Sailors in Berlin

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Movie
Original title Sailors in Berlin
Country of production GDR
original language German
Publishing year 1978
length 53 minutes
Rod
Director Günter Jordan
script Hans Goldschmidt ,
Günter Jordan
production DEFA studio for documentary films
music Wilhelm Neef
camera Hans Moser ,
Thomas Rosié
cut Dieter Koerner
occupation

Sailors in Berlin is a documentary by the DEFA studio for documentaries by Günter Jordan from 1978.

action

Historical film overlay shows warships of the German Imperial Navy shooting during the journey and during the battle. The view falls on a struck battleship lying on its side and shows the sailors jumping from the deck and the rapid tilting of the battleship as well as the struggle for survival of the sailors on deck.

In October 1918 the German battleships lay in the ports because the war has already been lost. The emperor and his admirals want a decisive battle with the British fleet, in which tens of thousands of sailors are planned as victims. That is why the stokers of the battleships SMS Thuringia and Helgoland put out the fires under the boilers and thus prevent the fleet from running out. That is the beginning of the uprising, the crews refuse to obey and the sailors in Kiel follow their comrades from Wilhelmshaven . Photos show demonstrating sailors in the streets of Kiel and a group photo of sailors on the deck of the SMS Prinzregent Luitpold with a plaque “Soldiers' Council Warship Prinzregent Luitpold. Long live the socialist republic “The Kiel sailors' uprising is the spark that lets the flame of the revolution blaze up all over Germany and the sailors are in the first rows almost everywhere, whether in Lübeck, Bremen, Braunschweig, Hanover, Halle or Cologne.

A photo shows revolutionary soldiers with the red flag on November 9, 1918 in Berlin in front of the Brandenburg Gate . Six days after the sailors' uprising in Kiel, the storm breaks out here in the capital of the German Empire. Led by revolutionary socialists, the armed workers who have fraternized with the mass of soldiers march into the center of the city. Only a few guard units offer brief resistance, they are disarmed and the old order has been overthrown. Karl Liebknecht gives a speech in front of the Berlin Palace “After the Russian Revolution, the German is a gigantic event. The rule of the Hohenzollern is over, at this hour we are proclaiming the free socialist republic of Germany ”. Friedrich Ebert and the Council of People's Representatives move into the Reich Chancellery , the seat of the government on Wilhelmstrasse . In a secret telephone conversation with the second most important man in the highest army command, General Wilhelm Groener , he assures him that he will wrest power from the workers 'and soldiers' councils with ten divisions of the front army . In a newspaper article of November 13, 1918, the need for a special Red Guard is denied by the Executive Council of the Workers 'and Soldiers' Council in Greater Berlin . All sailors who are in Berlin are asked to go to the royal stables of the palace with handouts. In a short time, 150 sailors gather, decide to found a new unit and give it the name of the People's Navy Division . That is the beginning of the history of the People's Navy Division, whose strength at times grows to 3,200 men. Based on its founding and the November Revolution itself, the detailed focus of the film is primarily on the political developments in their environment and their participation in the Christmas battles for the Berlin City Palace in 1918. The same goes for the Spartacus uprising in January and the March fighting in Berlin in 1919, during which the People's Navy Division was crushed by the Freikorps and its members persecuted.

At the end of the film walking members of the GDR - People's Navy in the street Unter den Linden toward the Brandenburg Gate. Because of its proximity to the Spartakusbund and the KPD, which had just been founded at the time , the People's Naval Division was an important point of reference in GDR history policy, which is why the naval forces of the National People's Army were given this name in 1960.

Production and publication

The dramaturgy was in the hands of Bodo Schulenburg and the lyrics are by Paul Wiens .

The festive premiere of the black-and-white film Sailors in Berlin , filmed under the working title of the Volksmarinedivision, took place on October 30, 1978 on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the November Revolution in Germany at the Berlin Kino International . The television of the GDR showed the film on January 1, 1979 in its first program.

criticism

Werner Müller wrote in Neues Deutschland :

“The creators of this documentary film narrative tracked down an astonishing number of graphic testimonies to the heroic struggles six decades ago. This in itself makes the film an experience. The drama of the events is impressively reflected. "

Hey said in the new time :

“You can see how the revolutionary People's Navy Division was formed during the November 1918 Revolution in Berlin. This film, too, contains predominantly historical footage. Although it only captures a part of the overall event, it enables the viewer to grasp the greatness and tragedy of the November Revolution. "

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Berliner Zeitung of October 25, 1978, p. 4
  2. ↑ Neues Deutschland from December 30, 1978, p. 8
  3. ↑ Neues Deutschland from November 2, 1978, p. 4
  4. ↑ Neue Zeit of November 9, 1978, p. 4