Films 1960-1969

A Cartoon Based on Konrad Wolf's
I was 19 comparing him to the hero

Germany remains at the centre of the Cold War. Germany's porous inner border is finally sealed in 1961 with the building of the Berlin Wall.

In the early 1960’s East Germany basked in the warmth of Khrushchev’s “Thaw”. TV ownership grew on both sides of the Wall and cinemas went in to a decline. The Wall led to the growth of a distinct GDR culture as citizens and artists decided to “make a go of it” (Sandford, 1983, 2) as East Germans began to identify with their state and “to defend it indignantly against the arrogant West German paternalism…” (Sandford, 1983,3).

This decade allowed the emergence of DEFA Auteurs such as Joachim Kunert and most of all Konrad Wolf. Wolf had studied film making abroad as did other DEFA film makers and as a result DEFA film was strongly influenced by the Eastern European New Wave.

Strong criticism of East German film makers by the ruling SED in 1965 acted as a motor for topics that were "safe" in East German terms leading to the 1960's becoming the key period of East German film making.

I wrote my MA thesis and you can read more about these two films here.

The Adventure of Werner Holt (1965)
Die Abenteuer des Werner Holt
East Germany
Dir: Joachim Kunert

Released in 1965, the film is loosely based on Dieter Noll’s the 1960 novel of the same name. The film tells the story of Werner Holt and Gilbert Wolzow, both born in 1924, who become friends at Gymnasium. Holt is studious and easily lead and Wolzow is the son of a General and fascinated by war. The film opens with them preparing for the final defence of a town somewhere on the “Ost Front”. In the process of this they meet their Commanding Officer who is about to abandon his post and leave Wolzow and Holt to fight on their own. Wolzow arrests the officer and relieves him of his command, initially they are going to hang the officer but resolve to make him drunk and prevent him from running away. Holt, as radio operator, is ordered to make contact with the regiment and the camera concentrates on his face as he forlornly calls, “Adler Calling[…]” and relives the events that have brought him to this point through a series of flashbacks.

He recalls the Gymnasium where he met Wolzow and became friends.He recalls excitement at being called up and serving first, as a Flakhelfer, and his slow disillusionment as he experiences the war at closer and closer hand. Intertwined with these memories are the women he has met and who have signposted the bankruptcy of the regime he fights for. His memories become evermore regretful as he recalls the senseless deaths of classmates and the desertion of friends.

The horror of the last 3 years culminates in this last stand in this unnamed village. Surprisingly the first attack of the Red Army is repulsed, however Holt sees his hero, Wolzow, shot a 16 year old as the boy runs from the advancing Soviets in terror. Holt’s repulsion at this act finally jolts him out of his lethargy and in to action. He deserts, threatening to shot his best friend in the process. As he runs he is called back as Wolzow has been taken by the SS who are about to lynch him. Holt returns to see his friend hanged. In a final act of anger and disillusionment he takes up a machine gun and shots the lynch party dead. He runs from the scene, finally having realised the moral failure of all that he has believed and escapes in to the future.

The film is available at amazon.de here

I Was Nineteen (1968)
Ich war neunzehn
East Germany
Dir: Konrad Wolf

Based on director Konrad Wolf’s war diary and set In the last days of World War II. The protagonist, Gregor Hecker, is a 19 Year old Communist German serving with the Soviet forces and is returning to his homeland. He last saw Germany, when he left as an 8 year old and emigrating to Moscow with his Communist. Although born in Köln, he considers Moscow, where his mother lives, home. He serves in a propaganda company with his friend Sasha and Chingis the driver. His weapon is a loudspeaker truck. Together they try to persuade , with little success, Wehrmacht soldiers to surrender.

He is at home amongst the Soviets, however during the film he meets his fellow countrymen and tries to understand how the Germans could have allowed the National Socialist regime to exist. Instead of a single type of German he finds that Germany is made up of those that supported National Socialism, those that suffered under National Socialism, those that have suffered from the war, Socialist resistance fighters, ordinary soldiers who did as they were told and fanatical Nazis that want to fight to the last bullet.

His odyssey begins in Bernau, where he unexpectedly becomes “Town Commandant”, he acts as negotiator for the surrender of the Spandau Festung, via Sachsenhausen Concentration camp, then to Sanscouci and arrives at a farmhouse on the last days of the conflict, where he is trying to persuade the fleeing columns of Wehrmacht soldiers to surrender. Here Gregor is forced to defend the farm from the fleeing SS who open fire on him, killing Sasha. Gregor fights side by side with a Wehrmacht soldier to defend the farm house. Gregor swears to hunt down the SS and promises to build a new Germany where the SS will have no home.

The film is available on amazon.de here