DEFA

When a significant quantity of valuable gemstones is to be transported to South America by plane, those responsible are naturally extremely nervous. Everything must be perfectly planned, every possible risk averted.

After returning from a concentration camp, Susanne finds a traumatized ex-soldier living in her apartment in bombed out Berlin. Together the two try to move past their experiences during WWII.

Dr. Blum, a Jewish manufacturer, is falsely accused of a murder. Even when the real killer’s identity becomes evident, the state prosecutor refuses to accept Blum’s innocence.

In the ruins of post-WWII Berlin, a twelve-year-old boy is left to his own devices in order to help provide for his family.

Commissioned by the newly founded SED for the first regional elections (October 1946) in the Soviet occupation zone.

The young actress Bettina has angered the director of a West Berlin camp for troubled youth with a song that celebrates the adventurous lives of these "wayward youths." Hein Denecke invites her to get to know the real lives of these young people.

A chemist and his assistant make a groundbreaking discovery. They manage to make butter directly from pasture grass without having to deal with either the cow or the use of dairy products. An industrialist attempts to seize the invention.

Documenting the rebuilding of Potsdam one year after the war under Soviet supervision.

Boys are usually busy playing "Indians", but when their uncle decides to rent part of their home to a Doctor Höflin, they took an oath to cast him out with a series of pranks.

During the Thirty Years' War, Christine, an orphan, falls in love with the colonel Count Merian. In order to always be with him, she puts on men's clothes, becomes a troop boy and later even a cornet - only the sutler knows her secret. Little by little, Christine realizes that the man she loves has been brutalized by the war and is no longer capable of true feelings. When she gives herself to him instead of a peasant maid, she is horrified by his brutality. She shoots him in a duel. She is sentenced to death as a cornet, but acquitted as a woman.

French teacher Annette Müller has two ardent admirers who are constantly urging her to marry: diplomat Klaus and engineer Theo. But she can't make up her mind. Then a third one joins them, the pianist Hans. Sometimes she dreams of Klaus, sometimes of Theo. And although she is angry that Hans has taken up residence in her boarding house, she can't stop herself from dreaming about him too. When she asks him, of all people, which of the other two she should marry, there is a big row between them - and she realizes who the right man is.

An extraordinary documentary about a little-known aspect of Jewish life in the GDR: Róza Berger-Fiedler chronicles the Yiddish Cultural Festival, which took place for the fourth time in East Berlin in 1990. The film features performances by renowned Jewish artists from the GDR, Poland, and Lithuania, as well as conversations with prominent figures in Jewish community life and Jewish cultural production from several European countries.

Documentary short about the Leipzig Tradefair in 1946.

Der 13. Oktober – 1. Der durchbrochene Kreis (1949) is an East German documentary directed by Andrew Thorndike and produced by DEFA. As part of Thorndike’s early post-war work, the film explores historical and political themes relevant to postwar Germany. While specific details about its content are limited, it reflects the director’s emerging style and his role in shaping East German documentary cinema.

Documentary short about the rebuilding of Berlin in 1946 from a Soviet perspective, showcasing the social changes that have taken place since the fall of Hitler and of Jews working side-by-side with non-Jewish counterparts.

After WWII, Berlin lies in ruins. For Gustav, Willi and their friends the rubble provides an adventurous, dangerous playground. Especially for Gustav, it helps pass the time, as he longs for his father's return from a POW camp. One day a stranger arrives, looking helpless and hopeless.

Set during the rise of the Nazi regime, Elisabeth Maurer and Hans Wieland enjoy successful careers as actors in Berlin. Confident in her career, Elisabeth, who is Jewish, ignores the advice of a colleague to leave Germany in the face of increasing anti-Semitism. Believing that he can protect her if she becomes his wife, Hans convinces Elisabeth to marry him. In the following years, as Hans's career thrives, Elisabeth awaits the end of the Nazi terror which bars her from public life. When the situation worsens in 1938 with the Kristallnacht pogrom, Elisabeth decides to leave the country, but Hans, who still believes he can protect her, convinces her to stay with him.

Berlin, shortly after World War II. Five parentless siblings, led by the oldest sister Inge Kuckert, search for a place to stay and a basis of existence in the destroyed city. A bombed villa in the Grunewald seems to be the right "cuckoo's nest", but an alleged authorised disposal tries to drive the siblings out of the building. Fortunately, the friendly neighbor can help.