Question 7

In post-war East Germany, Peter Gottfried is the son of minister Friedrich Gottfried. The Communist regime has decreed that all children of "dissidents" will be denied entry to a prestigious music conservatory. Peter is anxious to be accepted, and in order to get in he prepares to answer the seven questions required by the conservatory, the seventh of which will require him to deny his religious convictions. Before this can happen, he is invited by the Communist Party to perform at the Berlin Youth Festival. Friedrich protests, knowing that the Communists intend to use his son as a political pawn, to "prove" to the world that East Germany affords equal rights to clergymen. In the end, it is Peter himself who decides to quit the Festival and defect to the West.