The first scene of the film "The Tasters" is set in November 1943, in the East Prussian village of Gross-Partsch (present-day Parcz, Poland). A young woman called Rosa Sauer (played by Elisa Schlott) is fleeing her bombed-out apartment in Berlin and moving in with her in-laws, who live in the village. Her husband, a German soldier, is fighting in Ukraine.
Just a couple of kilometers away from the village, hiding in a thick forest surrounded by barbed wire, is the "Wolf's Lair" — the Eastern Front military headquarters of Adolf Hitler.
Shortly after her arrival, Rosa lands among a group of women who are forcibly recruited by the SS. The women are driven every day to Hitler's secret complex to serve as his food tasters.
Without ever seeing him, the women know that the Nazi "Führer" has many enemies and that his meals — and thereby theirs — could be poisoned. Even though so many Europeans at the time are desperate for food amid the war, the elaborate meals are a source of terror for the women.
Amid the tension, Rosa develops a secret relationship with SS lieutenant Ziegler (played by Max Riemelt) and becomes friends with a shy woman in the group, Elfriede (Alma Hasun), who has good reasons to be discrete.
The German-language film, directed by Italian filmmaker Silvio Soldini ("Breads and Tulips," 2000), is based on Rosella Postorino's bestselling novel, "Le assaggiatrici" (2018), which was translated into more than 30 languages, including in English as "At the Wolf's Table."
The filmmaker, who worked with German actors without speaking the language himself, had previously avoided directing period pieces. But one of the reasons that motivated him to adapt the novel was that it focuses on women, which is unusual for a World War II story.
Soldini told DW that he also liked the fact that the story isn't judgmental about the two main characters, Rosa Sauer and Albert Ziegler, who are "simply human, despite being caught in the gears of a horrific system."
Based on Margot Wolk's story
Postorino's novel was inspired by the testimony of a woman called Margot Wolk. She had never talked about her World War II experiences, but at the age of 95 in December 2012, she started giving interviews to the press.
Walk recalled how, for about two and half years starting in 1942, she was among the 15 young women who were required to taste food prepared for the Wolf's Lair.
The film's portrayal reflects the tasters' recruitment and the daily schedule, as described by Wolk.
Wolk also said she survived thanks to a lieutenant who put her on a train to Berlin in 1944; he knew that the Soviet army was just a few kilometers away from reaching the Wolf's Lair. After the war, she met the lieutenant again, and he told her that all the other food tasters in her group had been shot by Soviet soldiers.
Wolk's escape inspired Postorino to include the love affair in her novel; the author speculated that Wolk was saved because she had developed a privileged relationship with one of the SS guards.
If anything did ever happen between the taster and the lieutenant, Wolk didn't mention it in her interviews.
In an interview with Der Spiegel in 2013, she did however mention being raped by one of the SS officers while she was working as a taster. She was also raped repeatedly by Soviet soldiers after she returned to Berlin. More than a year after the end of the war, she was reunited with her husband, who was also traumatized by his wartime experiences.
Postorino tried to reach Wolk to interview her for the novel, but the elderly woman died in 2014 before they could talk.
Lacking historical evidence
After a documentary featuring Wolk came out in 2014, German historian Sven-Felix Kellerhoff pointed out that the story was unlikely to be true.
In his piece for the daily Welt, he pointed out that Hitler had digestive problems in the final years of his life, and that instead of eating the meals prepared for his inner circle, he hired a dietitian who prepared special meals for him in a separate kitchen close to his bunker, within "Sperrkreis 1" (Security Zone 1). It therefore wouldn't have made much sense to have had the food transported outside of this highly restricted area to have it tasted by a group of women before Hitler's meals.
According to Felix Bohr in his new book "Before the Downfall: Hitler's Years in the 'Wolf's Lair'," the first dietiian to cook separately for Hitler, Helene von Exner, was hired in July 1943. Before that, a cook called Otto Günther prepared meals in large pots for the Nazi leaders based at the Wolf's Lair.
Beyond Hitler's inner circle, up to 2,000 people were working in the Wolf's Lair.
Were the women perhaps required to taste other food, being told it was Hitler's meals?
In his book detailing the organization of daily life at the Wolf's Lair, Bohr only mentions Wolk's testimony in a footnote, noting that no other historical sources back her claims. As he confirmed to DW, throughout his intensive research into the Wolf's Lair structures, he "found no sources that confirm Margot Wölk's story," but, he adds, "neither did I find any documents that prove the opposite."
Soldini is unfazed by any potential historical inaccuracies. After all, he pointed out, "the film is based on the novel, it's not from the true story."
The story that is told remains relevant, he added, because the movie portrays parallels with current developments in the world. Like the tasters, we can all feel today's political violence — even if we have the privilege of eating good meals.
Surviving an assassination attempt as a sign of providence
One thing that historians have definitely well documented are the various attempts to kill Hitler. At least 42 plots have been uncovered.
The best-known one is Operation Valkyrie, in which Wehrmacht officers, led by Claus von Stauffenberg, tried to kill Hitler at the Wolf's Lair by detonating an explosive hidden in a briefcase.
This failed assassination attempt on July 20, 1944 is also referred to in the film through Hitler's actual radio broadcast, in which he describes the attack that killed four people and injured 20 more.
"I myself am completely unhurt except for very small skin abrasions, bruises or burns," stated the leader of Nazi Germany at the time.
Like Donald Trump following the attempt on his life in July 2024, Hitler saw the fact that he survived the attack practically unharmed as a sign of destiny: "I take it as a confirmation of the mission of providence to continue to pursue my life purpose, as I have done so far."
