Johannes Arpe

This film is set in a medieval mill town in the Harz mountains. The greedy and brutal millman and his accomplices, the castle steward and the mayor, set fire to a forest mill that the farmers used for processing their grain. Without their mill, the farmers must now rely on the millman's services. When the farmhand Anna uncovers the millman’s crimes, he swiftly detains her and a young miller, Jörg. The forest spirits have a different plan, however, and they free the young couple with the charge to rebuild the ruined forest mill and turn things around for the villagers.

This film is the first of a two-part historical and biographical portrait of the communist politician and anti-fascist Ernst Thälmann. In early November 1918, Ernst Thälmann is an unwilling soldier serving on the western front. As the revolutionary movement at home is threatened by the betrayal of the Social Democrats and fissures in the working class, Thälmann calls on his fellow soldiers to put down their weapons and unite with the workers in the communist struggle at home. Thälmann’s qualms about which side he is fighting on continue, but when the local police attempt to prevent a shipment of provisions and supplies from reaching the people in Petrograd, he intervenes and the ship is unloaded. With this moment of clarity, Thälmann continues to follow his political convictions and joins the workers at the Hamburg uprising in October 1923.

The young lady Lisa Gau probably took her own life at Seilergasse 8 in Rostock, at least that's what it looks like. Captain Schirding, who has been assigned to the case, sees things differently. Together with forensic scientist Kurt Lisowski, he investigates the case and soon discovers that Lisa was poisoned and is shocked when all the evidence points to his...

At the beginning of the 1960s, a German turns up on behalf of the NATO in the British village of Rocksmouth. NATO wants to establish a naval base in Rocksmouth, but first, the German envoy has to salvage an old ship wreck. In 1942, the "Princess of India" was supposed to bring children to safety in Canada but was sunk by a German submarine at departure. 58 people were killed, most of them children.

A musician seeks a peaceful vacation in a Vogtland village but is soon overwhelmed by requests for a symphonic composition and a pop song for a local dance band, leaving him with no time to relax.

Under political pressure, a West German radio station stages a radio play about a Russian invasion of West Germany. A handsome fee convinced the unemployed Anton Wiesel to take on the direction. At the same time, the driver Harry Kyritz received an inheritance: a decrepit barge with which he intends to become an entrepreneur. His acquaintance with Madeleine Müller, the daughter of a coal wholesaler, comes at just the right time. But so does Mr. Müller, because he is broke. So he throws a big party to sell his daughter as his last profitable asset. Harry has a good chance when the radio plays a radio play about a Russian robbery. The guests take it as a factual report and flee to the cellar. Harry reveals his true financial situation, but Müller accepts him anyway - as a model worker for the Russians. But when the mistake is revealed, Harry is out of the running in favor of a wealthier son-in-law.

Albert Hauptmann is an out of work waiter in Cologne who is often confused with a former Captain of the Nazi Army. Albert uses this to his advantage and becomes the Director of the Montan Corporation, and a member of the West German Parliament. Herr Karjanke, the real Captain, learns of Albert’s ruse, and wants to claim his "rightful" position in Parliament. But Karjanke cannot come forward until his politicking "Doppelganger" succeeds in passing an amnesty law for war criminals. When Albert is finally brought before a judge on charges of fraud, he learns that this own amnesty law does not apply to him.