Ohnsorg Theater - Mensch sein muß der Mensch

A day in the lives of a Hamburger couple Jan and Renate. A few days ago they moved to Wilhelmsburg. There they have to build a child's room, but they lack the money.

Widow Brasse goes to great lengths to support her children and her elderly grandfather. Poverty and irritation are a constant state of affairs in the family, as there is not enough money to go around, even though Johanna Brasse washes clothes for strangers day after day. But as life goes, one day Grandpa Philipp is hit by a car and the widow senses a good deal. Although Grandpa is not injured, he is put to bed and given a proper bandage. All the preparations are made to extract a good deal of compensation from the remorseful driver. But everything turns out quite differently.

Erna, the daughter of a Hamburg coastal skipper, loses her fiancé to the sea. In her grief, she first flees to relatives, then takes her fate into her own hands and starts working for a shipowner in Blankenese. When she slowly begins to develop feelings for a man again, he turns out to be a marriage swindler. But again she does not give in to despair. In her conciliatory attitude to life, she is able to settle a marital dispute between the shipowner and his wife and finally finds her own happiness in love - through a former friend who is himself a widower. She starts a family with him and the children of his deceased wife.

Meta Boldt misses nothing in the house of master butcher Tramsen. She is firmly convinced that unsustainable conditions would prevail and order would be lost if she did not keep the landlord constantly informed of all the news. Unfortunately, Meta Boldt can't find out everything through glimpses through the keyhole and overheard conversations. Slowly but surely, her half-truths get her into trouble with everyone in the house, especially as she can't keep her mouth shut...

Frugality can be a virtue, but for Schneider Nörig this virtue seems to have turned into avarice. For him, pancakes with two kinds of jam are a reprehensible luxury. He prefers to put the money aside, or rather put it in his piggy bank. It is therefore not surprising that Schneider Nörig has to prevent the marriage of his youngest daughter to an almost penniless craftsman. Neighbor Krup seems to be a promising candidate and a good match in his eyes. Money could come into the family if Nörig were to marry Krup's sister...

As Germany's fortunes in the latter part of World War II wane, several young boys, in their enthusiasm to do something "for the fatherland", volunteer to fight with the German army in the East. Horrified at the news that their children left for the Russian front, the boys' mothers begin a desperate effort to get their sons back.

In the post-war period, the young farmer Heiko Herkens secretly distils beet schnapps in a hidden alcove with his farmhand Jan Spinn, has fun with Fleet Helga, the gendarme's daughter, and enjoys his life after the war and imprisonment. The maid Taline, who has lived on the farm with Jan for years, knows nothing about the moonshine still. However, this life of lottery is a thorn in her side. How she longs for Heiko to marry a righteous farmer's wife and for peace and order to finally return to the farm!

Master shoemaker Franz Anecker is raging with jealousy because he has long had a feeling that Mayor Wedekamp has his eye on his wife Lene. Old journeyman Matten believes the same, and since he loves beer and corn, he likes to keep a watchful eye on the goings-on in the house over a well-filled glass. As Matten cannot observe everything, he fails to notice that the master's young sister is particularly pleased by Wedekamp's visits.

Widow Lührs only receives a meagre pension and is therefore reliant on supplementary income, so she plays commercial cards without permission! One day, farmer Henck from Schandeloh appears at her house, who wants to scare his bossy wife with the help of the cards. Wilhelmine Lührs hesitates, but ham, sausage and money finally persuade her to change her mind. She lays out the cards for Mrs. Henck just as her husband had wished. But the fraud is discovered and Mrs. Lührs has to appear before the public prosecutor. But even in court, the ludicrous Wilhelmine manages to use her wisdom to cleverly get out of the affair.

Fisherman Hannes Högermann and his nephew Klaus have "salvaged" seventeen sacks of coffee from a stranded ship at night and stowed them in his cellar. Hermann Achner, who works for a coffee broker, is called in to get rid of the loot at a reasonable price. Instead of Hermann Achner, however, the owner of the ship appears first, who is mistaken by Hannes Högermann for the accomplice and learns to his astonishment about the hidden loot. But because the owner of the "Söbenteihn Sack Kaffee" has his eye on the fisherman's daughter, he puts on a good face and lets the beach bailiff believe that the coffee has been properly recovered, so that Hannes Högermann is at least left with the salvage wages. But he has to pay a penalty...