Jürgen Ast

Moscow, March 5th 1953. Stalin is dead. One day later, he is lying in state in an open coffin. Over one and a half million people move through the streets of Moscow. A last farewell for the man they worship like a god. Eyes full of tears. For three days they mourn in deep grief the loss of their "Leader" - their "Father", the "Greatest Man of our Time". During five minutes of silence throughout the East Bloc time seems to stop, as the coffin is laid to rest in the Mausoleum at the Red Square. They can't believe that he has left them. How can we go on without Stalin? What will become of us? The sudden death of Stalin creates a gigantic vacuum. The documentary takes a in-depth look at the story of a dramatic historical impact in the middle of the 20th Century. It tells about the tremor, the fear and the hope of the people. The contrariness appears as much as the bizarre and the absurd. 1953 strongly changed the history of the Soviet Union and the Eastern Bloc.

This film examines Trotsky, the revolutionary; venerated and reviled, loved, hated, feared. Archive material compiled from all over the world, citations and new shoots create an electrifying proximity to the historical person and to the man Leo Trotsky. Stages in his life and eventual flight are carefully examined, from St. Petersburg, to Mexico City. This is the riveting political biography of the Revolution's onetime hero.

Glienicke Bridge has linked Berlin and Potsdam since the 17th Century. As a symbol of the division of Germany and the world into East and West The bridge became a household name. Though only 3 spy exchanges took place at Glienicke Bridge, comprising a total of 38 agents, it forever became known as The Bridge of Spies.

What happened in 1953 in Stalin’s secret dacha in Kuntsevo? The last five days of the dictator. The film presents narratives about the life and death of the scrupulous power seeker Stalin. A life full of cruelties and red glamour which ended 70 years ago in his secret dacha in Kuntsevo. The almighty suddenly powerless.

The story of an empire: From its founding in 1922 to its dissolution in 1991, the Soviet Union was shaped by revolutionary idealism, but also by oppression and decay. The USSR evolved from Stalinist terror through the Thaw under Khrushchev to political processes such as glasnost and perestroika under Gorbachev. Finally, in 1991, it collapsed.

It is customary to give every new government 100 days to draw an initial summary of its work, its successes, its failures, its prospects. A “grace period” that also applied to Chancellor Adolf Hitler. However, he uses them more radically for his goals than anyone before him. This is what this series tells about – as a canon of contemporary voices. Diary entries from all over Germany document different perspectives, perceptions and very private things. How can a civilized country, a democratic state, turn into a brutal dictatorship in just a few weeks?