Jokehnen (TV series)

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Television series
German title Jokehnen
Country of production Germany
original language German
year 1986
length One episode about 90 minutes
Episodes 3
genre drama
music Hans Posegga
German-language
first broadcast		 June 21, 1987 on ZDF
occupation

Jokehnen - Or how long do you travel from East Prussia to Germany? - is a three-part German television series. The series was produced by ZDF and was based on the novel of the same name by Arno Surminski . Directed by Michael Lähn , the script was written by Claus Hubalek .

action

The story is told by Hermann Steputat, who was born on August 2, 1934 in Jokehnen , a fictional East Prussian village between Rastenburg and Insterburg - on the very day that Reich President Paul von Hindenburg died and Adolf Hitler finally became the unrestricted dictator in Germany ascends.

Hermann's father Karl Steputat runs a small business. He is a tailor by trade and at the same time mayor of Jokehnen. A respected man in the village who joins the NSDAP and remains loyal to the new government. Hermann spends his first childhood years carefree - he goes to the Jokehner village school, is sent to the Hitler Youth like all boys of his age and finds a good friend in Peter Aschmoneit. There are no problems at the beginning - not even when the Second World War breaks out; The Wehrmacht rushes from victory to victory and Karl Steputat can not be drafted because of a wound from the First World War , but is now part of the “last reserve” that is currently not needed.

But gradually the war and racial politics of the Nazis are making themselves felt in Jokehnen. Samuel Mathern, a Jewish cloth merchant who often stops at the Steputat house, sees no danger at first, although Karl Steputat warns him and advises him to leave Germany in good time. One day he was stopped and beaten up by a group of SA men with his horse and cart . Next comes the expulsion from Germany - his property is also confiscated, "Aryanized". Desperate, he asks Karl Steputat for help, who then tries, at his own risk, to influence the local group leadership in Drengfurth with a letter . However to no avail, Mathern disappears a short time later and is deported to a concentration camp. Increasing numbers of prisoners of war come to Jokehnen from the occupied countries of Poland and the Soviet Union , as well as families from large cities such as B. Hamburg , who are looking for protection in East Prussia from the increasingly frequent, heavy air raids by the Allies. Until then, East Prussia was spared. The Russian campaign is in full swing and the first villagers have fallen, such as Peter Aschmoneit's father.

In 1944 the Gestapo appeared in Jokehnen and arrested the major's son, a wealthy landowner. He was one of the circle of Wehrmacht officers who wanted to overthrow Hitler and planned the assassination attempt against the "Führer". The roadside attendant at Schubgilla, like all “men capable of arms” between 16 and 60 years of age, was drafted into the Volkssturm against his will , “total war”. Karl Steputat still firmly believes in the "final victory" and does not want to leave the village, although his wife Martha desperately wants to persuade him to flee out of great fear, and his journeyman Heinrich, who is rather critical of the Hitler regime, realizes that the situation is hopeless. the enemy is practically on the doorstep. At the end of 1944 the Red Army stood before East Prussia. In the freezing winter of 1945 it finally breaks through the Masurian Canal . A Wehrmacht officer who is in Jokehnen with his battery in combat position against the invading Russians encourages Karl Steputat to summon the whole village immediately and to flee as quickly as possible, but the trek is soon stopped by the approaching Soviets. Only one Jokehner, Blonski, managed to escape on his horse at an opportune moment. The male villagers are to be shipped to Siberia , all women and children are allowed to return to the destroyed Jokehnen for the time being, they are crammed together in an old potato barn. In the meantime Hermann has made friends with the young Red Army soldier Aljoscha, for whom he does small jobs and got sweets for it. After a short time, Karl Steputat also returned to Jokehnen, he removed himself from the prisoners because of his sciatica as he could no longer walk because of the pain. After a few days, however, he was arrested by the Soviet military command. Shortly before leaving, he tells Hermann that the Russians need a good tailor, but the latter does not believe the story and knows that his father will be arrested. A little later his mother Martha is picked up and both are deported to a camp in the Soviet Union. A world collapses for Hermann.

May 1945 - the war is now over, the Soviets withdraw from Jokehnen and hand it over to a Polish administration, which orders the immediate evacuation of the village. All Germans have to leave Jokehnen within two hours and go on a long train journey in freight wagons under desolate hygienic conditions to the west, to Germany. After arriving at Fürstenwalde station , Hermann's friend Peter dies of typhus . Hermann still has hope that his parents might also have been transported to Germany. But the sisters from the Red Cross cannot find the names in the admission files. Dejected, alone without parents or friends, he has to continue on his way, but Margarete Schubgilla takes him to her home.

In the credits, the narrator reports the fate that befell the residents of Jokehnen, including kidnapping , rape and often violent deaths.

Others

The shooting for the outdoor shots took place mainly in the municipality of Witzeeze in the Duchy of Lauenburg ( Schleswig-Holstein ). Actor Herbert Steinmetz died of heart failure while filming in 1986 at the age of 78.

Originally the Wotersen estate was supposed to serve as "Gut Jokehnen". But since Gut Wotersen was already planned as the setting and setting for the television series “The Legacy of the Guldenburgs”, one had to look elsewhere.

The “Lower Saxony houses” clearly show that the shooting took place in Schleswig-Holstein.

The scenes with the refugee route in part 3 were filmed at the Putlos military training area in the Ostholstein district. The shooting took place during the ongoing practice, which is why most of the scenes had to be shot in the "first take".

The Soviet T-34 tank and the Soviet uniforms in Part 3 are not mock-ups and costumes, but originals that were looted from the Yom Kippur War and given to the Bundeswehr by the Israeli army for study purposes were.

The oldest character of Hermann Steputat was played by Christian Mueller-Stahl, the real son of the main actor Armin Mueller-Stahl. The actor's two sons Dietmar Mues (Inspector Blonski), Jona and Wanja Mues also played.

literature

DVD

  • Jokehnen, Or how long do you travel from East Prussia to Germany?

Web links