Death is My Trade is a 1977 German movie written and directed by Theodor Kotulla and starring Götz George. The adaptation of the script is based on the 1952 French novel La mort est mon métier by Robert Merle. Like the novel, the film is based on interrogation transcripts from the trial of Rudolf Höß, SS officer and commandant of the Auschwitz concentration and extermination camp, as well as on his autobiographical notes, which he wrote while in British custody and, after his extradition, in Polish custody in 1946/47 before he was executed as a convicted war criminal. Instead of the name Rudolf Höß, on whose biography the plot is based, the pseudonym Franz Lang is used in the film following an anonymizing intention. The real Rudolf Höß had initially gone into hiding under this name after the Second World War as a supposed boatmate until he was unmasked and arrested in 1946.
The following weapons were used in the film Death is My Trade:
The Karabiner 98k is widely used throughout the movie by German soldiers including Becker (uncredited), Schrader (Peter Franke), and Schmitz (Hermann Günther). Its appearance in 1917 during the First World War is clearly an anachronism, in addition, it is the late WWII variant and in the scenes set from 1941 onwards, it can only be seen from afar being carried by SS soldiers.
Error creating thumbnail: File missingKarabiner 98k with S84/98 bayonet - 7.92x57mm MauserError creating thumbnail: File missingGerman soldiers including young Franz (Kai Taschner) and Schrader resting with their carbines next to them.Error creating thumbnail: File missingFranz holds Schrader at gunpoint. Note the front sights have large protective "ears".Error creating thumbnail: File missingA close-up of a Karabiner equipped with an S84/98 bayonet held by a Freikorps Roßbach member in 1920. The welded barrel band indicates a late WWII variant.Error creating thumbnail: File missingA good view of Franz's Kar98k after firing. The white painted swastika on his Stahlhelm M16 was a sign of a warlike appearance for some Freikorps paramilitaries and thus has a different meaning in comparison to the later.Error creating thumbnail: File missingA smoking SS guard holds his Karabiner in a courtyard in Auschwitz.
Mauser Gewehr 1898
A full-length Mauser rifle is briefly seen in a gun rack which appears to be a Gewehr 98.
