Alfons Machalz

Ribnitz-Damgarten, the jewel at the coast of the Baltic Sea, is located directly at the Saaler Bodden, between Stralsund and Rostock. The town and its surrounding area are made for vacationing. This documentary from 1989 also shows the other side, like, for example, how the increasing population density and the industrial production influence the ecological balance of the region. A community for the protection of the Bodden landscape is actively making an effort for conservation. At the institute for deep-sea fishery, research about the fish population is conducted, and agriculture as well is looking for solutions to preserve an intact environment.

How are problems solved in a socialist country? The film centres on an old gasworks in the middle of a workers' district in Berlin, capital of the GDR. For 100 years it was polluting the environment - now it is closed. What has happened to the former workers? Have they been made redundant? Will the site of the old works be taken over by a new one, or will a park be laid out there for the local inhabitants?

Report on the forming of the new residential area Thälmannpark, beginning with the still working gasworks, up to inauguration of the monument of Thälmann.

The film is an appeal by the International Democratic Women's Federation against a new war, calling on all mothers of the world to protect their children.