And if they haven't died ... - The end of the neverending story

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And if they haven't died ... - The End of the Neverending Story is part of the long-term documentary Kinder von Golzow , which was started in 1961 by the director Winfried Junge and only ended in 2007. He accompanied several children of a primary school class from Golzow im Oderbruch over this period and presented his results in several films.

The And If They Didn't Die ... - The End of the Neverending Story from 2005 consists of two films. The first contains material about the characters Christian Struwe, Ilona Müller and Jürgen Fröhlich and the second about Winfried Jerchel, whose interviews and school scenes are shown.

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Jürgen Fröhlich

Jürgen Fröhlich is the second Jürgen in the class that was filmed in the long-term documentary Die Kinder von Golzow by Winfried and Barbara Junge since they started school in 1961. In the first part of the film And if they haven't died ... - The End of the Neverending Story , some scenes from his school days are shown. On the one hand a day of hiking in June 1962 and on the other hand a visit from a pilot to the school.

Then some scenes from his apprenticeship are shown, in which he works with Jürgen Weber. After 8th grade, Fröhlich began an apprenticeship as a painter and upholsterer in the production cooperative "Form und Farbe Seelow".

When he was 27, he was interviewed in his old classroom. In this scene he tells that he now has two children and a nice apartment. Furthermore, he does not want to give up the profession of painter and upholsterer.

In the summer of 1975 Jürgen Fröhlich, who at that time was a soldier with the " Fahne ", is shown in a uniform at a festival. Furthermore, a scene shows how Fröhlich and Jürgen Weber are awarded for their exemplary work when they take part in the “Better Living” competition.

Even after two decades in which Jürgen Fröhlich was not filmed, he declares himself ready to be filmed again. So he was visited again in 2005 by Winfried Junge. This time he finds him in an industrial park in Manschnow ( Oderbruch ), where he now works as a transport and warehouse worker. In the interview that followed, he says that he did a nine-month retraining as a transport and warehouse worker because he couldn't find a job as a painter and upholsterer and had to travel long distances. He likes this work very much.

At the end of the film, scenes are shown in which Winfried Junge visits Jürgen Fröhlich on his 50th birthday. First of all, his wife Angelika and his three children read a poem to him. In the following interview, Fröhlich is described by his wife as calm and frugal. The subsequent question as to whether he considers the GDR to be reformable is answered in the affirmative. From his interviews it can be seen that Jürgen Fröhlich is a person who looks ahead. He says: "Somehow it will go on, you just can't give up".

Christian Struwe

Christian Struwe was only filmed from the fifth grade, as he had only been attending the Golzow School since 1965. The scenes in the film only show very short classroom shots from the fifth, eighth and tenth grade, for example during his oral German final exam. At this point in time, Christian already had an apprenticeship contract as an agricultural machinist, as he was retired due to his walking disability from a young age. He practiced the profession of agricultural machinist for some time. Since the film material about Christian Struwe is very limited during his school days and he did not want to be filmed for some time afterwards, very little information can be obtained about his childhood and youth.

At a class reunion of the Golzow students in 1975, Christian talked about his family life and his reasons for getting married. He already lived in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania with his wife, who was expecting a daughter from him . He admitted that without his child he probably would not have married this early, but at the time he believed in the solidarity of his marriage. Last but not least, convenience was an important reason for the wedding, as marriages were promoted in the GDR and mainly his wife would do the housework. Furthermore, one can hear from the interview that his grandfather also had an influence on his decision. His goals of qualifying as an engineer and going abroad would no longer have been possible because of his family. Still, he would not have regretted the wedding because he had already enjoyed enough of his life.

In the summer of 2005 Christian was interviewed in Golzow while he and his second wife Monika Struwe were visiting their father, who used to be a teacher at the Golzow school. Christian had been with his wife since 1985, whom he married in 1989. With the sales representative from Berlin he has a son, Kevin, with whom they have been living in Berlin-Hellersdorf since 1990 .

A main reason for Christian's separation from his first wife would have been his place of residence, since he didn't like life on the coast. Looking back on the question of whether he would not have married too early after all, he replied: “It could have gone well”. His daughter from his first marriage was living in Wismar at the time and also already had a daughter, with whom Christian only rarely had contact.

Christian was interviewed for the last time at his workplace, the Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau in Berlin. He began his job as a caretaker there when the building was still the GDR state bank. He seemed to be satisfied with this work and he didn't mourn his old job as a farm mechanic. Since his job was secured even after the fall of the Wall despite the takeover of KfW, he did not find German unity to be a major change. He was also of the opinion: “The GDR also did good things” and “On the whole, we had everything”. Ultimately, the interview reveals a slight political disinterest, which makes him appear neither as a staunch GDR citizen nor as an opponent of unity.

Ilona Müller

The film about Ilona Müller, later FDJ functionary and mother of two children, begins in 1966 when the eleven-year-old is playing school with her friend Regina. Here Ilona is shown as a cheerful young girl who plays carefree with her girlfriend. During the entire film, scenes from an interview with Ilona, ​​which was conducted with her in 1983 and during which she broke off the film project, are played in between. Finally, Ilona's mother, Frau Grandkreuz, has her say. She describes how she felt about the film project and what a joy it is for her to be able to look back at her daughter's life again and again.

Ilona's role as the big sister of four smaller siblings is also addressed. It becomes clear that Ilona was not always happy to have to take on the role of mother in some places. In addition, she expresses herself in an interview about her opinion on the importance of a job that represents independence and joy for her.

Furthermore, Ilona is filmed as part of her gymnastics club, with which she even takes part in competitions such as the district sports festival in Frankfurt / Oder or the GDR sports festival in Leipzig . Their school performance is also documented. For example, she was filmed during her final math exam, which she was visibly uncomfortable with. Next she will be shown during her training as an electronics technician in the business school in the semiconductor plant in Frankfurt / Oder.

The next interview with Ilona is two years away. She currently lives here with her grandmother in Golzow, together with her partner Wolfgang, a farm mechanic from Golzow. At that time, Ilona was 17 years old and was expecting a child from Wolfgang. This was born on May 10, 1973 and was given the name Jaqueline.

The parents' wedding takes place after the birth but is not filmed.

Again the next interview with Ilona is a long time coming. Her daughter is already two years old here and Ilona works in a day nursery so that she can be with her daughter. However, she does not see her future in this and one day she would like to return to the profession she has learned.

Two years later, Ilona and her family are filmed on a trip to a lake. Here it is announced that Ilona is already doing another job, but Wolfgang does not seem enthusiastic. Ilona now works for the Free German Youth (FDJ) as a party functionary and does political ideological work with young people - visits them at work and encourages them to get involved politically within the FDJ. She is also filmed during courses at the local district party school or when receiving the Arthur-Becker medal in silver.

Later she is interviewed about her new situation in life - Ilona is pregnant again. At the time, Wolfgang is still on his reservist duty, which is why Ilona is completely on her own.

Ilona's father, Mr. Grand Cross, is also interviewed and filmed as he picks up the apprentices from field work for lunch as part of his job. Thereupon Ilona's mother has the chance to speak again, who speaks again about Ilona's career and the film project. She also reveals that Ilona will soon take up a five-year distance learning course in order to be able to take on a managerial position afterwards. In addition, the political stance of her parents' home, which conforms to the GDR, is shown here. This is underpinned by an interview with Ilona's father during an exercise by his combat troops from the Golzower LPG.

Finally, Ilona is shown as a mother, swimming with her daughter Jaqueline and attending her testimony, at which she received great praise. The film ends with Ilona's film abandonment in 1983, which she justifies by saying that the film project does not suit her and that she feels uncomfortable with being constantly being filmed and standing in front of the camera, which is why it has been so difficult to get a film date in recent years to arrange with her and her family.

Winfried Jerchel

The second of four films, each of which depicts individual biographies but are only part of the overall project, deals with the future engineer Winfried Jerchel, the youngest of Golzow's children. His life is told chronologically based on interviews and comments from Winfried Junge. Since the film was released in 2006 and the last interview was from the 1990s, the story accompanies Winfried Jerchel, who was born on July 13, 1955, with a few other people for the longest time, and Jerchel also experiences and partially reflects the changes in the GDR up to reunification. He then gained a foothold in the West as an engineer and gained several changing positions. He married a second time in Bavaria after his failed marriage with his first wife Sabine, with whom there were two legitimate children. The film shows the development of an East German SED member and works group commander and the change to a citizen of the FRG living in Bavaria.

Jerchel grew up as the son of a farmer and an office clerk as the oldest child with three sisters who later also studied. He discovered his joy in electronics very early on, which has been with him throughout his life. Jerchel passed his Abitur at the Polytechnische Oberschule, which was followed by 18-month military service and studying electrical engineering in Karl-Marx-Stadt . After graduating, Jerchel worked in production, which was not appropriate for his degree. This was due to the fact that he did not take his diploma for the time being, which resulted in a party penalty, as he had already joined the SED at that time. These scenes and those in which Jerchel is shown as the operations group commander of the VEB Zellstoffwerk Gröditz allow an insight into the public structures of the GDR. On the other hand, the troubles Jerchel has when he wants to get material for a house he built himself for his family with his wife Sabine and three children shows the economic decline of the GDR. After the fall of the Wall, Jerchel's marriage was divorced and he was given various jobs in West Germany. Here you can see his skepticism towards the old FRG waning and he becomes a normal citizen of the FRG, who finds a new wife in Bavaria, Inga, and at times works for large corporations in the electrical industry.

literature

  • Junge, Barbara and Winfried: CVs - The children of Golzow - pictures, documents, memories. Schüren Verlag GmbH 2004.

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