Knights of the Teutonic Order (film)
Knights of the Teutonic Order (Polish: Krzyżacy) is a 1960 Polish film directed by Aleksander Ford based on the novel of the same name by Henryk Sienkiewicz.
The plot is situated in the late-14th century and early-15th century Poland and centers on the Polish–Lithuanian–Teutonic War (1409-1411) and the final Battle of Grunwald (1410).
15,000 extras were employed to create the battle scenes.
The film attracted to cinema masses of viewers and remains one of the most attended films in Polish history:
it sold 2 million tickets within several months, 14 million after four years and as of 1987, it had some 32,315,695 admissions.
It was also exported to forty-six foreign countries, and sold 29.6 million tickets in the Soviet Union and 2,650,700 in the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic, and was the most successful Polish film internationally.
It was a Polish submission to the 33rd Academy Awards.
It was released on 15 July 1960, the 550th anniversary of the battle of Grunwald.
Johann von Tiefen
Johann von Tiefen( died 25 August 1497) was the 35th Grand Master of the Teutonic Knights, serving from 1489 to 1497.
Von Tiefen's date of birth is unknown, although it is believed he hailed from Switzerland.
His beginnings in the Teutonic Order start in Elbing, where he was the right- hand man of the Grand Hospitaller, Heinrich Reuß von Plauen.
In 1474 he became the Komtur of Memel and two years later, the Grand Komtur.
He represented the Teutonic Order on several diplomatic missions to many European courts.
During the times of Grand Master Martin Truchseß von Wetzhausen, von Tiefen tried to release the pressure between the Teutonic Order and the Kingdom of Poland.
In 1480 he became the Komtur of Brandenburg( Frisches Haff) and the Grand Hospitaller of the Order.
On June 25, 1487, von Tiefen issued a charter in Drengfurt to establish a church in Alt Jucha.
In 1489 the Order's Capitulum named von Tiefen Grand Master.
Immediately after being elected, he went to Poland and paid the required homage as vassal to King Casimir IV Jagiellon of Poland in Radom on 18 November 1489.
Settling down the political situation with Poland helped him to concentrate on internal affairs of the Order.
However, Lucas Watzenrode, the Bishop of Warmia, tried to gain independence from the Polish Crown as well as from the Grand Master.
In May 1490 von Tiefen sent a written request to Watzenrode to allow him to consecrate a chapel of John the Baptist in Groß Stürlack, as well as to allow a priest from Schwarzstein to say mass.
In 1492, King John I Albert of Poland suggested moving the Teutonic Order from Prussia to Podolia, but von Tiefen opposed the idea.
He understood this would mean the end of the sovereignty of the Teutonic Order.
He appealed to Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor, and the plan was abandoned.
Called upon by John I Albert, von Tiefen had to lead a crusade against the Ottoman Empire in order to capture ports along the coast of the Black Sea.
He had an army of 400 knights, but illness started to spread within.
Traveling along the river Dniestr, the Grand Master fell ill from dysentery.
He decided to return to Lemberg, where he never recovered.
Von Tiefen died in 1497 and was buried in Königsberg Cathedral.
His legacy was the concept of electing an Imperial Prince as Grand Master, which as subject to the Emperor, could resist having to pay homage to Kings of Poland.
Anno von Sangershausen
Anno von Sangerhausen( died 8 July 1273) served as the Grand Master of the Teutonic Order from 1256 to 1273.
Sangerhausen originated from near Eisleben in Thuringia.
His relatives were the vassals of the Thuringian counts.
In 1254 he was named as the Master of the Livonian Order.
Two years later he left for the higher position as the Grand Master of the Teutonic Order which he served until his death in 1273.
Marian Biskup
Marian Biskup (December 19, 1922 – April 16, 2012) was a Polish historian, author and academic, who specialized in the history of the Baltics, Pomerelia, Teutonic Order, Prussia, Toruń and Copernicus.
He was a member of the International Commission for the study of the Teutonic Order.
Rupert IV, Count of Nassau
Rupert IV of Nassau,( † after 1 January 1239), was Count of Nassau.
He later became a Knight of the Teutonic Order.
John Jarvis (set decorator)
John Jarvis was a set decorator.
He was nominated for an Academy Award in the category Best Art Direction for the film" Knights of the Round Table".
Bruno Platter
Bruno Platter( born 21 March 1944) is a Roman Catholic priest and the 65th Grand Master of the Teutonic Order.
Dietrich von Grüningen
Dietrich von Grüningen( or" von Groeningen")(* around 1210, † 3 September 1259) was a Knights Templar, Landmeister in Livonia and Landmeister of Prussia and of the Teutonic Order.
One of the most outstanding figures of the Teutonic Order in the 13th century.
Aleksander Ford
Aleksander Ford (born Mosze Lifszyc; 24 November 1908 in Kiev, Russian Empire – 4 April 1980 in Naples, Florida, United States) was a Polish film director; and head of the Polish People's Army Film Crew in the Soviet Union during World War II.
Following the war he was appointed director of the Film Polski company.
In 1948 he was appointed as a professor of the National Film School in Łódź
(Państwowa Wyższa Szkoła Filmowa).
Roman Polanski was among his students.
Another of Ford's protégés was the Polish film director Andrzej Wajda.
Following the anti-Semitic purge in the communist party in Poland, in 1968 Ford emigrated to Israel and from there through Germany and Denmark, to the United States.
He committed suicide in 1980 in Naples, Florida.
Norbert Klein
Norbert Klein (25 October 1866 in Brunzeif, Austrian Silesia – 10 March 1933 in Bruntál, Czechoslovakia) was Bishop of Brno from 1916 to 1926 and 59th Grand Master of the Teutonic Order from 1923 to 1933.
Klein began his theological studies in 1885 at Olmütz.
He continued for two years before entering the novitiate of the Teutonic Order in 1887.
On 27 July 1890 he was ordained to the priesthood and in 1892 he made his solemn profession in the order.
In 1903 he was named Prior of Troppau.
On 7 December 1916 he was appointed to be Bishop of Brno.
On 28 January 1917 he was ordained bishop.
On 30 April 1923 he became the first clerical grand master of the Teutonic Order when Archduke Eugen of Austria resigned in order to ensure that the order retained its properties in Austria and Czechoslovakia which were threatened with confiscation by the respective governments.
On 4 January 1926 Klein resigned as Bishop of Brno and was named Titular Bishop of Syene.
Klein died in 1933 and is buried in Bruntál.

Question: What is the place of birth of the director of film Knights Of The Teutonic Order (Film)?
Answer: Kiev