Walter Niklaus

The film tells the tragic fate of railroad guard Thiel at the end of the 19th century. Thiel, who spends his days in the dull, monotonous fulfillment of his duties, has lost his gentle, quiet wife Minna. He remarries out of concern for his young son Tobias. His second wife Lene, with whom he also has a child, is superior to him in vitality and has a rough passion. He discovers that his child from his first marriage is being discriminated against and tormented by her - Thiel withdraws more and more into himself and becomes lonely. When Tobias is killed in an accident, he blames Lene, and disaster is inevitable...

In this documentary, Joachim Hellwig uses partly unpublished footage to shed light on a dark chapter of German history and shows the entanglements between the politicians' claims to power and the interests of industry and business in Germany from the beginning of the First World War to the end of the Second World War (1914 to 1945). The Nuremberg War Crimes and Industrial Trials served as the basis for this documentary.

At the beginning of the 1960s, a German turns up on behalf of the NATO in the British village of Rocksmouth. NATO wants to establish a naval base in Rocksmouth, but first, the German envoy has to salvage an old ship wreck. In 1942, the "Princess of India" was supposed to bring children to safety in Canada but was sunk by a German submarine at departure. 58 people were killed, most of them children.

A detailed reconstruction of the censorship case against the landmark Weimar-era communist film, Kuhle Wampe, or Who Owns the World? (1932). Directed by Slatan Dudow, the crew and cast included left-wing luminaries, such as playwright Bertolt Brecht, composer Hanns Eisler and balladeer Ernst Busch. The film was the subject of vehement disputes and was banned twice for revolutionary and communist tendencies that were perceived to threaten the state. About 230 meters of the original film fell victim to the censor’s shears. This historic censorship case was argued over the course of three sessions. Censored: Kuhle Wampe re-enacts the censorship hearings, based on original minutes and documents, as well as personal records of the case. In addition to footage from the original film, this docudrama includes original clips of Berlin in the 1920s and '30s and short testimonies, filmed in the 1970s, with some of the actors involved in the original Kuhle Wampe film production.

A two-part East German documentary tracing Russia’s transformation from the Tsarist Empire to the Soviet Union, from the 1917 October Revolution to the achievements of the space program. Directed by Andrew Thorndike and Annelie Thorndike, the film assembles extensive archival footage to chart political upheaval, ideological consolidation, and technological ambition in twentieth-century Russia. Produced by DEFA and first broadcast on East German television in 1963.

Archive footage of bomb detonations during the Second World War combined with abstract graphic elements which show the destructive potential of modern nuclear missiles. Together the images are a silent warning of armament and war.

No synopsis available yet.

Antwerp at the end of the 16th century. For the second time, the city falls into the hands of the plundering and murdering Spaniards. Jan and Myga are just ten years old. While Myga's father tries to come to terms with the Spaniards, Jan leaves the occupied country with his father. When Jan has grown into a young man, he joins the Geusen and is entrusted with the best ship as helmsman, the "Black Galley". He survives numerous battles and dangers, but one day he is captured by the Spanish. He frees not only himself but also his beloved Myga from the hands of the enemy. In 1609, the Spaniards are forced to finally recognize the independence of the northern provinces.

No synopsis available yet.

Documentary on Bernd Köhlert, a West German mercenary whose death in the Congo caused a sensation

No synopsis available yet.

SS officer Walter Krüger talks about his career. Now he is Secretary of the „Kameradschaftsverband I. Panzerkorps der ehemaligen Waffen-SS e.V.” (Fellowship of Former Soldiers of Waffen SS 1st Tank Corps). During the interview it shows that Krüger still considers himself and his like-minded fellows to be the elite of the nation.

No synopsis available yet.

A small town in West Germany. Material for an exhibition with documents from the Nazi era was stolen from Herbert Geerts, only the negatives of the photos did not fall into the hands of the perpetrator. Geerts is found murdered and the group of people who were incriminated by the documents are suspects. Detective Weber takes on the case, which turns out to be "a case of fireworks", and follows the trail of a Nazi criminal...

Wheelus Air Base was once the largest American air base outside the USA itself. Ordered to be cleared by June 30th, 1970 by Libya’s Revolutionary Command Council.

An interview with Madame Buchela, a West German clairvoyant.

A top administrator in the Federal German armed forces measures the machinery of murder at Auschwitz according to the effiency principle, and deems it a triumph. Militaria dealers market all the components for a do-it-yourself SS officer. The film assembles on, piece by piece, from a price list: the complete Hauptsturmführer for 2,921 Deutschmarks, ready to meet the trains arriving at Auschwitz with the appropriate aluminium lurex armband at 45 Marks.

Having been happily married for ten years, Gerda Wagner, devoted mother and housewife, suddenly gets it into her head that she would like a career as a pop star. She had singing lessons in the past and her voice is still beautiful. A chance meeting with the idolized Italian singer Fabiani, revives her stage fever - much to the annoyance of her husband Gustl Wagner, head of the records section at a department store.