Nowadays it is easier than ever to watch TV shows from other countries and in different languages. Netflix in the US has a large selection of German language TV shows and movies. You can watch them in German with English subtitles, if you want, but some of them have also been dubbed.
Here are 5 historical TV shows that are currently (11/20) streaming on American Netflix. I have watched Babylon Berlin and Charité and thoroughly enjoyed them. I have heard good things about Barbarians and it’s on my list to watch next. Oktoberfest 1900, how the show is called in Germany, was very successful and my mother really liked it.
1. Barbarians
The show “Barbarians” takes place in 9 AD in Germania where the Romans are ruling over and suppressing the Germanic tribes. The main character Arminius was given as a tribute to the Romans to ensure peace between them and the Cherusci tribe. Returning to his Germanic home, Arminius switches sides and unites the feuding Germanic tribes in a fight against the Romans. The Imperial legions are defeated in what is now known as the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest.
The show contains violence, nudity, sex, suicide, and gore, and it is for mature audiences.
2. Oktoberfest: Beer & Blood
As the title implies, this show is about the Oktoberfest. In 1900, the Franconian brewer Curt Prank wants to set up the largest beer tent on the Oktoberfest. But in order to receive a license to serve beer and build his tent, he must use all tricks in the book, most of them not exactly legal.
The story is loosely based on real events. It contains sex, nudity, and smoking, and is rated M.
3. Charité and Charité at War
The first season of Charité, a famous hospital in Berlin, takes place at the end of the 19th century when breakthroughs in the medical field by Virchow, Koch and Ehrlich were made. The plot follows Ida Lenze who works at the hospital as a nurse but who wants to study medicine which is not possible in the German Reich under Wilhelm II.
The show is rated for mature audiences.
Season 2 also takes place in the Berlin Charité but during World War II in 1943. Main characters in this season are Anni Waldhausen, a medical student, who almost dies in childbirth, her professor Sauerbruch who is critical of the Nazi regime, and psychiatrist Max de Crinis who is a supporter of the regime and its euthanasia program.
This season is also intended for mature audiences.
4. Freud
The Austrian series “Freud” follows Freud as a young man in 1886 Vienna. He gets involved in a conspiracy and works together with police inspector Alfred Kiss and the well known medium Fleur Salomé.
The show contains sex, nudity, sexual violence, substances, gore, and smoking, and is therefore rated M.
5. Babylon Berlin
Based on the books by Volker Kutscher, this series takes place in Berlin in 1929 during the Weimar Republic. Main characters are Gereon Rath, a detective from Cologne and suffering from his experience in World War I, and Charlotte Ritter, a stenotypist at the Berlin police who also has connections to the underground scene.
Three seasons are available and they all are rated M.
Have you watched any of those shows and what did you think? Are there other German language series or movies that you enjoyed?
