Der Bankkrach unter den Linden

Set against the backdrop of a crumbling Weimar economy, Paul Merzbach’s 1926 drama dissects the moral rot and systemic fragility of Berlin’s financial elite. The story centers on the prestigious banking district of Unter den Linden, where a series of speculative gambles and personal betrayals lead to a catastrophic bank failure. As the institution’s walls begin to close in, the film weaves together the lives of high-society power players like Alfred Abel and the desperate, everyday citizens whose life savings hang in the balance. It is a biting social satire disguised as a financial thriller, capturing a city on the edge of total collapse where reputation is the only currency left—and even that is rapidly devaluing.