Nationality German
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| Original title | Nationality German |
| Country of production | GDR |
| original language | German |
| Publishing year | 1990 |
| length | 88 minutes |
| Rod | |
| Director | Karl Gass |
| script | Karl Gass Klaus Wischnewski |
| production | DEFA studio for documentaries |
| music | Wolfgang Schoor |
| camera |
Andreas Bergmann Peter Milinski |
| cut | Evelyn Kuhnert |
| occupation | |
| |
Nationality: German is a documentary film made by the DEFA studio for documentaries by Karl Gass in 1990 .
action
Albert Linnecke was born as the son of a sheep master and his wife Wilhelmine in the Altmark in 1889 and is trained as a teacher in Osterburg (Altmark) . During the First World War he marches in 1914 with an infantry - regiment towards Paris . Here he ends up with typhus on a heap of corpses, is rescued, returns to the Altmark at the age of 26 and begins to work as a substitute teacher in the 1000-year-old cattle peat . The village has had around 170 inhabitants for ages, the number of pupils fluctuates between 15 and 20. During the two years of the war Linnecke worked here, he got to know and appreciate the people. When the teaching position in the one-class school becomes vacant, he applies, just married, and is warmly welcomed in this position by the community representatives in the festively decorated school. The community had previously repaired the house and put electric light in all rooms. On May 30, 1919, Linnecke took over the position of teacher, cantor and sexton in Rindtorf .
From October 30, 1919 he wrote a diary, which can also be called a school or village chronicle. In the first lines, Linnecke asks his successors to continue the book with the same devotion so that the generations to come can understand how things used to be there. Here he also complains that at first he hardly got around to teaching. Sometimes the children have to collect scrap metal, sometimes paper or nettles. In conclusion, however, he can state that the students have brought together everything that the fatherland needs in this difficult time. In addition, there is a changed curriculum, because the topics about the world war and its consequences, the present position of the fatherland and Germany's power in earlier times did not exist in this form before. Then comes an order from the Minister for Art and Public Education, which stipulates that every week a school-free and task-free half day should be introduced from the 4th grade onwards and a full day of hiking should be set up every four weeks. The first excursion is to Arneburg , which is followed by a few small ones via the villages and two to Stendal , including a visit to the film Fridericus Rex (1921/22) . On June 28, 1922, the students visit Schönhausen (Elbe) to get to know the birthplace of Otto von Bismarck and the museum located there. In July 1923 the school took its first major trip, going to the Harz Mountains for two days . In addition to hiking, the horse bustard and the Hermannshöhle are visited here. This is followed by detailed descriptions of the effects of the inflation of 1923 on life in the village in the diary . But then they go on a school trip again, this time to Potsdam , where they visit the garrison church and the extensive grounds of the Sanssouci Park .
At Easter 1925, a student was accepted for the first time in four years, so that there are now seven students in the inventory, as five have left. In April 1925, Paul von Hindenburg was elected President of the Reich . In 1927, the 24-hour time was introduced in Germany, which the rural population did not get used to. On July 14, 1927, there is a school excursion by coach to Tangermünde with a visit to the new Elbe bridge in Hämerten and the demolition of the old one. On September 18, 1927, the Rindtorf fire brigade, which has existed here for 31 years, is ceremoniously handed over a new syringe, which is consecrated at a memorial service at the war memorial . A milestone in 1930 was the construction of the village street including the sewer system . In the same year, the teacher's apartment is expanded by two rooms and the cowshed is converted into a garage, as the motorcycle has become an Opel automobile. There is also a school trip again: This time it goes to the Junkers aircraft and engine works in Dessau , where the children can also experience a sightseeing flight in an airplane. In order to beautify the classroom in the school, a removable frame with pictures from Germany is purchased.
There is hardly any mention of politics in the chronicle until 1931, but you are in the Stahlhelm , Kyffhäuserbund and vote for the German national black-white-red battle front . In the November 1932 elections in Rindtorf, the NSDAP received 26 votes, the SPD 1 vote and 77 votes for the German Nationals. The beginning of 1933 was marked by the National Revolt . The elections on March 5, 1933 in Rindtorf bring the following results: 34 votes for the NSDAP, 1 vote for the SPD and 66 votes for the German Nationals. A quarter of a year after Hitler came to power, almost all German associations such as Stahlhelm, Red Cross, trade unions , teachers' associations , the Kyffhäuserbund and many others submit to him . The condition is that the board members in these associations are NSDAP members. In the course of this time, a uniform National Socialist teachers' association was founded, which includes all teachers. Linnecke writes that it goes without saying that all positions in the administration and the police should be filled by confidants in the government, who are responsible for the well-being of the people. On the occasion of Adolf Hitler's birthday , a picture of the Chancellor was hung in the school, at the beginning of 1934 pictures of Hindenburg and Frederick the Great were added, and there are now 27 students in the class. In the same year a new municipal administration law comes into force. The villages are now officially called Bauerndörfer, the leader in the farming villages is called Dorfschulze and has the sole right of determination; there is no longer a community council. Linnecke became a member of the SA in 1933 and a member of the NSDAP four years later. The following topics in the chronicle are the intensive air defense exercises , the founding of the Greater German Reich , that on March 30, 1938 Austria becomes German, the German troops march there and the village, as well as the whole country, is richly flagged on this occasion. The approval of the annexation of Austria is over 99.5 percent in Germany and also in Austria; the diary does not write anything about the Jewish pogrom in November 1938. One stumbling block in agriculture is the labor shortage, the peasants struggle against it by all means, including hiring foreign workers such as Poles and Italians . The Sudetenland is occupied by German troops and on March 22, 1939 the Memelland becomes German again, on September 1, 1939 the war against Poland begins. Therefore, from October 10th, Polish prisoners of war can work in Rindtorf , which will be topped up in the later years of the war by French and Ukrainian prisoners. Prisoners unwilling to work are sent to a nearby concentration camp . On May 30, 1944, the teacher celebrates his silver wedding anniversary and at the same time his 25th anniversary of service in the same place. The Volkssturm is set up and sworn in on October 22nd in Rindtorf.
On April 13, 1945, the first American troops marched through the village and occupied it. The larger buildings, as well as the school, have to be cleared. The teacher also has to move out and finds accommodation with farmer Henning. The NSDAP and all organizations are banned, which also affects teachers. After the Americans, English troops move in , which in turn are replaced by the Red Army after four weeks . By order of the Russian commandant, regular school lessons begin again on October 1, 1945, but only last until October 3, as the schools are closed again due to the risk of typhus. Lessons can only be resumed from November 13th. The children of the evacuees increased the number of pupils to up to 73. Albert Linnecke has been a member of the SPD since September 1945 and therefore a member of the SED from spring 1946 . The elections to the district and state parliament take place on October 20, 1946 with the following results: 32 votes for the SED, 38 votes for the LDP , 69 votes for the CDU , 1 vote for the VdGB and 11 votes are invalid. A working group of socialist teachers (ASL) is founded for the political retraining of teachers. All teaching bodies in the state of Saxony-Anhalt are politically re-examined by the district anti-fascist committee. The teacher Linnecke receives the message that he is portable and should therefore be left in school service. From September 1, 1948, Russian language lessons were also given in Rindtorf, for which the teacher had to learn the language together with the children. On May 1, 1949, a school group of the Association of Young Pioneers was founded, with eight boys and nine girls joining. On March 5, 1953, the Soviet head of state Josef Stalin died , which is why the school was half-flagged for four weeks . The last entry in the chronicle is from December 1953 and concerns the Christmas celebrations in the school, which, like every year, are an important part of school life.
On March 29, 1954, the teacher Albert Linnecke died of a heart attack at the age of 65.
Production and publication
Nationality: German was shot as a black and white film by the Effect Artistic Working Group under the working title Corrections and had its premiere on August 2, 1990. The first television broadcast took place on August 5, 1990 in the 2nd program of the DFF .
criticism
Peter Hoff wrote in Neues Deutschland :
“Karl Gass judges, but does not judge. He wants to give food for thought, probably also about the quick adaptability of many people of our day to new power structures and new masters. "
The lexicon of international films is of the opinion that this visually and acoustically strictly conceived film follows the chronology of the diary notes and develops an eloquent and exciting search for clues from below, which sheds light on the historical development in its fatal consistency.
Web links
- Nationality: German in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Nationality: German at the DEFA Foundation
Individual evidence
- ↑ Neues Deutschland from August 9, 1990, p. 5
- ↑ Nationality: German. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed November 13, 2018 .