Friedrich Otto (Fred) Dunkel (31 March 1891 – 16 May 1948) was a journalist, businessman, and filmmaker in Germany and one of the pioneers of the film making industry in Palestine before the establishment of Israel.
During his frequent visits to a chocolate shop he met and married the daughter of the owner Cyla Anderman, a Jew.
With the rise to power of the Nazis and the laws governing Aryan purity, Dunkel was being forced to divorce his wife because of her Jewish ancestry.
Dunkel admitted to having a small account in Switzerland and invited the Gestapo to accompany him to Zurich to confirm his story.
His invitation was accepted and the family left Germany, with their money hidden away, escorted over the border by Gestapo agents.
Once in Switzerland, the Dunkels were free to leave for Eretz Israel, with their money, while the duped Gestapo agents continued to investigate a bank account that was almost empty.
He knew Helmar Lerski, director of the films Avodah and Adamah and was friends with filmmaker Yerushalayim Segal and photographer Zoltan Kluger.
Dunkel remarried in 1943 to Martha Herschmann, a Czech refugee who was saved when the illegal immigrant ship Patria was blown up in the port of Haifa.
He ran to where the baby Ruthie was located, fearing for her life and died of a heart attack next to her cradle.