Christian Klemke

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No description available.

Former heads, senior officers and the rector of the MfS law school explain how the ministry functioned. The interviewees see themselves as legitimate actors with a clear mandate and political enemy image. They provide an insight into the techniques and routines of secret service work, psychological tricks during interrogations and the management of “unofficial collaborators”. What they all have in common is that they are not aware of any moral guilt. The directors contrast their footage of prisons and archives with the statements of former Stasi employees in an attempt to expose their evasions and efforts at suppression.

The film talks about the rise and fall of the two most influential protagonists in GDR-politics. In succession, over long stretches even together, Ulbricht and Honecker determined the course of the GDR, of course without ever getting out of being a satellite state to the big brother in Moscow. The film looks for the caesura and crucial points in the power game between Ulbricht and Honecker.

The architectural plans for Berlin from 1938 are used as an example to illustrate the fascist claim to power and its aesthetic effect. The basis for this was the "General Building Inspection" under the direction of Albert Speer, whose enormous projects are illustrated by planning models and archive photographs.

Disco-Film 38: In a cheerful interpretation of the song "Tanzt keiner Boogie", the group Silly and their singer Tamara Danz target the dance behavior of young people.

Disco-Film 39: The film, which is based on the song "Drachenflug" by the group Kleeblatt, tells of interpersonal relationships.

“We no longer stand before a choice between peace and war, but between peace and annihilation (Brecht 1947)”, one of the posters in the Berlin Alexanderplatz underground station reads. In autumn 1981, the Berlin Art Academy had organised a poster competition on the subject of “Peace for the World”. The camera, and along with it the viewers, become waiters and observers.

The Berlin rock group Passion presents their "Apple Song" and interprets it in a humorous way.

In 1709, Johann Friedrich Böttger invented Meissen porcelain while searching for a recipe for making gold. The group "Stern Combo Meißen" pays musical tribute to the inventor. Their performance is accompanied by excerpts from the DEFA feature film "Die blauen Schwerter" (The Blue Swords, 1949, directed by Wolfgang Schleif).