Elfriede Florin

In 19th century France, Jean Valjean, a man imprisoned for stealing bread, must flee a relentless policeman named Javert. The pursuit consumes both men's lives, and soon Valjean finds himself in the midst of the student revolutions in France.

A Saturday evening dance in the village pub is interrupted when the barn of local farmer Paul Gäbler catches on fire. The farmer himself is soon found – hanged. Sawmill owner Züllich claims that Gäbler committed suicide because he was forced to join an agricultural production cooperative, but others are convinced Gäbler was murdered. Officers Schneider and Anders must navigate their way through a complex maze of personal and political motivations in order to reconstruct the crime.

In the 16th century, as Flanders is invaded by the Spanish, Till the Mischievous uses stratagems to enter the service of Ferdinand Alvare de Toledo, Duke of Alba, and from there organize resistance against the invaders.

The widow has an ugly and lazy daughter, Pechmarie, and a beautiful and hard-working step-daughter, Goldmarie. Because Pechmarie is her real daughter, the widow clearly favors her and makes Goldmarie do all the work. Poor Goldmarie must also sit and spin all day by the well until her fingers bleed. When she tries to rinse out the spindel, it drops into the cold water. Her unsympathetic step-mother tells her to jump in after it. Goldmarie does as she is told, and then wakes up in the middle of a beautiful field of flowers. This is the land of Frau Holle, who welcomes Goldmarie and invites her to stay, as long as she will help with the housework. Marie stays and serves Frau Holle gladly, until she suffers so terribly from homesickness that she asks to go home. Before bringing her back, Frau Holle rewards Marie with a shower of gold. Upon her return, Goldmarie and her gold are welcomed by her greedy step-sister and -mother. Hoping for the same kind of reward, the step-mother sends ...

Jürgen Fohrmann works as a hauer underground. In the course of the coal crisis, his mine closes - he loses the work. In this mood, his wife's prosperity thinking gets on his nerves - his marriage threatens to break. The dismissed coal buddy applys, first becomes an auxiliary worker, but then receives a job in an automated operation of the electrical industry and believes to have socially risen through this "clean work". Fohrmann quickly realizes that wearing a "white coat" is only seemingly better than the arduous work in the pit and understands that he can no longer stay out of the work struggles of the buddies.

The story of two women, one French and the other German, who fight for a child who has been mistakenly taken by the Germans after a bomb raid.

On a barren and stormy island, fishing families eke out a meager existence on what they can catch during summer, and what washes ashore during winter. But little has been washing ashore of late, and their situation worsens. Elders recall how twenty years ago, when the lighthouse keeper’s beacon went dark, a cargo ship broke apart on the cliffs. It proved a bountiful accident for the fishermen. Today people on the island view the conscientious lighthouse keepers with evil hungry eyes...

During the unloading of the freighter "Florida", West German dock workers discover napalm bombs instead of the specified precision machines - and a deceptive maneuver by the American occupying forces: the workers had already refused to unload the ship in France, where it was named "Chicago". It was refloated on the voyage to Germany. The German dockers also went on strike. Among them was Hein Jensen, who found it particularly difficult to take part. He had just found work again with difficulty. He needs the money because he wants to get married. His bride Helga has just given birth. When the Americans try to blackmail him into changing his colleagues' minds, he knows where his place is. The strike turns into a huge peace demonstration.

In 1945, Ernst Machner returns home from the war in his mid-20s. Tuche would like him to weave for a living, but his comrades persuade him to become a young teacher instead.

Irene Klaussen, a brilliant, tomboyish Berlin student, falls for new classmate Peter Lemke. To prove herself, she follows him, first to a school dance in a borrowed gown, then to a year’s stint on a remote oil‐plant construction in Granow. Ostracized at first, she wins respect under FDJ secretary Anton by mastering every trade and helping him study for engineering school. After returning to Berlin, she discovers Peter’s infidelity and, disillusioned, goes back to Granow, finding true partnership and purpose with Anton.

A sociohistorical drama about the construction of the Simplon-tunnel: A conflict develops when German workers want to strike and fight for better working conditions while Italian workers simply want to earn money and provide for their families.

Two boys are helping the border guards to find a mysterious moor hound used by spies to transfer messages across the border.

Young, pretty Milli is passionate about winter sports, and of all things, she wins a vacation trip to the Baltic Sea at her company - in summer, of course. After her first dip in the sea and meeting a nice young man, her initial displeasure fades. But not for long, because Robby turns out to be a filou, shuns regular work and is also a womanizer. After some confusion, Milli's vacation ends well after all. She goes home with Robby, who wants to take a job as a car mechanic in her home town of Suhl.

In the late summer of 1958, party secretary Ernst Wollni is sent from Berlin to the village of Schwarzwalde to help set up an agricultural cooperative. In the village he meets his childhood friend Fritz Grimmberger again. Their friendship is put to the test as Grimmberger opposes collectivization. Nevertheless, Wollni manages to motivate the villagers and get the LPG going. Grimmberger, however, ruins himself by going it alone. When his daughter Helga also wants to leave him and study in the city, he realizes his mistake. Grimmberger and Wollni reconcile at the village festival.

Spain 1936: Despite the victory of the Popular Front, nothing has changed for the peasants; the grandees continue to oppress them. The poor peasant son Pablo fights back and encourages the others to demand their rights. The grandees flee. Students from Madrid arrive and help the rural population to democratize. Pablo falls in love with Magdalena and learns to read and write from her. When Franco begins his bloody attack on the young republic, they defend the village together. When Magdalena dies in a bombing raid by German planes, Pablo begins to hate the Germans. However, fighting together with the International Brigades, he realizes that there are other Germans too, and that they share a common enemy.

Lifelong hard work for the count makes the servant Anton a cripple. Everybody calls him Crooked Anton. When, after the end of the war, the land of the count gets divided amongst the farmers, Anton receives a piece and hopes to be able to work freely. But an old debt and intrigue keep Anton and his family from finding peace. The farmers of the village begin to discover their own power when Annegret, Anton's daughter, leaves. Is a new beginning possible for Anton? This film paints an impressive panorama of the development of a minor village in Mecklenburg from the end of the war to the uprising of 17 June 1953.

East German TV miniseries about the young maid Gertrud Habersaat, who marries, moves from Mecklenburg to Poland in the early 1940s, has to come back to Mecklenburg as a refugee during World War II and finally finds her place during the 1950s.