Fritz Links

A Jewish ghetto in the east of Europe, 1944. By coincidence, Jakob Heym eavesdrops on a German radio broadcast announcing the Soviet Army is making slow by steady progress towards central Europe. In order to keep his companion in misfortune, Mischa, from risking his life for a few potatoes, he tells him what he heard and announces that he is in possession of a radio - in the ghetto a crime punishable by death. It doesn't take long for word of Jakob's secret to spread - suddenly, there is new hope and something to live for - and so Jakob finds himself in the uncomforting position of having to come up with more and more stories.

The emaciated weavers deliver their homework to the factory owner Dreißiger and receive their wages, on which they cannot live and cannot die. Driven by hunger, they ask for more money, but to no avail. Only the young baker and the reservist Jäger put up a fight, and both manage to encourage a large group of weavers to revolt against the factory owner. They break into his house and destroy it, whereupon he flees. The revolt continues, the weavers move through the surrounding villages, where more people join them. A little later, the military arrives to intervene against the angry crowd and restore the old order...

Early 1921: a man is on his way home. Gleb Chumalov, regimental commander, worker and Hero of the Order of the Red Banner, returns to his home town from the Civil War. The victory over the enemies of the Russian people gives him the conviction that a new, better time will dawn overnight. Gleb looks for his comrades from earlier years, but only finds people who are emaciated by their efforts. The cement works where he used to work has been plundered and abandoned. With great effort, Gleb and his comrades try to get the plant up and running again. The struggle seems to begin anew... It is the time after the victory of the “Great October Socialist Revolution“ and the time of building a new society.

This first film adaptation of Bertolt Brecht’s play about class distinctions was made in 1955 in the Vienna Rosenhügel studios, but it was only premiered five years later. Curt Bois plays the rich capitalist Puntila who only becomes somewhat agreeable when he is drunk (which he is most of the time in this film). In his inebriated state, Puntila not only gets amorously involved with three different ladies but also suggests that his daughter Eva marries his chauffeur Matti. The chauffeur, however, doesn’t really agree…

Ten-year-old Lutz Paschke, son of detective captain Paschke, is an enthusiastic but often overzealous detective. He roams his town with his basset hound Pinkus and thinks he can spot crimes in mostly harmless incidents. Every now and then, his father is called by him to a supposed crime, so Lutz thinks he has seen a murder, which turns out to be a clumsy attempt to kill a carp. Father Paschke is annoyed, especially as Lutz's actions repeatedly put him in embarrassing situations. So when Lutz receives an anonymous letter with cut-out letters announcing a crime at the old mill on Friday evening, he doesn't tell his father.

It is a fateful moment: during one of his concerts, Jewish pianist Klaus Seiser discovers Gestapo officer Dr. Becker in the audience. He had imprisoned and harassed the young Seiser in 1943 because of a leaflet. Although the musician had managed to escape from prison at the time, he was caught at the Swiss border and Becker had him sent to Dachau concentration camp. Now, years after the end of the Nazi regime, Seiser denounces the Gestapo man and hopes for justice.

At the beginning of the 19th century, white settlers regularly make and break treaties with the Native American inhabitants to gain possession of vast hunting grounds at ludicrously low prices without any bloodshed. Harrison, Governor of Indiana, has made and broke no less than fifteen such treaties, driving increasing numbers of Indians out to the infertile West. To put a stop to this criminal practice, the Shawnee Chief Tecumseh tries to unite the Native Americans.

Russian soldier Grisha escapes from a German prisoner-of-war camp in the spring of 1917. He is caught and is to be shot as a spy. This decision is controversial. The dispute continues. Grisha is executed on the orders of the army high command.