Yes Gunther Maria Halmer was great as Hoess. I think Wouk (who also approved the screenplay) with his painstaking research, captured Hoess perfectly. I also thought Topol was great as Berel Jastrow. I believed Meisner made a much better Hitler than Berkoff. Berkoff played an over the top Hitler and was not believable in most of his scenes.
Yes, I agree Berkoff may have been the worst Hitler I’d ever seen portrayed. Meisner was much better, not quite as good as the late Bruno Ganz in Downfall, but not bad.
And if the very end of War and Remembrance doesn’t make you bawl your eyes out, you aren’t human.
The other good actor was the one who played Blobel, especially when he describes in detail what happened at Babi Yar, and his disgust at the people viewing the executions while eating ice cream.