The Wiesingers

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Television series
German title The Wiesingers
Country of production Germany
Year (s) 1984; 1988
length 45 minutes
Episodes 20 in 2 seasons
production Bavarian radio
German-language
first broadcast		 September 17, 1984 on the ARD regional program for Bavaria
occupation

actor

The Wiesingers is a TV series by Leopold Ahlsen (director: Bernd Fischerauer ) for Bayerischer Rundfunk .

In 1984 and 1988, 2 seasons were created with a total of 20 episodes of 45 minutes each, which were broadcast the evening before in the ARD's Bavarian regional program and later repeated by BR-alpha and in the 3rd Bavarian television program .

content

The series depicts the life and suffering of the Wiesinger family, who owns the brewery, over a period of more than 30 years. It begins just before the turn of the 20th century, when Bavaria was still ruled by the Prince Regent , leads through the turmoil of war and revolution, shows the opportunities and risks of the 1920s , and finally ends with the National Socialists seizing power.

The family life of the extremely wealthy family is shaped on the one hand by the business ups and downs of the brewery and on the other hand by the difficult personality of the head of the family, Kommerzienrat Anton Wiesinger. He is a typical patriarch and tends to make important decisions for himself in a "quiet little room" and often not even to inform the family. He behaves authoritarian and patronizing towards his adult children. While son Ferdl cannot please him, daughter Theres is overly protected by him. Only baby Toni can develop relatively unencumbered in the slipstream of the siblings. Anton's first marriage to Gabriele also suffers from his frequent infidelity. After her accidental death, he married the much younger French woman Lisette.

Son Ferdl has to suffer particularly from his father's despotic features. Although he is supposed to be his successor in the company, at the age of thirty he will only receive little responsibility and receive no recognition for his achievements. Eventually a serious falling out occurs between father and son. Ferdl takes a job in America and leaves Germany. From then on, Anton largely denies his existence and describes Toni as his only son. A reconciliation did not come about until the early twenties, when Ferdl returned on Lisette's initiative to save the brewery with his hard dollars. This got into serious trouble during the period of inflation .

Son Toni, who actually started an officer career, is brought into the company by his father after Ferdl's departure. Unlike his brother, he can successfully defend himself against Anton's interference and persuade him to withdraw from the brewery. A little later, however, the First World War breaks out and Toni volunteers for the military. So the old councilor has to take over the management again. In contrast to the omnipresent enthusiasm for the war, Anton was hostile to the war from the start - out of concern for Toni. This is confirmed when Toni is missing in the course of the war. This state of affairs lasts so long that it is already widely believed to be dead. However, after the end of the war he returns. It turns out, however, that he was severely traumatized by his war experiences. He suffers from a variety of psychological problems and becomes a drug addict.

Daughter Theres suffered a riding accident as a teenager and has been limping a little since then. This affects their self-esteem and has a negative impact on their life for a long time. So her relationship with the fun-loving and uncomplicated hop trader's son Franz Xaver Brandl u. a. Theres' self-conscious handling of the basically harmless handicap. During the war Theres worked as a nurse in a hospital, which made her more self-confident. At work she meets the amputee teacher Wolfgang Oberlein. They later get married and have a daughter.

As the late twenties progressed, the family fell apart more and more. Lisette starts an affair with Ferdl, but soon leaves him and returns to France. Anton first turns to a former lover, then to the younger sister of his first wife and loses contact with reality more and more. Toni gets deeper and deeper into the vicious circle of addiction. The German nationalist Wolfgang Oberlein believes that he has found a political home in the up-and-coming NSDAP , but this comes to an abrupt end when he learns of the Jewish origins of his long deceased father. The brewery, which has been converted into a stock corporation, is infiltrated by a speculator and ultimately swallowed up.

The death of the Kommerzienrat, which coincided almost exactly with the takeover of power by the National Socialists, finally marked the irrevocable end of an era.

actor

Other actors who were embedded in the stories: Maxl Graf , Ludwig Wühr , Felicitas Ruhm , Uschi Glas , Enzi Fuchs and Erni Singerl .

criticism

"With a feeling for the Bavarian-liberal attitude to life, for the soft idiom, for the deceptive harmony of the dying age ... Bernd Fischerauer ... staged this delicacy."

- Der Spiegel 42/1984

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ TV family: Die Wiesingers , Der Spiegel 42/1984, October 15, 1984