Polizeiruf 110: difficult years (1st part)

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Episode of the series Polizeiruf 110
Original title Difficult years (1st part)
Country of production GDR
original language German
Production
company		 Television of the GDR
length 101 minutes
classification Episode 90 ( List )
First broadcast June 29, 1984 on GDR 1
Rod
Director Hans-Joachim Hildebrandt
script Hans-Joachim Hildebrandt
production Lutz Clasen
music Peter Gotthardt
camera Walter Laass
cut Edith Kaluza
occupation

Heavy Years (Part 1) is a German crime film by Hans-Joachim Hildebrandt from 1984. The television film was released as the 90th episode of the Polizeiruf 110 film series and was continued in episode 91 of the same name .

action

Captain Wolfgang Reichenbach has just arrived on vacation with his wife when he is ordered back from his office. Two men were buried in an old mine tunnel in his home village of Beiersdorf. They wanted to get to the bottom of the rumors that valuables from Nazi times are hidden in the tunnel. A tunnel collapsed and ammunition stored there from the Second World War exploded. During their search, the rescue workers initially only found a skeletonized corpse, which could be identified as Erwin Reichenbach by means of a wedding ring and identification tag - Wolfgang Reichenbach's father who disappeared without a trace 34 years ago. Wolfgang Reichenbach brings his mother Gertrud the news that Erwin has been found. She knows immediately that it was Richard Grabler who killed Erwin at the time. She asks Wolfgang to find and provide Grabler. Wolfgang, however, believes that Grabler died a long time ago.

When looking at the tunnel, Wolfgang thinks back to 1945 and the events of that time roll up. Shortly before the end of the war, the Hitler Youth Wolfgang is looking for protection from an air raid with a friend in the tunnel when they find Richard Grabler. He is in prisoner clothing, pretends to have fled the concentration camp and asks for food and drink. Wolfgang's grandfather provides him with clothes and food. After the end of the war, the Colani landowner persuades the American commandant to make Grabler mayor. Initially friends with Wolfgang, Grabler soon becomes dismissive. He finds a confidante in his new scribe, Vogler, and puts Wolfgang off his girlfriend Anneliese Abeleit. Anneliese becomes pregnant by Grabler and gives birth to a boy. Grabler does not want to marry her; he justifies this with the workload as mayor.

Wolfgang's father Erwin is returning from captivity earlier than expected, as he had proven himself to be positive by rescuing resistance members before the end of the war. Erwin befriends Grabler and resumes his old job as a railroad worker. Large farmer Schwertfeger - who knows Grabler's past - is murdered. The former concentration camp inmate Paul Wunderlich, who has meanwhile become a district councilor, accepts Erwin into the police force. However, his supervisor Vallenda only assigns him small tasks, not only because he does not consider him suitable for the service. At the same time, Vallenda also tries to prevent any research into the past. Like Vogler and Grabler, Vallenda is in the village under a false name. During the Nazi era, they were all involved in crimes. The boss of their gang is Mr. von Colani, who had his valuables brought to the tunnel, from which his on-site henchmen are supposed to send him objects every now and then. Colani himself has fled to the West. Fires and murders that were committed on his instructions in order to silence former confidants are covered by Vallenda and Grabler. They blame the Russians for the crimes. Then Käthe Buschhorn, who worked as a housemaid for Colani, meets Reichenbach. Käthe actually wanted to report Colani's former secretary Krassert because he had sold the wrong black sweetener. Vallenda recognizes the danger for the gang and has Käthe murdered by Krassert. Erwin desperately wants to solve this case and begins to research. In the process, he not only comes across Vogler's true identity and has him arrested, but also reveals Grabler's past. Grabler was not in a concentration camp but in prison for murder and his real name is Richard Schrader. When the noose is tightening around Grabler, he sets a trap for Erwin and lures him into the tunnel. Grabler shoots him here.

In the present, Wolfgang Reichenbach comes out of the tunnel after identifying his dead father. In the distance, a gray bird observes the action and disappears again unseen.

production

Hard Years was made as a two-part television film, the first part dealing with events from the past and part two the search for perpetrators in the present. The occasion of the double police call was the 35th anniversary of the founding of the GDR.

Difficult Years was filmed from April 15 to September 30, 1983 in Berlin and various villages in Saxony-Anhalt, the second part also on the Baltic Sea coast ( Stralsund , Insel Rügen , Prerow ). The costumes for the film were created by Jutta Geißel-Burkhardt , the film structures were created by Manfred Glöckner and Jürgen Schmidt . The film premiered on June 29, 1984 in the first program of East German television. The audience participation was 56.4 percent.

It was the 90th episode in the film series Polizeiruf 110 . Captain Wolfgang Reichenbach investigated in his 3rd case and Lieutenant Colonel Brandner in his 1st case. The critics called the two-parter "not particularly original ..." and described the attempt at symbiosis of epic television films with current crime films as not working.

literature

  • Peter Hoff: Police call 110. Films, facts, cases. Das Neue Berlin, Berlin 2001, ISBN 3-360-00958-4 , p. 140.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b Peter Hoff: Polizeiruf 110. Films, facts, cases . Das Neue Berlin, Berlin 2001, p. 140.
  2. ↑ Representation according to http://www.polizeiruf110-lexikon.de/filme.php?Nummer=090 (Link only available to a limited extent, for example via an archived, older version ( Memento from September 2, 2007 in the Internet Archive ))
  3. ^ Peter Hoff: Police call 110. Films, facts, cases . Das Neue Berlin, Berlin 2001, p. 98.
previous episode
May 27, 1984: The forgotten laboratory 		Police Call 110 Follow next episode
July 1, 1984: Difficult Years (Part 2)