Movies Like Ernst Thälmann – Son of the Working Class

If you liked Ernst Thälmann – Son of the Working Class (1954), a history and drama movie directed by Kurt Maetzig, here are 20 movies with a similar feel, based on TMDB's recommendations. Each one links to its cast, trailer and where it's streaming.

1
Rosa Luxemburg (1986)
★ 6.5/10Also drama and history
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…
2
Truth & Treason (2025)
★ 8.1/10Also history and drama
In 1941 Nazi Germany, 16-year-old Helmuth Hübener begins questioning the regime after learning the truth about the war and seeing his Jewish friend persecuted. With two friends, he secretly listens to banned foreign…
3
Nuremberg (2025)
★ 7.6/10Also history and drama
In postwar Germany, an American psychiatrist must determine whether Nazi prisoners are fit to go on trial for war crimes, and finds himself in a complex battle of intellect and ethics with Hermann Göring, Hitler's…
4
The People vs. Fritz Bauer (2015)
★ 6.8/10Also history and drama
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…
5
Watch on the Rhine (1943)
★ 6.9/10Also drama
On the eve of World War II, the German Kurt Müller, his American-born wife Sara, and their three children, having lived in Europe for years, visit Sara's wealthy mother near Washington, DC. Kurt secretly works for the…
6
The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser (1974)
★ 7.3/10Also drama and history
The film follows Kaspar Hauser, who lived the first seventeen years of his life chained in a tiny cellar with only a toy horse to occupy his time, devoid of all human contact except for a man who wears a black overcoat…
7
Goebbels and the Führer (2024)
★ 6.6/10Also history and drama
As Minister of Propaganda, Joseph Goebbels creates films and pictures used to prepare the Germans for Total War and the Holocaust. When the war is lost, he conceives his last staging, the most radical propaganda act…
8
The Lives of Others (2006)
★ 8/10Also drama
In 1984 East Berlin, dedicated Stasi officer Gerd Wiesler begins spying on a famous playwright and his actress-lover Christa-Maria. Wiesler becomes unexpectedly sympathetic to the couple, and faces conflicting…
9
Downfall (2004)
★ 7.9/10Also drama and history
In April of 1945, Germany stands at the brink of defeat with the Russian Army closing in from the east and the Allied Expeditionary Force attacking from the west. In Berlin, capital of the Third Reich, Adolf Hitler…
10
Walking with the Enemy (2014)
★ 6.3/10Also drama and history
Regent Horthy is the leader of Hungary and a German ally, but his favorable standing with Hitler changes as the war comes to an end. Forced to cede Hungary’s power or else witness the execution of his son, Regent…
11
Conspiracy (2001)
★ 7.3/10Also history and drama
At the Wannsee Conference on January 20, 1942, senior Nazi officials meet to determine the manner in which the so-called "Final Solution to the Jewish Question" can be best implemented.
12
Jimmy's Hall (2014)
★ 6.7/10Also history and drama
In Depression-era Ireland, Jimmy Gralton returns home after a decade's exile in America. Witnessing the levels of poverty and oppression, his inner activist reawakens and he seeks to reopen the dance hall that led to…
13
The Good German (2006)
★ 5.8/10Also drama
An American journalist arrives in Berlin just after the end of World War Two. He becomes involved in a murder mystery surrounding a dead GI who washes up at a lakeside mansion during the Potsdam negotiations between…
14
Lee (2024)
★ 7/10Also history and drama
The true story of photographer Elizabeth "Lee" Miller, a fashion model who became an acclaimed war correspondent for Vogue magazine during World War II.
15
Good (2008)
★ 6/10Also drama
When John Halder's latest novel is enlisted by powerful political figures in the Nazi party to push their agenda, his career and social standing instantly advance. But after learning of the Reich's horrific plans for…
16
Julia (1977)
★ 6.5/10Also drama and history
At the behest of an old and dear friend, playwright Lillian Hellman undertakes a dangerous mission to smuggle funds into Nazi Germany.
17
The Bunker (1981)
★ 6.3/10Also drama
Dramatization depicting the events surrounding Adolf Hitler's last weeks in and around his underground bunker in Berlin before and during the battle for the city.
18
The German Lesson (2019)
★ 6.5/10Also drama
In a small North German village a drama played out during and shortly after the Second World War about duty versus individual conscience and morality.
19
The Way Back (2010)
★ 7/10Also drama and history
A small band of multicultural convicts stages a daring escape from a WWII-era Siberian gulag, and embarks on a treacherous journey across five countries in a desperate race for freedom and survival.
20
Bonhoeffer: Pastor. Spy. Assassin (2024)
★ 6.8/10Also history and drama
As the world teeters on the brink of annihilation, Dietrich Bonhoeffer joins a deadly plot to assassinate Hitler, risking his faith and fate to save millions of Jews from genocide.