Thomas Christoph Harlan (19 February 1929 – 16 October 2010) was a German author and director of French-language films.
Harlan co-wrote the screenplay Verrat an Deutschland [de] (Betrayal to Germany) with his father, who directed it.
The premiere of his play Ich selbst und kein Engel -- Chronik aus dem Warschauer Ghetto (I myself and no angel -- A Chronicle from the Warsaw Ghetto) led to a scandal, which the author Hans Habe treats in his novel Christoph und sein Vater (Christopher and his Father).
This included, among others, Ernst Achenbach, a member of the parliament for the Free Democratic Party at the time, and Franz Alfred Six.
Harlan began researching the extermination camps Kulmhof, Sobibór, Bełżec, and Treblinka.
In 1963, due to the publication of his research in the national archives, he was placed under house arrest in Poland for one year for breaching state secrets.
Harlan was not convicted, but was denied a German passport for ten years and was not permitted to enter the Federal Republic of Germany.
He joined the far-left organization Lotta Continua and began literary work, which along with his travels and films, marked the following years.
The following year in Portugal, he became a member of the revolutionary committee during the Carnation Revolution while filming Torre Bela.
In 1987 he traveled to the Russian Far East to prepare for his next film project, Katharina XXII, which was never realized.