Hans Fiebrandt

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.

Stationed in a secluded Bulgarian village in 1943, Walter – a German Wehrmacht sergeant and artist – lives in almost idyllic distance from the war. Then a transit camp is set up for Jews arriving from Greece. When Ruth, one of the internees, asks Walter to help a pregnant woman, the two form an unlikely bond.

This story of the miller Florian, who gave all his money to the war against Napoleon, is loosely based on a true story. After the war, Florian's reimbursement is challenged, and he must also pay taxes on his destroyed mill. He resists the tax collectors and takes off to Vienna, where he intends to defend his rights. On the way, he rescues the Duchess of Guastalla from assault. She also wants to go to Vienna, as His Majesty Franz II is trying to contest an heir in her favor. With cunning, luck, and dagger, Florian fights his way through a slew of nobility and their secret police.

A young soldier discovers three chests of copper, silver and gold and an old tinder-box in the hollow of an old oak tree. He is now rich. But he squanders the money until it is all gone. All he has left is the old tinder-box. He uses it to light a small pipe and three large dogs come to his rescue. Based on the fairy-tale by Hans Christian Anderson.

A theater competition breaks out on the occasion of the four-year anniversary celebrations at the Hennigsberg power plant. The old hands want to perform the kitschy musical comedy "Gärtnerliesl". The youngsters are against it and are planning their own program with which they want to skewer events from the plant in a cabaret style. But first, everyone has to work together on a turbine breakdown. On the day of the festival, the "Gärtnerliesl" fails with timpani and trumpets, while the youth's program is met with great applause, which the rivals join in with.

It is a fateful moment: during one of his concerts, Jewish pianist Klaus Seiser discovers Gestapo officer Dr. Becker in the audience. He had imprisoned and harassed the young Seiser in 1943 because of a leaflet. Although the musician had managed to escape from prison at the time, he was caught at the Swiss border and Becker had him sent to Dachau concentration camp. Now, years after the end of the Nazi regime, Seiser denounces the Gestapo man and hopes for justice.

During construction work in a small town in Thuringia, the burial of an unidentified man in an SS uniform with gunshot wounds is discovered. Taking into account that there were no military operations in this place and an ancient gold coin was found near the body, two police inspectors, Captain Stetter and Lieutenant Hoffmann, arrive to investigate the unusual incident. Soon they manage to get on the trail of a mysterious crime that took place twenty years ago, but it is cut short with the murder of the owner of the plot of land where the corpse was found. Realizing that the new crime is closely connected to the death of an unknown SS man, the police search for clues in the memories of old residents and archival documents.

The ship stoker Heini Holler leaves Greece for health reasons and reports to the consulate of fascist Germany. The consul sends him back to Hamburg. He had previously reported him to the Gestapo there as politically suspicious. On his arrival, Holler is immediately arrested. His comrades kidnap the consul and demand an exchange for Heini, which is to take place in Marseille. The Gestapo agree to this as a pretense and secure the support of the French police to arrest the kidnappers. However, the solidarity of the sailors in Marseille is stronger and Heini is able to cure his lung disease in the Soviet Union.

French milliner Yvette has a small fashion salon in Düsseldorf. The young gentlemen of society fall at her feet, but she is not accepted into their circles. That's why her former lover Maurice Daurignac manages to persuade her to pull off a big coup to get revenge on "high society". She pretends to be the heiress to ten million gold francs. A notary arrives from Paris accompanied by two supposed policemen and delivers the alleged money in a sealed parcel to the Bleichstetter bank in Düsseldorf, where it remains until the end of the inheritance process. The case drags on, and in the meantime the two are living large. When the bombshell bursts, Yvette has the young lawyer Dr. Hellmer to thank for the fact that she cannot be thrown to the angry citizens.

The story of Johann Friedrich Böttger, an apothecary’s apprentice and alchemist’s assistant. Fleeing from the Prussian King, he goes to Saxony, where King Frederick August the Strong takes him to a fortress and demands that he create gold. Böttger is equipped with everything he would need for the task, but he has known for a while that actual gold production is a myth and instead experiments with porcelain—white porcelain, as the Chinese are said to possess. In 1709, he finally succeeds in surprising the King with the "white gold," the first white porcelain made in Europe, he hopes for freedom.

The authorities expect the case of Friedel Walter, alias "Dr. Mueller," to be a straightforward one: he was working as a doctor without proper credentials under a false name. But Mehlin, the man in charge of his case, knows that there is more to the story. When he was injured fleeing from a concentration camp, resistance worker Irene asked her medical student boyfriend Walter to give him medical care.

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.

1944: Geneviève and René live in occupied Paris. They love each other, and the young woman looks fearfully at René's activities in the Resistance. She wants to stay out of it, and sometimes there are arguments about it. After one such argument, René goes to a meeting with a German comrade. While he is away, the Gestapo come to the house to take the resistance fighter Louise away. Geneviève intervenes and is arrested. The men of the resistance are very worried as she knows about a planned bridge demolition. René trusts her, and Geneviève does indeed withstand the torture. The bridge can be blown up as planned, contributing to a decisive defeat for the German army.

Germany 1922 during the Weimar Republic: Foreign Minister Walther Rathenau signs the Treaty of Rapallo between Germany and the Soviet Union. German national, conservative forces then speak of betrayal and anti-Semitic tones become loud. Plans for murder Rathenaus are forged in the vicinity of the Freikorps. The young engineer Horst Bergmann learns about the preparations of the assassination attempt and tries to warn Rathenau.

In the small town of Benderath, Jewish high school student Jakob is the victim of hostility because of his religion. He forms the student group "Trojans", which supports Jakob and does not tolerate the hate speech.

Polizeiruf 110 is a long-running German language detective television series. The first episode was broadcast 27 June 1971 in the German Democratic Republic, and after the dissolution of Fernsehen der DDR the series was picked up by ARD. It was originally created as a counterpart to the West German series Tatort, and quickly became a public favorite.

Blaulicht is a German crime television drama series, whose 29 episodes were based on crime case files.

Three members of the National Committee Free Germany form a secret commando that comes to Berlin from Minsk to take up the fight against the SS in the last days before the end of the war.

One evening, crime reporter Jaques Batissier makes the acquaintance of a drunken stranger who tells him his version of the murder of the anti-fascist publisher Sonelli. When Detective Inspector Rochambeaux investigates the case, the stranger's account turns out to be an exact description of the circumstances of the crime, which only the murderer could have known. On the hunt for a good story, Batissier gets on the trail of the powerful fascist secret organization "Cagoulard".