (2014).
How are movies similar to Berlin '36 chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Berlin '36, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.