Schwarzweiß und Farbe
DEFA-Dokumentarfilme 1946 - 1992

PLEASE NOTE: The volume is available in German only! The following synopsis has been translated into English for information purposes.

Synopsis:

1. The Early Years 1946 to 1952
2. Of Steel and Humans 1953 to 1960
3. Assignment: Propaganda 1960 to 1970
4. The Time of Missed Opportunities 1970 to 1980
5. The Dawn of Perestroika 1980 to 1989
6. The Last Act 1989 to 1992
7. The Eyewitness
8. The DEFA Popular Scientific Films
9. Documentaries at the Babelsberg Film College
10. State Film Documentation
11. The Leipzig Week of Documentary and Short Film
12. Biographies and Filmographies

1. The Early Years 1946 to 1952
by Günter Jordan
Documentary film material from Berlin before the founding of DEFA in May 1946 - The first DEFA documentary film: "Einheit SPD-KPD" (1946) by Kurt Maetzig - The young DEFA accompanies the rebuilding measures in the Soviet Occupation Zone with the camera - Election films for the SED (Socialist Unity Party) and others - An unknown documentary by Peter Pewas: "Wohin, Johanna" (1946) - The first and, for a long time, only German film about persecution and elimination in the Nazi era: "Todeslager Sachsenhausen" (1946, DIR: Richard Brandt) - The failed film project "Die Litfaßsäule" (1946): Many ideas and little money.
The political turnaround in 1948: The party degrades film to be the maid of politics - Productions within the two-year plan: "Stahl" (1949) by Joop Huisken and others - Andrew Thorndike′s film debut - End of 1949: New debate on content and form of DEFA documentaries - political indoctrination promotes the crisis
Works to confirm the identity of the young GDR: "Der Weg nach oben" (1950) and "Wilhelm Pieck – aus dem Leben unseres Präsidenten" (1951) by Andrew Thorndike - Effective films on political mass events: "Immer bereit" (1950) on the German FDJ (socialist youth organisation) congress and "Freundschaft siegt" (1952) on the III. World Festival Plays of Youth and Students in East Berlin - The grey mass and the alternative offers: "Blaue Wimpel im Sommerwind" (1952) - A colour report by Herbert Ballmann on the peaks in the existence of the pioneer organisation FDJ in the GDR.

2. On Steel and Humans 1953 to 1960
by Thomas Heimann
After Stalin′s death in March 1953: Between crisis and realignment - The "new course" in politics and its effects on documentary film - Convergence with West Germany - Sober realism: "Turbine I" (1953) by Joop Huisken and Karl Gass - West German workers visiting the GDR: "Die Sieben vom Rhein" (1954) by Annelie and Andrew Thorndike - Joris Ivens at DEFA: The history of the film projects "Lied der Ströme" (1954), "Mein Kind" (1955) and "Die Windrose" (1957) - Serial finger exercises for the entertainment of the audience - Foe images: DEFA films against comics and Western agents - "Ludwig van Beethoven" (1954) and "Friedrich Schiller" (1955), two double-length cultural films by Max Jaap.
New departure in the political "thaw" in 1956 - Hugo Hermann′s films: "Träumt für morgen" (1956) and "Stahl und Menschen" (1957) - The banishment of an unadjusted person: The Hugo Hermann case - Footage of "rockers": "Eine Nacht wie jede andere" (1957) and "Sieger nach Punkten" (1958) - Between document and fiction: Is it allowed to stage-manage documentaries? - DEFA serving foreign diplomacy - Between truth and propaganda: The greatest compilation films by Annelie and Andrew Thorndike on German history in the 20th century: "Du und mancher Kamerad" (1956), "Urlaub auf Sylt" (1957), "Unternehmen Teutonenschwert" (1958).
The SED leadership calls to order: The end of the "thaw" in the DEFA documentary - Difficulties with the Holocaust: "Ein Tagebuch für Anne Frank" (1959) by Joachim Hellwig - A censored anniversary film for the 10. anniversary of the GDR: Joop Huiskens "Dass ein gutes Deutschland blühe" (1959) and two different annotated versions of Stephan Hermlin (banned) and Karl-Eduard von Schnitzler (allowed)

3. Assignment: Propaganda 1960 to 1970
by Hans-Jörg Rother
A film about West Berlin as a "thorn in the flesh of the GDR": "Schaut auf diese Stadt" (1962) by Karl Gass and Karl-Eduard von Schnitzler - DEFA journalises state visits: Tito and Nasser - A huge project: "Das russische Wunder" (1963) by Annelie and Andrew Thorndike praises the development of the Soviet Union and closes its eyes to the historical truth.
Films against the foe in the West: "Brüder und Schwestern" (1963), "Pankoff" (1965), "Ostern 68" (1968), "Acht Groschen West" (1969) and others - Anti-Imperialist pamphlets: Walter Heynowski and Gerhard Scheumann (H&S) and their first international successes: "Geisterstunde" (1967) about a soothsaying woman in Bonn, "Piloten im Pyjama" (1968) about US pilots shot down over Vietnam, "Der lachende Mann" (1967) about a German mercenary in the Congo - Solidarity with Vietnam, Algeria and Greece.
GDR concretely: Welder′s brigades and free farmers - Realistic images of workers: "Feierabend" (1964) and "Asse" (1966) by Karl Gass - The education experiment: "Wenn ich erst zur Schule geh" (1961) and the beginnings of a long-term documentation about the village Golzow in the Oderbruch by Winfried Junge - A new generation of directors: Gitta Nickel, Karlheinz Mund, Kurt Tetzlaff - An unusual film about a convict: "Z" (1965) by Heinz Müller - Richard Cohn Vossen′s first films: "Paul Dessau" (1967) and others
Love for the collective: Jürgen Böttcher and his first important films "Ofenbauer" (1962), "Stars" (1963), "Barfuß und ohne Hut" (1965) and "Der Sekretär" (1967) - The last large project of the sixties: "Der Oktober kam ..." (1970) under the management of Karl Gass.

4. The Time of Missed Opportunities 1970 to 1980
by Eduard Schreiber
Change and stagnancy after the SED VIII. party congress in 1971 - Everyday life and work: "Versuch über Schober" (1972) by Richard Cohn-Vossen, "Montage ade" (1972) by Ulrich Weiß and "Wäscherinnen" (1972) by Jürgen Böttcher - Richard Cohn-Vossen observes a court case against young hooligans: "In Sachen H. und acht anderer" (1972) - The work on large construction sites: "Termin Spirale I" (1977) by Winfried Junge, "Eisenmacher" (1974) by Eduard Schreiber - Viewing "the foreigners": DEFA documentaries on Poles and Russians - The beautiful sheen of the Republic: anniversary and other films.
The studio Heynowski und Scheumann becomes popular world-wide - Everyday GDR in individual portraits: Films by Richard Cohn-Vossen ("Monika"), Ulrich Weiß ("Zum achtenmal"), Volker Koepp ("Gustav J."), Gitta Nickel ("Heuwetter") and others - Margot Honecker interferes: "Keine Pause für Löffler" (Winfried Junge, 1974) and "Berlin Auguststraße" (Günter Jordan, 1979) have trouble with the People′s Education Ministry - Art and artists in DEFA documentaries: The life stories of Paul Dessau, Hans Otto, Theodor Fontane, Ludwig Turek, Elisabeth Hauptmann and many others.
The end of alleged liberality: DEFA documentaries after Wolf Biermann′s expatriation - Jürgen Böttcher finds his feet again: "Im Lohmgrund" (1976) and "Martha" (1978) - Werner Kohlert and Volker Koepp explore landscapes and people - The beginning of the "Wittstock" cycle by Volker Koepp - Male and female images - And yet another new generation: change of perspective in films by Konrad Weiß, Ernst Cantzler, Jochen Kraußer, Roland Steiner, Rainer Ackermann ...

5. The Dawn of Perestroika 1980 to 1989
by Elke Schieber
Youth in DEFA documentaries: "Berlin Auguststraße" (1979) by Günter Jordan and others - A forbidden film: Jordan′s "Einmal in der Woche schrei′n" (1981) - Summary of a long-term observation: "Lebensläufe - Die Geschichte der Kinder von Golzow in einzelnen Porträts" (1980) by Winfried Junge and Hans-Eberhard Leupold - Volker Koepp shoots "Leben in Wittstock" (1984) - Young cameramen continue the school of truthful images founded by Christian Lehmann - Films by Joachim Tschirner, Ernst Cantzler, Peter Rocha and others - Gitta Nickels′ exploration of the present: "Manchmal möchte man fliegen" (1980) - Roland Steiner and his "Jugend-Zeit" films - Taboo themes are taken up: "Unsere Kinder" (1988) by Roland Steiner closes in on skins, goths and others, "Flüstern & Schreien" (1988) by Dieter Schumann and Jochen Wisotzki shows rock bands beyond the mainstream, "... und freitags in die Grüne Hölle" (1989) by Ernst Cantzler and Burghard Drachsel observes football fans.
"The other" in GDR everyday life: The socially endangered, the handicapped, the old and other "disadvantaged groups" - "Lerchenlieder" (1980) by Jochen Kraußer - Eduard Schreiber′s "Abhängig" (1983) and "Rückfällig" (1988) about alcoholics - Karlheinz Mund′s films on handicapped people - Films by Petra Tschörtner ("Unsere alten Tage"), Hans Wintgen ("Geschieden"), Gunther Scholz ("Es war einmal ein Mittwoch") and others.
People and landscapes: "Erinnerung an eine Landschaft" (1983) by Kurt Tetzlaff follows the resettlement of a village in the brown coal district - Peter Rochas′ films about the Lausitz coal district - The image of an object: Böttcher′s "Rangierer" (1983) and "Die Küche" (1987) as highlights of poetic-realistic cinema - Beyond the idyll: Films about the land and agriculture - Searching for new heroes: "Katrin" (1987) and others.
A exceptional director: Jochen Kraußer and his poetic film essays - Women before the camera - Helke Misselwitz′ "Winter ade" (1987) moved people′s minds and marked Perestroika in the DEFA documentary - Artists in films and problems with censorship - Searching for answers to questions about war and peace: "Das Jahr 1945" (1985) by Karl Gass, "The Time is now" (1987) by Eduard Schreiber and Rolf Richter - Gerhard Scheumann′s spectacularly critical speech on the film congress in 1982 - The end of the studio Heynowski und Scheumann (H&S) - New, intimate view of history: Peter Voigt makes "Stein schleift Schere" (1987) and "Knabenjahre" (1989) - The Jewish theme: "Dawids Tagebuch" (1980) by Konrad Weiß and others - Films by Roza Berger-Fiedler - Was there a "decreed anti-fascism" in DEFA documentaries? - 1989: The last festival in Neubrandenburg.

6. The Last Act 1989 to 1992
by Heidemarie Hecht
Hopes in the fall of ′89 - Films surrounding the fall of the Wall: "Leipzig im Herbst" (1989) by Gerd Kroske and Andreas Voigt, "Imbiß Spezial" (1989) by Thomas Heise and others - The wonderful year of chaos: The DEFA rules itself - No more taboos: The subject "safety of the state": "Streng vertraulich oder Die innere Verfassung" (1990) by Ralf Marschallek and "Verriegelte Zeit" (1990) by Sibylle Schönemann - Film titles as parables: "Die Angst und die Macht", "Kehraus", "Kein Abschied - nur fort", "Ich sehe hier noch nicht die Sonne", "Sperrmüll", "Im Durchgang" ...
Jürgen Böttcher′s "Die Mauer" (1990) observes the last days of the stone border - Jochen Wisotzki′s and Heinz Brinkmann′s "Komm in den Garten" (1990), the poetic story of a friendship in Prenzlauer Berg - New film companies in East Germany: A...-Film, Brandenburger Filmbetrieb, a jour and others - Received great international attention: Andreas Voigt′s Leipzig film cycle with "Letztes Jahr Titanic" (1991) and "Glaube Liebe Hoffnung" (1994) - Thomas Heise and his "Stau" (1992) on young right-wing extremists in East Germany - Peter Voigt retains his own angle: "Wieland Förster" (1991), "Metanoia" (1991) and "Dämmerung" (1993) treat German history.
The Treuhand (holding company for the privatisation of GDR state property) takes over the documentary studio - Leo Kirch is knocking - Bosses change, the name DEFA disappears - Sale of the documentary film studios - The long road to the DEFA foundation.
Preservation of tradition: Wittstock and the Märkische Heide - Volker Koepp continues his film cycles - The large summary of thirty years of film work in Golzow: Winfried Junge and "Drehbuch: Die Zeiten" (1994) - Eduard Schreiber shoots "Lange nach der Schlacht" (1995) about the Russian troops withdrawing from the former GDR, in "Kalte Heimat" (1995), Volker Koepp visits ethnic Germans in Eastern Prussia.
Themes on the mind: Jochen Kraußer′s film project "Das Jahr des Schweins" was never realised.

7. The Eyewitness
by Günter Jordan
The establishment of the "Augenzeuge", February 1946 - Kurt Maetzig, the first head of the DEFA weekly news and his democratic motto: "See for yourself, hear for yourself, judge for yourself!" - Weekly news and the SED: From partner to guardian - Stalinism and crisis: "Der Augenzeuge" becomes protocol cinema.
New course - new face: Changes after 1953 - Change of generations at the end of the fifties: From Helmut Schneider to Jürgen Hartmann - After the construction of the Wall: Interior views of the GDR - The loss of face at the end of the sixties - December 1980: The last edition.

8. The DEFA Popular Scientific Films
by Gerhard Knopfe
Traditions of cultural film in Germany - October 1945: The "Filmaktiv" considers the cultural film - The first head of DEFA cultural film: Albert F. Saalborn - First films - 46: "Fleckfieber droht", "Seuchengefahr", "Sachsenland-Weihnachtsland" - The first films by cameraman Werner Bergmann
From cultural film to popular scientific film - Areas of pop film in the GDR: Medicine, biology, cultural history, scientific-technological progress, education, psychology, sociology and more - The fifties: Films about Bach, Sanssouci, the Wartburg - Peaks of popular scientific film: "In Flammen geboren" (1957) by Wolfgang Bartsch, "Parlamentarier" (1958) by Jiri Jahn, "Tiere im Winter" (1958) by U.K.T. Schulz - Karl Gass as artistic director.
Films after 1961: Searching for the reality of things - Götz Oelschlägel and his sexual education films: "Sagst Du′s Deinem Kinde?" and "Weil ich kein Kind mehr bin" (1964) - After 1965: The studio becomes a shop - Nature, equipment, advertising, assignment films for television - The cinematic reflection on the world, "Die Alte Neue Welt" (1977) by Annelie and Andrew Thorndike.
The eighties: Important films by Fritz Gebhardt, Kurt Barthel, Donat Schober and others - Themes: Health and environmental protection - The environment films by Günther Lippmann: "Goldgruben" (1981) and others - Helmut Kißling did a film about "the first experiences with the opposite sex" - Siegfried Bergmann captured the wonders of nature.
1990/91: The end of the studios - The last great effort: "Der Traum vom Fliegen" (1991).

9. Documentaries at the Babelsberg Film College
by Claus Loeser
1954: Establishment of the Deutsche Hochschule für Filmkunst (German University of Film Art) - Practical exercises in documentaries - Andrew Thorndike′s influence - the neo-realistic tendencies of Helmut Nitzschke, Jürgen Böttcher and Kurt Tetzlaff in student films - Foreign students at the HFF.
Working class and everyday life observations - Individual portraits as building blocks for an unwritten social history of the GDR: "Wolters Trude" (1977) by Gabriele Denecke and others - The case of Hans-Ulrich Michel - Early films by Helke Misselwitz, Ulrich Weiß, Thomas Heise, Hannes Schönemann.
1986-90: The last phase of euphoria with Lothar Bisky as chancellor - The pedagogy of encouragement instead of that of obstruction - The first time: A punk on the screen: "Aber wenn man so leben will wie ich" (1988) by Bernd Sahling - The change at the HFF: "Zehn Tage im Oktober" and others
The taboo themes: Sexuality, violence, suicide, subculture, emigration, bureaucracy, militarisation - Avantgarde films

10. State Film Documentation
by Thomas Grimm
The history of a "niche": Documentation on 320 films in the GDR State Film Archive - Creative freedom in a centralised society - Material on objects of our time irretrievably lost - A gold mine for directors, journalists, historians, sociologists - Films on the National Festival in Neubrandenburg in 1979 create a stir: "Rentnerwohnung", "Hausmüll", "Schornsteinfeger", "W. Girnus" - Focal points: Interviews and factual accounts
1984: Instructions for taking over and using the documentaries - Film documents as historical sources? - Selected film documentaries: Bruno Apitz, Frida Hockauf, Gret Palucca, Martin Hellberg, Stephan Hermlin, Jürgen Kuczynski, Umsiedler 45, Polizeirevier, Gespräch über Leben und Tod and others
1986: The State Film Documentation closes - after 1989: The Zeitzeugen film and TV production company continues the tradition

11. The Leipzig Week of Documentary and Short Film
by Christiane Mückenberger
The first Leipzig Film Festival in 1955 and its background - The club of film creators in the GDR - A view of all of Germany - 1957 - 59: A three-year-long break
1960: Beginning to open up towards the world - Highlight 1960: "Musikanten" by Kazimierz Karabasz (Poland) - Famous guests: Joris Ivens, Alberto Cavalcanti, John Grierson, Paul Rotha, Chris Marker, Richard Leacock and others - 1963: Chris Marker′s "Der schöne Mai" receives the Goldene Taube (Golden Dove) - 1965: Michail Romm′s "Der gewöhnliche Faschismus"
Dichotomy: A window to the world and dogmatic narrowness - Solidarity with Chile and Vietnam - Behind the scenes: Censorship and ideological quarrel - Lack of criticism - Soviet films in Leipzig: The GDR and its difficulties with glasnost - A critical analysis that survived decades - About utopian ideas that saved the festival

12. Biographies and Filmographies
by Renate Biehl
"Schwarzweiß und Farbe" includes biographies and complete filmographies of the following directors:

A - E
Ackermann, Rainer; Alde, Klaus; Anders, Erwin; Ballmann, Herbert; Barthel, Erich H.; Barthel, Kurt; Bartsch, Wolfgang; Beck, Walter; Belz, Uwe; Berger-Fiedler, Roza; Bergmann, Bärbl; Bergmann, Siegfried; Bergmann, Werner; Bohm, Karl-Heinz; Böttcher, Jürgen; Brandes, Walter; Brandt, Richard; Braun, Fred; Brinkmann, Heinz; Bruchmüller, Max; Brunsch, Fritz; Burmeister, Rainer; Buyens, Frans; Cantzler, Ernst; Carow, HeinerClasen (Steinheisser), Jürgen; Cohn-Vossen, Richard; Cürlis, Hans; Dahle, Ernst; Demitter, Ursula; Denzler, Jochen; Dick, Fritz; Drescher, Renate; Dumke, Hans; Eekman, Johan; Emuth (Reichert), Hanna; Ensink, Ella

F - J
Farber, Karl; Fijalkowski, Viktor; Fischer, Heinz; Foth, Jörg; Freudenberg (Hartung), Nina; Fritzsche, Eva; Gass, Karl; Gauert, Heide; Gebhardt, Fritz; Georgi, Armin; Gnieser, Otto; Göhling, Hartmut; Gregor (Lepke), Irina; Groschopp, Richard; Gussmann, Manfred; Hadaschik, Joachim; Hafke, Heinz; Hammer, Erich; Harbich, Milo; Hartmann, Siegfried; Hartmann, Walter; Hein, Christiane; Heise, Thomas; Hellwig, Joachim; Hermann, Hugo; Herrmann, Konrad; Heydn, Werner; Heyer, Wolfgang; Heynowski, Walter; Hohmann, Lew; Hornig, Harry; Hübel, Wernfried; Huisken, Joop; Ivens, Joris; Jaap, Max; Jäger, Dieter; Jentsch, Gerhard; Jordan, Günter; Junge, Winfried

K - O
Kaden, Hans-Günther; Kerstan, Max; Kilian, Georg; Killus, Artur; Kissling, Helmut; Kleberg, Bruno; Klein, Gerhard; Klemke, Christian; Klering, Hans; Kluck, Ulrich; Koepp, Volker; Kohlert, Werner; Körner, Lutz; Krause, Manfred; Krausser, Jochen; Kreiseler, Werner; Kreker, Erwin; Krigar, Kurt; Kroske, Gerd; Kunert, Joachim; Kuschel (Ritterbusch), Andrea; Kuschel, Thomas; Landvogt, Wolfgang; Langanki, Dagmar; Laschet, Klaus; Lehmann, Christian; Leupold, Hans-Eberhard; Lippmann, Günter; Loewenberg, Dabobert; Machalz, Alfons; Maetzig, Kurt; Männling, Hans-Ulrich; Marschalleck, Ralf; Marten, Walter; Martens, Charlotte; Martin-Andersen, Igo; Meinl, Trutz; Meyer, Günter; Misselwitz, Helke; Mühlpforte, Günter; Müller, Hans; Müller, Heinz; Mund, Karlheinz; Nickel, Gitta; Oelschlägel, Götz; Osite-Krüger (Huez), Dagnija; Otten, Axel; Otto, Dirk

P - T
Paxmann, Hans; Petersen, Peter; Plickat, Kurt; Porsch, Helga; Poss, Ingrid; Potraffke, Eckhard; Prehm, Eugen; Raue, Dieter; Riemer, Jochen; Rinnelt, Frank; Rocha, Peter; Rochow, Friedrich; Rohne, Jürgen; Roth, Achim; Rudow, Jürgen; Rutsch, Hans-Dieter; Sander, Ingrid; Scheumann, Gerhard; Scheunert, Gerhard; Schmidt, Thomas; Schnabel, Rolf; Schneider, Helmut; Schober, Donat; Scholz, Gunther; Schönemann, Hannes; Schönemann, Sibylle; Schreiber, Eduard; Schulz, Ulrich K.T.; Schumann, Dieter; Schweinitz, Jürgen; Sobiczewski, Heinz; Stanke, Kurt; Steiner, Roland; Steinkopff, Volker; Supplieth, Marianne; Tetzke, Ted; Tetzlaff, Kurt; Thiel, Lotti; Thieme, Bernhard; Thierlein, Jürgen; Thorndike, Andrew; Thorndike, Annelie; Tschirner, Joachim; Tschörtner, Petra

U - Z
Ulbrich, Peter; Vatter, Peter; Voigt, Andreas; Voigt, Peter; Weiß, Konrad; Weiß, Ulrich; Weisse, Johannes; Weitzenberg, Albert-Otto; Weschke, Günter; Winter, Horst; Wintgen, Hans; Wisotzki, Jochen; Wosseng, Hans-Georg; Wuss-Mundeciema, Leonija; Wüste, Werner; Zenthöfer, Peter