Hans Dumke

At the Eisenhüttenkombinat Ost an der Oder, a new blast furnace is being moved to replace a burnt-out one. 2000 tons have to be moved 18 meters: Three times we hear it in the commentary. Master Klaus is now in command. His orders are to be obeyed at all costs. Men at work: tense faces, examining hands, the sound of screeching winds and steel cables stretched to breaking point. Everything is going well, and it is a new best performance: The downtime of the plant has been reduced from 80 to 40 days, the commentary says.

Started in the summer of 1961, even before the Wall was built, the film becomes an explanation after this historical event as to why things can no longer go on as they were before. Unmistakably, as in almost all of Karl Gass' films, the passion with which he treats his subject is unmistakable. If you want to get to know the zeitgeist of the historically significant year 1961, which on both sides knew more the Cold War vocabulary than factual arguments, you can see the Eastern variant in this propaganda film.

The children of Golzow, six or seven years old, in kindergarten. Their enrollment in school together, the first days of school. Playfully learning the first letter. Conflicts between wanting and having to.

Five cameramen of the DEFA travel with the trawler ROS 206 to its fishing grounds in the Arctic Ocean. The journey to the grounds takes 5,5 days. Day and night the nets are thrown out and pulled aboard again when they are full. After three weeks of hard work the trawler returns to its home port. Here the fish are loaded into refrigerator cars, and the sailors enjoy some days of wll-earned rest.